Animal Farm

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Animal Farm

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• Exam Review

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Historical Context

• Karl Marx develops The Communist Manifesto and
  calls the working class to unite
• 1917, Russian Revolution ousts monarch
• Tsar Nicholas II and sets the scene for Soviet
  Communism
• Vladimir Lenin becomes chief commissar
• Leon Trotsky and Joseph Stalin become likely
  heirs to Lenins powerful position
• 1924, Stalin organizes an alliance against
  Trotsky after Lenins death
• Stalin becomes dictator of the Soviet Union
• Trotsky is expelled and made a common national
  enemy
• Stalin rules the Soviet Union with brutal
  intensity and purges (murders) approximately
  twenty million citizens

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Plot Overview

• Old Major holds a meeting for all the animals on
  Manor Farm and tells them about his dream in
  which all animals live together without human
  beings controlling and oppressing them
• When Old Major dies shortly after the meeting,
  three pigs Snowball, Napoleon, and Squealer
  create a philosophy called Animalism based off
  of Old Majors principles
• One night, the animals battle Mr. Jones, Manor
  Farms farmer, in a rebellion and run him off
  the property
• They rename the farm Animal Farm and dedicate
  themselves to Animalism
• The principles of Animalism, the Seven
  Commandments, are painted on the barn for all
  animals to see
• At first the farm is prosperous and Snowball
  tries to teach the animals to read

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Plot Overview

• Mr. Jones returns to try and reclaim the farm but
  Snowball leads the animals to defeat him again,
  in what they call the Battle of the Cowshed,
  keeping Joness gun as a token of their victory
• Soon Napoleon and Snowball begin a power
  struggle over their conflicting plans for the
  future of the farm
• Snowball develops a plan for a windmill that
  will benefit the animals on the farm but
  Napoleon opposes it
• As the animals are about to vote on the issue,
  Napoleon unleashes large, fierce dogs he trained
  and has Snowball chased off the farm
• From that point on, Napoleon declares himself
  and the pigs in charge of the farm
• Napoleon changes his mind about the windmill and
  orders to have it built and the animals,
  especially Boxer the horse, devote themselves to
  completing
• The windmill is destroyed after a storm and
  Napoleon claims that they have been sabotaged by
  Snowball

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Plot Overview

• Napoleon uses his dogs to instil fear in the
  other animals and stages a purge where any animal
  allegedly allied with Snowball or opposed to
  Napoleons leadership is instantly executed
• History is rewritten to make Snowball a villain
• Napoleon and the pigs begin to act more like
  human beings by sleeping in beds, drinking
  alcohol, and trading with neighbouring farms
  despite the original principles of Animalism
  which forbade such actions
• Squealer justifies all activities and convinces
  the animals that Napoleon is a great leader and
  making their lives better even though the
  animals (except the pigs and dogs) are cold,
  hungry, and overworked

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Plot Overview

• A neighbouring farmer, Mr. Fredrick of Pinchfield
  Farm, cheats Napoleon in the purchase of some
  timber and then attacks the farm and destroys the
  windmill
• Boxer receives major injuries in battle and is
  weakened, resulting in a fall during the 2nd
  rebuilding of the windmill
• Napoleon tells the animals he will send Boxer to
  a veterinarian but instead sells Boxer to a glue
  maker for money to purchase whisky
• After years pass, the pigs become more and more
  like human beings by walking on their hind legs,
  carrying whips, and wearing clothing.
• The original Seven Commandments are altered and
  finally reduced to the single principle, All
  animals are equal, but some animals are more
  equal than others.
• Napoleon allies himself with another neighbouring
  farmer, Mr. Pilkington of Foxwood Farm and Animal
  Farm is reverted back to Manor Farm
• The animals are no longer able to distinguish the
  pigs from the humans

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Characters

• Napoleon
• Represents Joseph Stalin
• Emerges as the leader of Animal Farm
• Intimidates the other animals to gain power
• Proves to be a violent, brutal, and treacherous
  dictator
• Snowball
• Represents Leon Trotsky
• Challenges Napoleon for control of Animal Farm
• Intelligent, passionate, eloquent, and less
  devious than Napoleon
• Wins the loyalty of the animals rather than
  forcing it
• Boxer (and Clover being the female counterpart)
• Represents the working class
• Has incredible strength, dedication, and loyalty
  to Animal Farm
• Quick to help but slow-witted, has the motto I
  will work harder
• Naively trusts the pigs to make decisions for
  him, has the motto Napoleon is always right

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Characters

• Squealer
• Represents propaganda
• Justifies the pigs actions and spreads false
  statistics
• Uses language to twist the truth and maintain
  control
• Old Major
• Represents both Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin
• Inspires the animals to rebel with his utopian
  dream
• Moses
• Represents religion
• Spreads stories about a paradise called
  Sugarcandy Mountain where animals go when they
  die
• Mollie
• Represents the middle class that fled Russia soon
  after the revolution
• Vain and attention-craving, misses wearing
  ribbons and eating sugar so she leaves

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Characters

• Mr. Jones
• Represents Tsar Nicholas II
• Farmer that runs Manor Farm before the Rebellion
• Indulges himself while his animals lack food
• Mr. Frederick and Pinchfield Farm
• Represents Adolf Hitler and Germany
• Tough, shrewd, and untrustworthy
• Mr. Pilkington and Foxwood Farm
• Represents the capitalist governments of England
  and the U.S.
• Easygoing and gentlemanly
• Enemies with Mr. Frederick

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Seven Commandments

• Over the course of the novel, changes are made to
  the original Seven Commandments
• The original commandments are in white and
  changes (including chapter in which the change
  was made) are indicated in red italics
• Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy
  (replaced with Four legs good Two legs bad in
  Chapter 3 but bad is changed to better in
  Chapter 10)
• Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a
  friend (replaced with Four legs good Two legs
  bad in Chapter 3 but bad is changed to
  better in Chapter 10)
• No animal shall wear clothes
• No animal shall sleep in a bed with sheets
  (Chapter 6)
• No animal shall drink alcohol to excess (Chapter
  8)
• No animal shall kill any other animal without
  cause (Chapter 8)
• All animals are equal, but some are more equal
  than others (Chapter 10)
• In the end, only the altered 7th commandment
  remains

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Themes

• Corruption
• Theme statement example Absolute power leads to
  absolute corruption and perversion of justice,
  liberation, and equality.
• Napoleon reigned tyrannically over Animal Farm
  because he had unquestioned power and as a result
  he brought about incredible violence.
• Societys Tendency Towards Social Class
• Theme statement example It is human tendency to
  establish and maintain class structure even in
  societies that are allegedly equal.
• Animal Farm originally set out for all animals to
  be equal but in the end some were more equal
  than others.
• The Danger of Naïveté
• Theme statement example If the naïve choose to
  take others at face value and allow others to
  make decisions for them it could potentially
  lead to great harm for the individual.
• Boxer and the other farm animals believed
  whatever Napoleon and Squealer would tell them
  and assumed that whatever they did was right
  which brought them into great oppression.
• Abuse of Language to Abuse Power
• Theme statement example Propaganda twists words
  and manipulates language in order to attain
  control and power.
• Squealer artfully uses language to justify the
  actions of the pigs and convince the other
  animals to follow Napoleon blindly

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Symbols

• The Rebellion
• Symbolizes the Russian Revolution
• Animal Farm
• Also known as Manor Farm at the beginning and end
  of the novel
• Symbolizes Russia and the Soviet Union under the
  Communist Party (or Animalism in the novel)
• More generally, can also stand for any human
  society because it possesses the structure of a
  nation
• Government (the pigs)
• Police force or military (the dogs)
• Working class (other animals)
• Hoof Horn flag
• Represents the Hammer and Sickle of the Soviet
  flag
• Battle of the Cowshed
• Represents Red October
• Civil war where the Tsarists tried to reclaim the
  nation from the Communists
• Windmill
• Symbolizes Stalins Five-Year plan
• Both the plan and the windmill came with a
  promise to make life easier and both utterly
  failed
• Purges
• Referring to the Stalins purges of 1936-1938
  where millions of Soviets where violently killed

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Good Luck on your exam!