What form does the revolution take place in animal farm? By… Sophie Andrews, Sam Worth, and Emily Vicary

What does revolution mean? Revolution is an uprising to change how something is done in a different ruler/king/government. The characters rebel against the farmer Mr Jones because he is sometimes too drunk to remember some things that he has to do to look after them. “was too drunk to remember to shut the pop-holes.“ Another reason why they rebel is because Mr Jones (the farmer) does not feed them enough. “we are given just so much food as will keep the breath in our bodies, and those of us who are capable of it are forced to work to the last atom of our strength; and the very instant that our usefulness has come to an end we are slaughtered with hideous cruelty.”

Another reason is because of what happens on the farm and how bad it is - after he has had the use out of the animals he gets rid of them, e.g. the hens are fed just that bit more so they can produce big nice eggs that will attract people that go to the farmer for the eggs, however, once they don’t produce nice eggs anymore, they are slaughtered and shipped off either to be killed and sold in the supermarket, or just slaughtered and put in a black bag; then forgotten about.

Mr. Jones went out on midsummer's eve and got drunk at the red lion, he then did not come back until midday Sunday. The men had milked the cows and had gone out rabbiting without even feeding one animal. Mr.Jones got back and did not feed them either. " At last they could not last any longer without food. One of the cows broke the door of the store shed with her horns and all the animals began to help them-selves from the bins.“ This woke Jones up. ”Next moment, the men and Jones were in the store shed with “whips in their hands, lashing out in all directions, this was more than hungry animals could bear, they then flung themselves upon there tormentors”, Jones and the men where now being kicked and butted from all sides. Meanwhile, “Mrs. Jones was looking out of the bedroom window saw what was happening, hurriedly flung a few possessions into a carpet bag”. Meanwhile the animals had chased Jones and his men out onto the road and slammed the five barred gate behind them. And so almost before they knew what was happening, the rebellion had been successfully carried through; Jones was expelled and the Manor farm was theirs.

What inspired the animals to revolt? In Animal Farm the animals are inspired to revolt by Old Major in chapter 1 when he assembles the animals in the big barn to tell them of his strange dream from the previous night. Every animal made their way to the barn that night as they were all interested to hear what he had to say. But after all animals had assembled Old Major gave a speech for all the animals to hear. He says to the animals ‘now, comrades, what is this life of ours? Let us face it: our lives are miserable, laborious and short’ here he is telling the animals what are at the moment the facts of their lives. After this part of his speech he goes on and talks about how man’s rein over the land is but a mere fraction of how well off the world would be if the animals were in control and how much of a waste of life man is. He then tells the animals ‘why, work night and day, body and soul, for the overthrow of the human race!’ Here he gives the animals the message and instructions of what to do when he passes on. After his speech the animals let out a tremendous uproar as if letting Old Major know they backed his plan 100%. This was what inspired the animals to rebel against their human counterparts.

How do the events and characters of animal farm represent the events and people involved in the Russian revolution? The events and characters of Animal Farm quite clearly represent the events and people from the Russian revolution quite clearly. From the start we see that Mr Jones resembles Tsar Nicholas II - the person the animal’s rebel against - and that Old Major represents either Karl Marx or Vladimir Lenin the men who come up with and lead the revolution. Then we come to Napoleon and Snowball the two characters that when Old Major dies take it upon themselves to bring on the revolution, Snowball represents Leon Trotsky the well liked character who has the power to win over voters with his well enhanced speeches. Napoleon we know takes on the role of Joseph Stalin, a crafty politician who won his votes by forming alliances with others. However the two of them could not bring Russia forward working together so Stalin won power and then banished Trotsky from the country, therefore with Trotsky no longer in the public eye Stalin’s secret police were sent to assassinate him.

How do the events and characters of animal farm represent the events and people involved in the Russian revolution? This is represented in Animal Farm during the extract: ‘at this there was a terrible baying outside and nine enormous dogs wearing brass studded collars came bounding into the barn. They dashed straight for Snowball, who only sprang from his place just in time to evade their snapping jaws’ then it goes on to show him leaving the farm with the dogs in chase as it says ‘he was running only as fast a pig can run, but the dogs were close on his heels’ ‘ then he put on an extra spurt and with a few inches to spare he slipped through a hole in a hedge and was seen no more’. Once Stalin had gained power he used his slogan chanting masses (sheep) and propaganda machine (Squealer) to continue with power. In Animal Farm Squealer manages to win votes and the confidence of the other animals by skipping up and down and using complicated words. The sheep were taught by Napoleon and Squealer to chant during crucial points in Snowball’s speeches. Then we come to Boxer who represents the committed and dutiful workers who just get thrown aside when it suits the leader and who represents the bigheadedness of the leader Napoleon.