Animal Farm By George Orwell

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Animal FarmBy George Orwell

• Key Themes

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Themes in Animal Farm
When looking at a novel for GCSE Literature it is
important to look at the themes the novel
explores. There can be a wide range of themes and
they can be used to develop a greater
understanding of the novel. Questions in the exam
can often focus upon a particular theme.
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Key Themes

• Greed
• Leaders and followers
• Betrayal
• Propaganda and communication
• Appearance and reality

A theme can be developed in a number of ways, for
example through character, irony and events.
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Greed
The theme of Greed can be seen from the start
of the novel. Greed is one of the biblical seven
deadly sins and can manifest itself in several
different ways. Mr Jones drinks to excess, as a
result he loses his grip on the farm and enables
the animals to take charge.
Mr Jones, of the Manor Farm, had locked the
hen-houses for the night, but was too drunk to
remember to shut the pop-holes. Chapter 1, page
1.
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Greed
Old Majors speech berates the human farmers for
being greedy. He points out that humans only take
from the animals, they do not actually produce
anything themselves.
"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, page 4.
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Greed
The characters of the pigs automatically have the
connotation of greed greedy pig. This is
shown to be true as the story progresses we see
the pigs take a larger and larger share of the
available food.
Never mind the milk, comrades, cried
Napoleon, placing himself in front of the
buckets. That will be attended toI shall follow
in a few minutes. Forward, comrades! The hay is
waiting. when they came back in the evening it
was noticed that the milk had disappeared. Chapte
r 2, page 16.
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Greed
As the animals become more deprived of food, the
pigs live in more and more luxury. They not only
drink the milk that is produced, but also start
to drink alcohol. It is telling that their desire
for alcohol leads them to explore methods of
brewing and that the money raised by selling
Boxer for glue is spent on alcohol.
The word went round that from somewhere or other
the pigs had acquired the money to buy themselves
another case of whisky. Chapter 9, page 78.
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Greed
Old Majors principles are thrown aside as
Napoleons desire for money and physical goods
grows. Orwell shows that the pigs, and Napoleon
in particular, have taken the place of Mr Jones.
As their power over the other animals increases
so does their greed until there is no discernable
difference between the pigs and the humans.
The creatures outside looked from pig to man,
and from man to pig, and from pig to man again
but already it was impossible to say which was
which. Chapter 10, page 88.
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Leaders and Followers
This is an important theme in Animal Farm as it
is closely linked to Orwells reasons for writing
the novel. Orwell wanted to draw peoples
attention to the fact that the Communist leaders
had taken the ideas of Karl Marx and exploited
them for their own means.
I thought of exposing the Soviet myth in a story
that could be easily translated into other
languages. Introduction, page xv.
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Leaders and Followers
At the start of the novel, Mr Jones is in charge
of the animals. The animals respect Old Major,
but he is not really their leader. The animals
who vie for the leadership, Napoleon and
Snowball, are not introduced until Chapter 2.
This distances them from the ideals stated in Old
Majors speech. They take charge as they are more
intelligent than the others.
The work of teaching and organizing the others
fell naturally upon the pigs, who were generally
recognized as being the cleverest of the
animals. Chapter 2, page 9.
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Leaders and Followers
The cracks in the shared leadership start to show
before long.
Snowball and Napoleon were by far the most
active in the debates. But it was noticed that
these two were never in agreement whatever
suggestion either of them made, the other could
be counted on to oppose it. Chapter3, page 19.
The tension begins to build up from this point,
as it is obvious that the two pigs will not be
able to share power for long.
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Leaders and Followers
Snowballs plans for the windmill becomes an
issue which divides the animals
The animals formed themselves into two factions
under the slogans, Vote for Snowball and the
three-day week and Vote for Napoleon and the
full manger. Chapter 5, page 31.
We know that this situation can not last it has
become a popularity contest for leadership.
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Leaders and Followers
Napoleon takes charge of the battle for
leadership, and as is so often the case, it is
this pre-emptive strike that takes Snowball by
surprise.
But just at this moment Napoleon stood up
anduttered a high-pitched whimper of a kind no
one had ever heard him utter before. At this
there was a terrible baying sound outside, and
nine enormous dogs wearing brass-studded collars
came bounding into the barn. They dashed straight
for Snowball. Chapter 5, page 33.
Napoleon becomes the undisputed leader.
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Leaders and Followers
The followers are a very varied group. The sheep
are never looked at as individuals. The sheep
chant the maxims they have learnt
often as they lay in the field they would all
start bleating Four legs good, two legs
bad! Chapter 3, page 21.
At the end of the book this habit of the sheep is
used by Squealer
He was, he said, teaching them to sing a new
song, for which privacy was needed. Chapter 10,
page 82.
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Leaders and Followers
The sheeps mindless acceptance, and repetition
of phrases is used to sinister effect
Then there came a moment when the first shock
had worn off and when, in spite of everything
in spite of the terror of the dogs, and of the
habit, developed through long years, of never
complaining, never criticizing, no matter what
happened they might have uttered some word of
protest. But just at that moment, as though at a
signal, all the sheep burst out into a tremendous
bleating of Four legs good, two legs
better! Chapter 10, page 83.
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Leaders and Followers
The two horses, Boxer and Clover are also
unquestioning followers. Neither of them have
enough intelligence to see through the lies
Squealer spreads. Boxer has two maxims, and this
is almost all he says in the book
Napoleon is always right
I will work harder.
This blind obedience leads Boxer to work himself
almost to death the pigs then sell him to the
knacker.
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Betrayal
This is a relatively simple theme. It can be
traced from the beginning of the story all the
way through to the end.
Old Majors ideas, as stated in Chapter 1 page
3-6, are betrayed from the start
or sleep in a bed,
No animal must ever live in a house,
or drink alcohol,
No argument must lead you astray.
or touch money,
And, above all, no animal must ever tyrannize
over his own kind.
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Betrayal
Some more examples of betrayal are

• Snowballs idealism is betrayed by Napoleon.
• Boxer is betrayed by the pigs, he never receives
  the retirement he is promised, and when he is too
  ill to work, he is sold.
• The animals faith and belief in Napoleon,
  Squealer and the rest of the leadership is
  betrayed. They end up being worked harder and
  treated worse under Napoleon than they ever did
  under Mr Jones.

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Propaganda and Communication
Communication is vital to help the pigs maintain
their leadership. The media is represented by
Squealer the name of this pig suggests
treachery, so we may feel it is not wise to
believe all he says.
History is rewritten by the pigs, perhaps
criticising the unreliable nature of nostalgia.
This is a common idea in Orwells writing and is
developed in more detail in 1984.
In many ways Squealer represents the Soviet
newspaper Pravda. Complete with its lies about
production levels.
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Propaganda and Communication
Squealers speeches to the animals are all
propaganda. He often uses facts and figures to
back up his points. He knows that the majority of
the animals are unable to read and therefore have
no option but to believe what he says.
Milk and apples (this has been proved by
Science, comrades) contain substances absolutely
necessary to the well-being of a pig. Chapter 3,
page 22.
Squealerwould read out to them lists of figures
proving that the production of every class of
foodstuff had increased by 200, 300, or 500,
as the case may be. Chapter 8, page 56.
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Appearance and Reality
This is a common theme in literature Shakespeare
often uses it in his plays. This theme is
explored on many levels throughout the novel.
The novel was originally titled Animal Farm A
Fairy Tale, and on the surface that is what it
is. However, when you look beneath the surface
you can see that it is an allegory, with the
animals representing historical characters and
types of people. So it is possible to say that
the book itself is not what it appears to be.
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Appearance and Reality
An example of how to examine the theme of
appearance and reality can be seen by looking at
the beginning of the novel.
Mr Jones appears to be in control of the farm,
but the meeting held in the barn shows that he is
not.
Old Major is a well respected character and his
speech seems very impressive, however he makes
the comment that
Is it not crystal clear, then, comrades, that
all the evils of this life of ours spring from
the tyranny of human beings? Page 5.
This is shown to be untrue, so Major is actually
very naïve, not the wise expert he claims to be.
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Appearance and Reality
Old Majors death at the start of Chapter 2 can
be seen as something inevitable, as he is old.
However, as Old Major saw the rebellion in a
dream, the death of the dreamer can be seen as
the death of his ideals.
The rebellion appears to be fulfilling Old
Majors dream, however, in reality it is merely a
reaction to hunger. The rebels are in fact
animals behaving according to their natural urges.
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Appearance and Reality
The following characters can be linked to these
historical figures, however they can also refer
to types of people. Things are not always as
simple as they appear to be.
Stalin
Napoleon the Pig
Napoleon
Snowball
Old Major
Mr Jones
Tsar Nicholas II
Trotsky
Marx
Lenin
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Conclusion
Themes are everywhere! You need to know at least
some of them for the exam. There are also many
others I have not covered in this presentation.