Today we are learning: …about George Orwell. …about Dictatorship

Animal Farm is an unusual story told in clear and straightforward language. On first impression it might seem like a children’s story. However, it has a strong, political purpose. We will study the purpose behind George Orwell’s story and explore how and why Animal Farm has become seen as a classic in the history of World Literature.

Published in Written by world famous writer, George Orwell. Consistently appears in listings for the top Best 20th-Century Novels. Adapted into film several times What is significant about the year 1945? Other famous books written by George Orwell?

George Orwell was born in After leaving school he served as a policeman in Burma. He experienced poverty there for the first time. It made him hate authority and want to fight for the working classes. In 1936, he went to Spain to fight for the Spanish Republicans in the Spanish Civil War. Context Thousands of young men from different lands volunteered to fight for the freedom of ordinary Spanish people against a group of Army Fascist leaders who had taken over control of the country. Orwell was an idealist, prepared to fight for his beliefs that all people should be treated equally. He was shot in the throat. What ideals would you fight for?

What ideals would you fight for? Having been shot in the throat, George Orwell had to find other ways to fight against unfairness. In an essay, he lists reasons why he writes. He writes for … ‘Political purpose. — Using the word ‘political’ in the widest possible sense. Desire to push the world in a certain direction, to alter other peoples’ idea of the kind of society that they should strive after.’ “The Spanish war and other events in turned the scale and thereafter I knew where I stood. Every line of serious work that I have written since 1936 has been written, directly or indirectly, against totalitarianism and for democratic socialism, as I understand it.” A B

“My starting point is always a feeling of partisanship, a sense of injustice.” George Orwell Totalitarianism - dictatorship: a form of government in which the ruler is an absolute dictator Name the totalitarian leaders on the following pages.

Animal Farm is an unusual story in that it is an animal story written for adults. It is not simply a story about animals but has deeper meanings. Animal Farm is an allegory. Allegory is a way of writing a story so that it has two different meanings. The first is the clear, LITERAL meaning – surface meaning. The second is a deeper, allegorical meaning. An allegory is a bit like a book-long extended metaphor.

‘Anthropomorphic Fantasy’ (animal centred animal fable) “Animals have human-like relationships in their own ‘natural’ environment and they speak to each other. Humans and animals do not speak to each other although their worlds may connect. Some humans may be privileged to understand the animals’ communication, and vice versa.” Example: Watership Down (Adams 1974); Aesop’s Fables (Aesop and Rackham 1994), Animal Farm (Orwell 1996)

Famous allegories

Why do writers choose to write a story as an allegory? George Orwell has used animal characters as a way to making a point about Human behaviour. In an allegory human behaviour can be simplified and so their actions and motives become clearer. Often in allegories, simplification leads to exaggeration. This helps the reader to identify what exactly the writer is criticising about human behaviour. By avoiding talking about specific controversial events (e.g. the Russian Revolution), it allows the reader to stand back and be detached when they are thinking about the principles at stake.

Write your own little allegory Ensure that it has a clear message about human behaviour and how we should behave.

allegory a story, poem, or picture that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, typically a moral or political one