1. Fairy Tales, Fables, and Animal Farm

2. Fairy Tales Also known as a fairy story—written to entertain audience A story of adventure involving fantastic forces and beings Snow White is an example Some call Animal Farm a fairy story, but it is much more than that

3. Fables One of the oldest literary forms— much older than fairy tales, novels, or short stories A brief story that teaches a moral or lesson Stories usually have animal characters with human qualities Aesop is the most famous fable writer of all time He was born in about 620 B.C. and wrote over 600 fables For example--“The Tortoise and the Hare”; “The Boy Who Cried Wolf” Animal Farm is an example of a fable because it teaches a moral and has animals with human traits

4. Satire Writing that ridicules (or makes fun of) human weakness in order to bring about reform or change George Orwell intended Animal Farm to be true satire Why? He wanted to expose the murderous truth about Russia’s soviet system so it would change

5. Symbolism Something that represents something else For example, a heart symbolizes love This novel is full of symbols: Animals symbolize humans from Russian/American history, even the flag and song mentioned in the story symbolize something

6. Irony A contrast between what we expect and what really happens Dramatic irony is found throughout this novel—the reader knows what characters in the story don’t know This may frustrate you as you read Just remember many Russians had no idea what horrible deeds their government/ leaders were doing to them

7. Allegory A story that has multiple levels of meaning and many symbols The song “American Pie” is an allegory On the surface this novel is about animals on a farm On another level, however, these animals represent real people or ideas Level One Level Two Level Three