Animal Farm by George Orwell
George Orwell, born
Eric Blair, was a
political novelist.
 He was born in India
to British colonists
and spent his
childhood attending
private schools
including the elite
Eton.

Orwell became a
socialist as a young
man.
 He did not agree with
the then Russian
socialism.
 The Tsars were
overthrown by Stalin
and Russian
communism was born.
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Socialism is term used for economic
and political theory advocating
public or common ownership and
cooperative management of the
means of production and allocation
of resources.

Communism a sociopolitical
movement that aims for a classlesss
and stateless society structured
upon communal ownership of
property.
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The Russian Revolution of 1917
centres around two primary events:
the February Revolution and the
October Revolution.
The February Revolution, which
removed Tsar Nicholas II from
power.
The October Revolution (also
called the Bolshevik Revolution)
overturned the interim provisional
government and established the
Soviet Union.
The Bolsheviks declared themselves the
representatives of a dictatorship of the
proletariat. In response, the Russian
Civil War broke out in the summer of
that year and would last well into 1920.
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Nicholas II - the last Russian tsar, who
ruled from 1894 until 1917.
Vladimir Lenin (a.k.a. Vladimir Ilich
Ulyanov) -The founder of the Bolshevik
Party, organizer of the October
Revolution, and the first leader of the
Soviet Union.
Joseph Stalin (a.k.a. Joseph
Dzhugashvili) - after the revolution,
Stalin became increasingly powerful and
eventually succeeded Lenin as leader of
the Soviet Union upon Lenin’s death in
1924.
Leon Trotsky (a.k.a. Leon Bronstein) – a
Bolshevik leader and one of the most
prominent figures of the October
Revolution. Trotsky, who was in exile
abroad during the February Revolution,
returned to Russia in May 1917, closely
aligned himself with Lenin, and joined
the Bolshevik Party during the summer.
The animals in the
novel represent the
four men in last slide
and the Russian
people.
 The characters of Old
Major, Snowball,
Farmer Jones and
Napoleon represent
each of the four men.
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The novel opens with
disgruntled animals aiming
to take over the farm and
scare Farmer Jones
(Nicholas Tsar) away.
They succeed and agree to
live like socialists.
However, this does not last
long as some of the animals
become more powerful and
their shared vision of
equality turns into
communism, bullying and
exploitation of the farm
animals with alarming
consequences.
Study of the novel will focus
on:
1.
Characterisation
2.
Theme (Russsian
Revolution/politics etc)
3.
Turning point in novel
(where the story changes
dramatically)
4.
The language used by
Orwell.
All of the above will be done
through note-taking, group
work, homework and
critical essay writing.

Character notes and analysis of main characters (Farmer Jones,
Snowball etc)
2.
Study of the main themes and the impact they have on the novel as a
whole and indeed the characters.
3.
In depth study of the turning point and how it affects the course of
the plot and indeed, the characters.
4.
The language used and how it helps you as the reader to understand
the overall meaning of the themes, character and novel as a whole.
E.g. Metaphors, similes
A Textual Analysis will be carried out on an extract from this novel to
help prepare you for NAB. You will be required to learn your literary
techniques and be able to comment on their effectiveness within the
novel.
There will also be work done on vocabulary, sentence structure and
punctuation in order to improve these skills.
Ultimately a critical essay on the novel.
1.
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www.sparknotes.com
www.novelguide.com
www.georgeorwell.org