• Eric Arthur Blair at a Glance
• Important Vocabulary
• Basics about the Novel
• It all Began with…
Tsar Nicholas II - Karl Marx - Vladimir Lenin
- Joseph Stalin - Leon Trotsky
• Questions to Constantly Ask…

• Author of Animal Farm and 1984
• Born in India 1903, died 1/21/1950
• Attended the Elite Schools in Britain
• Saw the Terrible Effects of British
Imperialism in India First-Hand
• A Socialist
• Critic of Stalin and Communism

• Communism – a society in which the property and distribution is collectively owned without class distinctions, governments
• Socialism – a society in which the property and distribution of wealth are collectively owned and owned by the government; it is also the societal organization proceeding
Capitalism and preceding Communism
• Capitalism – a society in which the means of production and wealth is owned privately

• Bourgeoisie – Middle/Merchant class.
Marxism theory refers to “a capitalist exploiting the working class.”
• Proletariat – Poor/Working class
• Bolsheviks – Lenin’s organization
• Propaganda -- information, ideas, or rumors deliberately spread widely to help or harm a person, group, movement, institution, nation, etc.

• Dystopian society– a society in which human misery, oppression, and disease are dominant
• Allegory – a narrative that has more than one meaning, one long and extended metaphor (I.e. Fables, parables, etc)
• Rhetorical Devices – a technique that an author/speaker uses to elicit an emotional response in the audience

• Orwell wrote it in 1945
• The novel is an allegory for the Bolshevik
(Russian) Revolution
• Illustrates the terror of a totalitarian society
• Is a Dystopian novel in that it shows the social and political evils of the world and man

• Tsar Nicholas II
(b. 5/16/1868 d. 7/16-17/1918)
• Heir Apparent and eldest son of Emperor Alexander III
• Not “Fit to be King”
• Allied with German Emperor William II AFTER it already allied with
France, Germany’s Traditional Enemy
• Married Alexandra with five children
• Abdicated to Alexander Kerensky (who was later ousted by Lenin)
• He and his family were slaughtered, bodies burned, and buried – remains of two of his children never found (Alexis and daughter
Maria)

• Karl Marx (b. 5/5/1818 d. 3/14/1883)
German Economist and Political Philosopher
- Father of Communism (existed before him)
- collectively wrote the Communist Manifesto with Frederick Engels
- Urged all workers to UNITE! (against the
Ruling Class )

• Vladimir Lenin (b. 4/10/1870 d. 1/21/1924)
– Founder of the Russian Communist Party
(Bolsheviks)
– Architect of the Bolshevik Revolution (aka
Russian Revolution)
– Two Tragedies
1) His Father prematurely dies after
Government threats
2) Oldest Brother Hanged for conspiring to kill
Emperor

• Assumed power of Soviet Russia after
Tsar Nicholas II and his successor
Alexander Kerensky
• Apprentices
-- Joseph Stalin
-- Leon Trotsky
• Expressed Fear for the Party and its legacy
• Lies in state in Red Square in Moscow

• Joseph Stalin (b. 12/21/1879 d. 5/5/1953)
• Considered one of the Cruelest Dictators of all time
• Exemplified a Totalitarian government
• Came into power after Lenin’s death
• “Jockeyed” with Trotsky for Control
• Oversaw Murder of approx. 20 Million
Soviet Citizens
• Ruled with an “Iron fist”

• Leon Trotsky (b. 11/7/1879 d. 8/21/1940)
• Served as Lenin’s “Right-Hand Man” WITH
Stalin
• Considered to be the most obvious successor to Lenin’s legacy
• Jealousy halted his political progress
• Exiled to Mexico, where he was later murdered
• Brilliant – his plans were renamed and adopted by Stalin AFTER he ordered his death

• How are the simpler animals
MANIPULATED?
• What actions and beliefs between the animals mirror humans?
• How do aspects of the novel MIRROR a modern society?
• Are “hidden agendas” revealed prior to animal achieving power?
• How could the animals prevented the outcome?