ANIMAL FARM CHAPTER DISCUSSIONS CHAPTER 5

VOCABULARY Blithely-happily, especially because you do not realize that something is wrong. Barley-A plant that produces grain used for making food, beer and whiskey. Silage-Grass and plants that are preserved and used for feeding farm animals. Unintelligible-Impossible to understand. Aloof-Does not want to be involved. Restive-Difficult to control. Reared-To look after a child/young animal until it is fully grown. Advocated-To strongly and publicly support someone or something. Tactics- A particular method or plan for achieving something

Chapter 5 The Windmill Represents Trotsky's 5-year Industrialisation Plan It is a symbol of the useful fruits of hard work and fair management / government. If such a project succeeds, the standard of living of the masses will improve tremendously. The windmill inevitably becomes a political pawn in the hands of evil revolutionary leaders.

The Windmill – yes or no? Chapter 5 Tension grows between Snowball and Napoleon as the two battle for power. Snowball wants to “upgrade” the farm with a windmill, which can supply power to the farm – working machines will result in the animals working less hours. He is truly committed to the development of the farm. Napoleon is power-hungry and jealous of the attention Snowball is getting with his plans – he believes they should get firearms and train themselves in the use of them (military mindset). He is only interested in developing his own power. The animals are short-sighted – they agree with the one who was speaking at the moment.

Convincing the others Chapter 5 In his efforts to get the other animals on his side, Napoleon makes a very clever use of the sheep The sheep represent the gullible, unthinking, uncritical masses who can be easily swayed The sheep are important to Napoleon’s plan to ultimately have all the power, as they will mindlessly follow Napoleon and repeat whatever slogan he wants them to repeat The sheep interrupt Snowball’s speeches with their bleating, thereby diverting the attention of the other animals away from what he is currently saying Snowball’s speech is tragically ironic, as he paints a picture of an ideal, productive and happy farm – something that will never be.

Snowball’s banishment Chapter 5 Snowball’s banishment Snowball’s banishment marks the beginning of Napoleon’s dictatorship Because Snowball is such a good speaker, Napoleon knew that Snowball had the ability to convince the animals to side with his idea of the windmill. Napoleon could not use language to convince the animals to vote for him, so he uses force – the vicious dogs The description of the dogs is effective – from now on the animals will never be safe from harm, as they are in constant danger of being ripped apart by the dogs – what happens to Snowball can happen to the others as well

Theme: Absolute power corrupts absolutely Chapter 5 Theme: Absolute power corrupts absolutely As soon as Napoleon’s position of power is asserted, he makes permanent changes: no more voting – pigs make decisions privately; animals will receive orders this changes the system from democracy to dictatorship Napoleon has no intention of sharing his position of power democratically The animals struggle to protest against Napoleon: some are not smart enough to find words to express themselves they are too scared of the dogs The animals’ lack of protest against Napoleon reinforces his power even more What Napoleon does is not true to the ideals of Animal Farm in its inception

Making changes Chapter 5 Show respect for Old Major’s memory by marching passed his skull before the Sunday meetings A military, soldierly style of behaviour is adopted by the pigs and the animals are expected to behave the same way Squealer announces that the windmill is to be built after all, and that it was in fact Napoleon’s idea from the start Squealer starts to manipulate the animals by making them believe that Snowball was a traitor and a bad influence