Allegory – Satire – Fable “All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others.”

The Author Orwell's Background, Beliefs, and Purpose Make a heading! When you see this,you need to write that point, or the bold part of it! Feel free to shorten, abbreviate, etc.

George Orwell British Author & Journalist   Born in India as Eric Blair  India = part of British Empire  Father, Richard, held a post in the Indian Civil Service  Not wealthy - he would ironically describe his family as “lower-upper-middle class”  No property or extensive investments  Like many middle-class English families of the time – totally dependent on the British Empire for their livelihood  A lonely boy, who liked to make up stories and talk to imaginary companions  As an adult, worked for Imperial Police in British occupied India subheading

 Noted novelist and critic, as well as political and cultural commentator  One of most widely admired 20 th century English essayists  Bests known for novels criticizing totalitarianism/Stalinism  Animal Farm  Nineteen Eightey-Four

Orwell's Beliefs  Had a reputation for standing apart – and making that objectivity a virtue  “Outsider” who often opposed the crowd  Political beliefs affected by experiences in Spanish Civil War  Socialists, communists, and fascists = repressive and self-serving  Skeptical of gov’ts and their willingness to forsake ideas/the people in favor of power “Liberty is telling people what they do not want to hear.” subheading

The Purpose of Animal Farm  A masterpiece of political satire  Tale of the oppressed who long for freedom, but are corrupted by assuming the power that once oppressed them  Traces the conditions of mistreated animals personified  Due to neglect, the animals revolt and kick Mr. and Mrs. Jones off farm  The animals ultimately turn their society into a totalitarian regime = Orwell’s critique of the communist system in the Soviet Union Orwell originally struggled to find a publisher for Animal Farm – it then sold copies in four years! subheading

Why Animals?  In explaining how he came to write Animal Farm, Orwell says he once saw a little boy whipping a horse, and later wrote, “It struck me that if only such animals became aware of their strength we should have no power over them, and that men exploit animals in much the same way as the rich exploit the [worker].”

Allegory – Satire - Irony The levels of meaning in Animal Farm Make a new heading!

Allegory  allegory: a work with two (or more) levels of meaning – a literal one, and a symbolic one  Uses symbolism to tell the real story - most characters, objects, settings, events represent abstract qualities  Traditionally, use personification  Purposes:  convey truths about life  teach a lesson  criticize an institution  Animal Farm symbolism:  The “real story” = betrayal of idealism through tyranny and corruption – i.e. the Russian Revolution!  pigs = tyrannical Soviet rulers (or simply any leader who relies on oppression and manipulation) subheading

Other Examples of Allegory:  Wall-E  The Matrix  Lord of the Flies  Star Wars  The Wizard of Oz  Avatar

Animal Farm was written in as the world was just starting to see the effects of Communism after the Russian Revolution. To understand the allegory, you need to understand the historical context: the political, social, cultural, and economic setting.

What does that mean exactly?  The book was written during WWII.  One of the world’s biggest powers, Russia, just went through some heavy changes (5.5 million people died in the Civil War) and the Russian monarchy was out !  Communism had just started to “take over” the Eastern world.

Satire  Satire: ridicules ideas, customs, behaviors, institutions for the purpose of improving society  May be gently witty, mildly rude, or bitterly critical  Often uses irony and exaggeration  Orwell uses satire to expose what he saw as the “myth” of Soviet socialism  Novel tells a story people of all ages can understand, but also a second story – of a real-life revolution Soviet coat of arms subheading

Irony  Irony: contrast b/w appearance and reality – usually reality is opposite of what it seems  Dramatic = difference b/w what animals understand and what audience knows  We realize the pigs are decadent, corrupt, and immoral, w/o narrator pointing it out  Irony stages a critique by exaggerating faults and revealing hypocrisies  We see the hypocrisy that the animals don’t – WE understand that the book is deeply critical of the pigs Snowball and the commandments But Napoleon pigs out! Orwell uses dramatic irony to create a very subtle satire subheading

 The novel shows how corruption, wickedness, indifference, ignorance, and greed destroy any possibility of a Utopia. Um…so what’s the point?

What is Utopia? An ideally perfect place

Narrative Style How Orwell writes Animal Farm Make a new heading!

Tone  Tone: the way somebody says something as an indicator of what that person is feeling or thinking  The tone of Animal Farm is objective. The narrator acts as a bystander. subheading

Imagery  Using descriptions to create a mental image.  It helps the reader to better understand the concept of animals running a farm, something we aren’t normally used to. subheading

Voice  Animal Farm was written in the past tense. Active voice is used mainly through the story to describe the actions of the animals.  The way the animals speak is very simple and easy to understand. subheading

All in all, Animal Farm is a story that uses animals to represent humans, (and specific historical figures) and demonstrate how Communism will never work no matter how good the intentions are.