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Real Name: Eric Blair British Political Novelist Born: To English parents in India
After his father retired, Eric and his family moved back to England.
He was sent to boarding school at the age of eight to prepare for Eton, an exclusive prep school. Because he had a scholarship, he was teased and humiliated frequently.
At eighteen, he passed the Empire’s Civil Service Exam and became a police officer in Burma.
Returned in Europe
Socialist: someone who believes that the government should own businesses so that everyone will be equal
Most fables have two levels of meaning. On the surface, the fable is about animals. But on a second level, the animals stand for types of people or ideas. The way the animals interact and the way the plot unfolds says something about the nature of people or the value of ideas. Any type of fiction that has multiple levels of meaning in this way is called an allegory.
A composition making fun of something, usually political. Animal Farm makes fun of political society after the Bolshevik Revolution.
Russian society in the early twentieth century had two social classes: a tiny minority (bourgeoisie) controlled the country’s wealth. The working class was called the proletariat.
Communism arose in Russia when the nation’s workers & peasants rebelled against and overwhelmed the wealthy and powerful class of capitalists & aristocrats.
Farmer Jones A drunk and a poor farmer, his cruelty towards the farm animals inspires their rebellion.
Snowball A clever pig with a head for ideas, he becomes one of the main leaders of Animal Farm and the author of its central commandments.
Napoleon A pig with a gift for techniques of control, he establishes most of the farm’s rules and eventually becomes its sole leader.
Old Major An elderly show pig whose instruction to the animals about "animalism" becomes the philosophical basis for the creation of Animal Farm.
Squealer A pig with the ability to make any idea sound reasonable, he is Napoleon's side-kick and is in charge of communicating to the animals.
Boxer A strong and hard-working carthorse, he shows tremendous faith in the rebellion and its leaders.