Fables and Allegories and Satire An Introduction to Animal Farm

What do you know? What do you know or remember about fables? What do you know or remember about allegories? What do you know or remember about satire?

Aesop Probably the most well known writer of fables is Aesop, who lived in Ancient Greece. He wrote “The Ant and the Grasshopper ” and lots of other fables still popular today.

Quotations from Aesop Don’t cry over spilt milk. Don’t count your chickens before they’ve hatched. Beware the wolf in sheep’s clothing. Appearances are often deceiving. Birds of a feather flock together. Slow and steady wins the race.

The Ant and the Grasshopper: By Aesop

Fable Fables are very short Fables feature nonhuman characters who have been personified to an extreme such as animals, plants, inanimate objects, mythical creatures, or forces of nature who think, talk, act, fight, disobey, and obey Fables end with a short moral lesson

“The Ant and the Grasshopper” is a Fable! It is very short The animal characters talk, sing, think, plan, and feel It teaches a moral or lesson: it is best to prepare for days of need.

Allegory An allegory is a piece of “art”work in which all or many pieces are created to represent something else Therefore, each part has at least two meanings: the literal meaning and an abstract or symbolic meaning The underlying meaning of an allegory has social, religious, or political significance

The “Ant and the Grasshopper” could be an Allegory, too! Literal Meaning Symbolic Meaning The Ant Corn The Grasshopper Summer Winter = Hardworking People = Work / Preparation = Short-sighted People = Opportunity Time = Hard Times

Satire Ridicules people, practices, governments, or institutions in order to reveal their weaknesses and provoke improvement Uses wit, ridicule, irony, sarcasm, parody, reversal, and hyperbole Reader must be careful to pay attention to hints and clues of the reality of the situation beyond the façade of a seemingly innocent story

“The Ant and the Grasshopper” could be Satire, too! It ridicules those that do not plan ahead for times of need It exaggerates the consequences of both sides

Animal Farm is all 3: a fable, an allegory, and satire!

Animal Farm as a Fable: It is short for the genre - a novella Has animals: pigs, horses, dogs, sheep, cows, chickens, ravens, donkeys, ducks Teaches many lessons: A perfect society is only as perfect as the members that make it up. No society will ever have real equality as long as some people take advantage of others. Don’t always believe what you hear and see. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Animal Farm as an Allegory: Literal = Symbolic Manor Farm = Russia Animals Revolution = Russian Revolution Animalism = Communism Old Major = Karl Marx Napoleon = Joseph Stalin Snowball = Leo Trotsky Squealer = Russian Propaganda and Media Windmill = Stalin’s 5 year improvement plan Dogs = KGB or police

Animal Farm as Satire: It ridicules society and those who try to make society better through the implementation of ideas It parodies (with wit) Stalin and his government as evil pigs (literally and figuratively) It shows reversal in that people can be animals in the way that they treat, exploit, and manipulate each other for their own gain It exaggerates how a lack of literacy, reading, and education make people easy targets It ironically shows how propaganda and rhetoric are more important to maintaining power than goodness, competence, fairness, and other virtues