1. Animal Farm George Orwell
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Introduction
Background
Discussion Starters

2. Animal Farm George Orwell
Who’s holding down the farm?

3. Animal Farm: Introduction
Things are about to get a little strange on Manor Farm.

4. Animal Farm: Introduction
Farmer Jones has locked up the henhouse and stumbled off to bed . . .
thinking all is well in the barnyard.

5. Animal Farm: Introduction
He doesn’t know—nor would he believe—the events that are about to occur inside his barn.

6. Animal Farm: Introduction
Old Major, Manor Farm’s prize-winning boar, has called all the animals together.
Pigs, hens, horses,
dogs, ducks, goats—
all gather round to hear about Major’s dream.

7. Animal Farm: Introduction
Humans, old Major tells his comrades, are the enemy.
They produce nothing, yet own everything.
Animals work all their lives for their masters, but receive only enough food to keep them working.

8. Animal Farm: Introduction
Old Major believes that someday animals will work together to throw off their oppressors.
They will create a farm of their own, in which they will live in harmony, plenty, and equality.

9. Animal Farm: Introduction
Soon, Major says, the days of slavery will end.
The Rebellion will come.
And every animal must be ready.

10. Animal Farm: Introduction
Will the Jones place become the first true
ANIMAL FARM?!

11. Animal Farm: Background
Animal Farm is an allegory—a story that can be read on two levels.
One level is literal:
A pig is a pig.
A pig is a political leader.
The other level is figurative—something represents something else.

12. Animal Farm: Background
Events and characters in an allegory are used by a writer to convey a moral message.
Orwell’s story seems to be about barnyard animals.
But what is the story really about?

13. Animal Farm: Background
George Orwell uses his novel to comment on events in Russian history, Communism, and revolutions.
Russian Revolution
the peasants’ revolt
rise of totalitarianism
the Moscow purge trials

14. Animal Farm: Background
The Russian Revolution occurred in March 1917.
It was brought on by economic hardship and the injustices of Russian czars, and
was encouraged by the Communist Manifesto of Karl Marx.
The czar of Russia was overthrown and revolutionaries assumed leadership of the country. They tried to transform the country through communist principles.

15. Animal Farm: Background
Under Joseph Stalin, the country fell under totalitarianism—a form of government with strong central rule that tries to control individual freedoms.
Stalin instituted “Five-Year Plans” to increase economic growth, but ordered farms to give most of their products to the government.
Peasants who opposed Stalin were sent to labor camps, deported, or executed.

16. Animal Farm: Background
Not everyone wanted a Communist country. In 1920, peasants revolted against the government’s efforts to turn their individual farms into collective farms.
The government wanted farmers to share land, equipment, and the rewards of their labor, but
most farmers preferred to keep their own land and farm the old way.

17. Animal Farm: Background
By 1938, Stalin began to use what become known as the “Moscow purge trials” to control workers.
Millions of peasants who opposed Stalin were severely punished.
Nearly eight million were arrested and tried for treason.
Some were sent off to labor camps or deported; others were executed.

18. Animal Farm: Background
Many of the characters in Animal Farm represent political leaders of the Russian Revolution.
Czar Nicholas II
Karl Marx
Vladimir Lenin
Leon Trotsky
Joseph Stalin

19. Animal Farm: Background
Czar Nicholas II
part of the Romanov dynasty that ruled Russia for over 300 years
czar means emperor and comes from the word Caesar
Russian czars lived in a magnificent palace called the Kremlin
Czar Nicholas II, his wife, and his children were executed during the Russian Revolution

20. Animal Farm: Background
Karl Marx
a journalist whose unpopular views forced him to leave Prussia and settle in London
published the Communist Manifesto, a statement of his ideas about government and politics
believed that communism would become the main form of government

21. Animal Farm: Background
Vladimir Lenin
leader of the Bolsheviks
overthrew the provisional government put in place by the Russian Revolution
led the Communist government until his death in 1924

22. Animal Farm: Background
Leon Trotsky
a strict Marxist (favored pure communism)
a talented organizer who played a major role in the Russian Revolution
exiled in 1928 when rival Joseph Stalin became dictator
executed by Stalin’s forces while living in exile

23. Animal Farm: Background
Joseph Stalin
favored a modified form of Marxism
secretary general of the Communist Party when Lenin died
outmaneuvered Trotsky and became dictator
formed a pact with Germany in 1939, but allied with Britain by 1944

24. Animal Farm
Discuss (1)
Communism in its purest form relies on people’s willingness to work to the best of their abilities to meet the needs of everyone in society.
Is such a system desirable? Is it possible?
Why might attempts at pure communism be rare and hard to sustain?

25. Animal Farm
Discuss (2)
The animals on Manor Farm hope to build a utopia, or perfect society, free of masters and the suffering they bring. Can a utopian society last?
What factors are needed to keep a utopian system in place?
What forces might threaten or destroy it?