Adapted from 1996 Perfection Learning Corporation

Animal Farm

By George Orwell

George Orwell

(Adapted from 1996 Perfection Learning Corporation)

George Orwell loved country living and farming. He was also quite fond of most farm animals—especially his goat Muriel and his dog Marx. The pigs, however, Orwell detested. So it is hardly surprising that he chose them to represent the villains in his classic Animal Farm. To understand Orwell’s impulse to write this politically charged novel, it is helpful to look at some events that shaped the author’s outlook.

Orwell was born Eric Arthur Blair in 1903 in Motihari, Bengal, a part of British –controlled India. His father, Richard Blair, was a British civil servant in India, and his mother, Ida, was the daughter of a French businessman. A year after Eric’s birth, Ida and her children, Eric, Avril, and Margorie, moved to England.

The Blair family was not wealthy, so when Eric was sent to St. Cyprian’s prep school, he was accepted on reduced tuition. The harsh matron, Mrs. Vaughan Wilkes, took in “poor” boys like Eric, hoping they might win scholarships to prestigious colleges and bring a favorable reputation to St. Cyprian’s. Eric Blair was not to forget the divisive class lines of British society that were made painfully clear to him at St. Cyprian. Years later, he tarnished the school’s name when he exposed Mrs. Wilkes as a tyrant who catered to the rich students and humiliated the poorer students. To Eric, she was nothing but a “filthy old sow,” a hated pig. Despite the cruelties of St. Cyprian, Eric did very well and won scholarships to both Eton and Wellington colleges.

Blair returned to India in 1922 to join the Imperial Police in Burma. There he worked as a superintendent of police for five years. During that period, Blair grew to hate British imperialism, which he believed was nothing more than robbery of the poor. Curiously, though, Blair also praised the leadership qualities of the ruling class, for he believed they were the people who got things done.

In 1927, Blair left Burma to become a writer. He began his career by going to Paris, where he chose to live among the working class. Later he would do the same in London and Wigan, an industrial town in England. During the decade between 1927-1937, Orwell took his pen name, George Orwell, for two reasons: one, because he had never liked his name “Eric,” and two, in order to hide his identity. He had grown to hate one of his works titled Down and Out in London and Paris and he did not want people to know that he had written it.

Now known as Orwell, the young author embraced socialism during this decade. In a socialist system, the government controls the production and distribution of goods in order to replace competition with cooperation. In his concern for the poor workers, Orwell believed such a system would eliminate social classes and promote equality for all people.

Orwell married Eileen O’Shaughnessy just before he went to Spain to fight in the Spanish Civil War. There he joined the Communist revolutionaries, who were fighting to eliminate a fascist government (fascism is much like Nazism). Orwell believed that a communist system, one in which the Communist party controls production and distributes good to all “comrades” as needed, would give workers the same rights and privileges as the upper classes. However, Orwell soon learned that the Spanish communists were more interested in promoting their own personal aims than those of the revolution. This discovery led him to concluded that totalitarianism, or absolute control, whether it came from socialists, communists or fascists, was evil and kept the working people from bettering their own lives. As a result, Orwell embraced democratic socialism in which the government would protect the welfare and rights of the common people. In such a system, the people would hold the power through elected officials.

On his return to England in 1937, Orwell witnessed an event that would be the inspiration for Animal Farm. He saw a child driving a wagon and whipping his horse whenever the animal tried to turn. This small boy had the huge animal under control, causing Orwell to wonder what the world would be like if the more powerful animals rose up against their masters. Through this event, he was also able to draw a parallel between the way humans treat animals and the rich treat the working classes. This idea would grow and become Orwell’s vehicle for exposing the Soviet communists’ ability to control people by distorting the truth, falsifying history, and brutalizing citizens.

With these ideas in mind, Orwell began writing Animal Farm in 1943 and finished it just a year later. Getting his masterpiece published, however, was not so easy. Animal Farm was rejected first by three British publisherswho interpreted the book as a direct attack on the Stalin regime in Russia. At the time, Russia was Britain’s ally against Hitler. So it was not “politically correct” to publish a work so obviously denouncing “Uncle Joe” Stalin. Finally, British publishers Secker and Warburg agreed to publish the work. Meanwhile in the United States, Animal Farmwas rejected by almost 20 publishers before Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc., agreed to publish it. Once published, it was an instant success, selling out almost overnight. Other than being denounced by the Soviet newspaper, Pravda, Animal Farm was well received.

Orwell’s professional success was overshadowed by personal ups and downs. On the up side, he and Eileen adopted a baby boy whom they named Richard. But not long after, Orwell was hospitalized with tuberculosis. While in the hospital, he received devastating news that his wife had died during a surgery. After his wife’s death, Orwell took Richard to live on a remote farm in Scotland. There he and his son farmed and fished, and Orwell continued to write.

In 1949, Orwell produced Nineteen Eighty-Four. An instant success, Nineteen Eighty-Four presents a glimpse at a totalitarian society 25 years in the future. Orwell died in January of 1950, shortly after his second great work was published. He would be glad to know, however, that his son grew up to be a farmer. Richard, it seems, shared his father’s love of the land and the animals.

The Politics of a Political Writer

Most of George Orwell’s writing dealt with politics. Orwell thought that he was more of a political writer than a man who wrote fiction novels. A political writer uses literature to express his or her views about social issues, often ones that they want to see changed.

Read through the following economic systems. You will be assigned a political system to respond to the following questions: What would Orwell have thought of this system? AND What experiences from his life might have caused him to feel this way?

1. Capitalism: an economic system where individual people or corporations make and sell products and services. The government usually has little control in capitalism. The government does not tell people what to make, what to sell, what to buy, or what price to charge. These decisions are made by the company and are influenced by buying habits of consumers.

1. Communism: an economic and political system in which everything (all property) is theoretically owned/shared by all of the people in the country. Everyone is expected to work to the best of their ability and accept the same amount of pay as everyone else. In theory, everyone would have what they need, but not necessarily what they want.

1. Democracy: a political system in which power is in the hands of the people. The people are given the right to vote and then decisions are made through direct votes or by representatives.

1. Totalitarianism or Dictatorship: a system of government in which a country is ruled by a leader/dictator who controls every aspect and part of the citizens’ lives. Anything the dictator wants becomes law and there is no power in the country that can stop him/her.

What would Orwell have thought of this system?

What experiences from his life might have caused him to feel this way?

Animal Farm - Building Background Stations

Station #1: Propaganda Posters

1. Look over each poster and discuss what Logos, Ethos and Pathos are being used.

1. Choose one poster and explain the rhetoric used to persuade Russians during the Russian Revolution.

Describe the images you see? ______

Logos (logical appeal “facts”) used: ______

Ethos (credibility appeal) used: ______

Pathos (Emotional appeal) used: ______

1. What would you infer as the general message of the poster?

______

Station #2: Political Systems

1. Take a look at the statements written on each card.
2. Separate the cards into two sections of ideas. One section should be ideas that you would not mind living with and the other sections are those ideas you would not want to live with.
3. Your group should take some time to discuss why you like some ideas and not others (Look at the colors on the back of the index cards to determine which type of political systems your group prefers).

Yellow Cards = Capitalism Green Cards = Communism

Purple Cards = Socialism Red Cards = Democracy

Blue Cards = Totalitarianism/Dictatorship

1. Finally, determine what type of system you would want to live in based on your choices and define that system below.

Read the information sheets in the binder about the parallels between Communism and Animalism during the Russian Revolution.

Write a statement below about what you think Animal Farm will be about.

Station #3: Animal Action

Animal Farm is about a group of animals who form their own society. The animals include:

catsa donkeyhensratscowsgoats

horsesa ravendogsgeesepigssheep

1. Think about what you already know about certain characteristics or qualities of animals. For example, a dog is usually said to be “loyal.”
2. Read the explanations of societal roles below and determine which animals would make the best leaders, workers, law enforcers and criminals.

Leaders: make all the political and business decisions

Workers: follow the leaders and produce the goods and services necessary to support the society

Law enforcers: try to keep peace and make sure that everyone obeys the rules of the leaders

Criminals: don’t follow the society’s rules

Societal Role / Animal(s) / Reasons why this animal(s) fulfill this role.
Leaders
Workers
Law Enforcers
Criminals

Station #4: Fable/Allegory

Animal Farm is an example of an allegory. An allegory is a work in which the characters and events are to be understood as representing other things and symbolically expressing a deeper meaning. Allegories are very much like fables, but where fables are usually very short and made for children, allegories are longer, more complex, and although they may seem childish, they are often making very adult statements.

In this station you will try and think of any allegories you may know and you will read and analysis on relatively famous fable/allegory. You will find copies of the fable/allegory at the station.

Read the allegory/fable on the next page. When you are done and feel as if you understand it well enough, answer the following questions.

1. What was the message/moral of this story? State it and support it with evidence from the story.

2. It is not unusual for adults who give speeches and/or who teach to use allegories, fables, or parables. Why would adults speaking to a general audience use a teaching device originally meant for children?

3. What would be the benefit in using allegories to teach instead of just stating the lesson? There are many correct answer here, list and explain as many as you can.

4.Very often, people who live under oppression use allegories to spread the news among each other about what is truly happening in their area/country. How would using this technique help them?

The Bundle of Sticks – an Aesop’s Fable adapted by Elisa Pearmain

Once upon a time, an old woman lived on a beautiful farm in the country. From her window, she could see pasture land, fields of grain, barns filled with animals, orchards and forests beyond. The farm was special to the old woman because it had been in her family for many generations. She had raised her family of six boys there. Now her husband was dead, and she too was in the last days of her life. The old woman should have been content after such a fortunate life, but she was not. She lay on her bed worrying about her grown children. They could not seem to get along. She heard them quarreling day and night. Even though some of them were good at farming, and some at working with the animals, some at carpentry, and others at cooking or preserving the food they grew. They each thought that their job was more important and that the others didn’t work hard enough. They held grudges against each other from things in the past, and they were jealous of each other’s good fortune. Though the old woman tried talking to her children about living in peace, they seemed to grow increasingly bitter by the day. She felt sure that they would not be able to keep the family farm after she had died, because they could not seem to work together or appreciate each other’s gifts.

Then one day as her strength waned, she had an idea. She called her children to her bedside. “I have one last favor to ask of you,” she said. “I would like each one of you to go to the forest and find two sticks. Bring them here tomorrow and I will explain.”

The children did as she asked and came to her room the next day with two sticks each.

“Thank you children,” the old woman said. “Please put one of your sticks down, and see if you can break the other one in half.” The children easily broke their sticks in half.

Then the old woman asked the children to pass her the remaining whole sticks. “Let us gather the remaining sticks into a bundle.” She said.

Then she passed the bundle back to her children and said, “Please pass this bundle of sticks amongst you and tell me – is it as easy to break the bundle as it was the single stick

The children passed the bundle between them but not one of them could break the bundle of sticks.

“You my children, are like these sticks,” the old woman said. “If you go your separate ways, quarrelling, and holding resentments toward one another, you will be alone like the individual sticks and the difficulties of life will easily hurt you. But if you work together, appreciate each other’s strengths, cherish what you share in common, and care for each other, you will be like the bundle of sticks, and nothing in life can break you. Find strength and joy in one another’s company, and you will live well and accomplish much.”

The children took their mother’s lesson to heart, letting go of past grudges and focusing on what they shared in common, appreciating each other’s strengths, and working together. The old woman died peacefully, and the farm remained in the family for many generations.

Station #5: Thoughts on Power

The quotes at this station are from famous people expressing their thoughts on power. You are to read over all of them and select 2 of these quotes. After you select them, answer the following questions about them as a team.

Quote ______

1. From the quotes you chose, what do you know about theperson who said it?

What we can infer about this person from this quote –

Paraphrase this quote explaining what you think it means.

Quote ______

1. From the quotes you chose, what do you know about theperson who said it?

What we can infer about this person from this quote –

Paraphrase this quote explaining what you think it means.

3. Thinking about all of the quotes how do they relate to each other? Are most of the quotes you chose positive or negative regarding power? Explain.

4. What ideas do you see repeated in multiple quotes? What do these repeated ideas say about power and powerful people?

5.Do you know of any examples of people/governments today that seem to fit in with any of these quotes? List and explain the quotes and the people/places they most closely resemble.

Quotes about Power

A -“He who dares not speak his free thoughts is a slave.” Euripides