Animal Farm

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• havo
• Leerjaar 4

Animal Farm

Introduction & Chapters 1-2

Why do we read?

Literature test

28 questions

40 points

Open end & multiple choice

Dictionary

In combination with Unit 5

600 test

Animal Farm

Introduction

- A Fairy Story

- Allegory

- Written between November 1943 and February 1944

- First published in 1945

- Russian Revolution

What does Allegory mean?

What is the Russian revolution?

George Orwell

- Eric Arthur Blair

- Born in 1903 in Bengal, India

- Attended Eton

- Socialist, but extremely critical

- 1984

- Died in 1950

Animal Farm and Russian Revolution

Old Major = Karl Marx/Vladimir Lenin

Napoleon = Stalin

Snowball = Trotsky

Squealer = Press/Propaganda

Jones = Tsar Nicholas II

Animalism = Communism

What themes can you expect from the novel according to you?

Themes

TOTALITARIANISM

REVOLUTION AND CORRUPTION

CLASS WARFARE

LANGUAGE AS POWER

THE SOVIET UNION

Chapter 1

‘Man is the only real enemy we have. Remove Man from the scene, and the root cause of hunger and overwork is abolished for ever. Man is the only creature that consumes without producing. He does not give milk, he does not lay eggs, he is too weak to pull the plough, he cannot run fast enough to catch rabbits. Yet he is lord of all the animals. He sets them to work, he gives back to them the bare minimum that will prevent them from starving, and the rest he keeps for himself.’

Chapter 1 answer the following questions

Look at the names of the characters (e.g. Jones, Major, Napoleon, Snowball, Squealer, Moses, Boxer). Why did Orwell use the names he did? How do the names fit the characters?

What is significant about how the animals arrange themselves as they gather to hear Major? What might this arrangement say about future meetings or events?

Chapter 2: the 7 commandments

Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy.

Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend.

No animal shall wear clothes.

No animal shall sleep in a bed.

No animal shall drink alcohol.

No animal shall kill any other animal.

All animals are equal.

Chapter 2: Answer the following questions

After Major’s death, what happens to the idea of rebelling against man?

Boxer and Clover show the most devotion to Animalism. Why is this important to the story?

What does Mollie represent? Explain your answer.

True or False: Napoleon, Squealer and Snowball are already superior to the other animals. Explain your answer.

What do you think happened to the milk? Explain your answer.