1. law, govt and politics
2. politics

AP Literature
MAJOR WORKS DATA SHEET
Title: _Animal Farm_________________________
Author: __George Orwell_______________________
Date of Publication: _August 17,1945_______________
Genre: ___Political Satire____________________
Historical Information about the period and place of
publication – what was happening in the world the
author lived in and how might that have influenced
him?
There were many events going on during George Orwell’s life. Politically, the most important event was World War II and the immediate effects/events. During the 1930­1945, there is a constant struggle for power. Adolf Hitler had an entire nation under his command. With Stalin’s quick thinking after Vladimir Lenin, through strategic maneuvers with the Bolsheviks, Stalin was able to gain complete dictatorship of the Soviet Union. Economically, Orwell grew up in the time of the Great Depression. This era of economic depression was not only confined to America, the close trade partners with the United States also felt the repercussion of the stock market failure. The Great Depression that George Orwell experiences carried over into the social aspect too. Because of inflation and the heavy reliance of nonexistent money, social classes were changed. The majority of the population was living in poverty, George Orwell was one of these people. Biographical Information about the Author
George Orwell, born Eric Arthur Blair was born on June 25th, 1903, in Motihari, Bengal, India. He is best known for his satirical works. Particularly, ​
1984​
and Animal Farm​
are the most popular works of his. He was born as a son of a civil servant. When Orwell was around one year old, his mother took him and his sister to England. His father stayed in India to continue work as a civil servant. It is said that Orwell started writing at a very young age, writing he first poem at 4 years old. Like the other boy in England, Orwell attending boarding school for his education. It is here where Orwell first witnessed social injustice. After winning a scholarship to attend Eton, Orwell finishing up his schooling only to find that his family could not afford to send him to University. Therefore, Orwell decided to join the Indian Imperial Police in Burma. After his resignation, Orwell decided to become a professional writer. Struggling with his career, he took on many odd jobs including dish washing in order to support himself. Because of these experiences, Orwell began to publish under his name in order not to embarrass the family name ,In 1936, Orwell traveled to Spain where he was shot in the throat in his participation in a milita. He and his wife were considered treasonous against Spain. In 1943, Orwell was diagnosed with TB. In 1945, Orwell came out with ​
Animal Farm​
and in 1949, with ​
1984. ​
George Orwell lost his fight to TB on January 21st, 1950. He survived with one adopted son, Richard Horatio Blair.
Characteristics of the Genre
There characteristics for political satire usually comprises of many allegories and symbols that elude to certain politicians, parties, and ideologies. These people or views are often exaggerated in the novel to put emphasis on the certain aspects of that group/ideology​
.
Plot Summary
Animal Farm is a story of how a bunch of animals overthrow the farmer/owner in order to begin their own
society. Ruled mainly by the pigs, the animals set out to create a farm that is under the influence of
“animalism”. which closely mirrors communism. The animals rejoice in the fact that they were able to
overthrow their old oppressor, Mr. Jones. The animals establish a song they learned from Old Major as
their theme song, “Beasts of England”. A few days later, Mr. Jones a few other farmers try to regain
control of the farm, but no avail. The sovereignty of the farm animals was official. After Animal Farm
begins to prosper, Napoleon ousts Snowball using nine dogs he has raised from birth. From that day on it
was decided that the pigs would make all the decisions on the farm. Soon, Napoleon is essentially a
dictator who controls all aspects of the farm animals’ lives. A few years later, the pigs become more and
more human. They decide to bend the initial rules made and claimed that some animals are more “equal”
than others.
Describe the author’s style
Orwell’s style can be accurately describes
to be blunt and to the point, a bit like
Hemingway in fact. Orwell tends to be
simplistic and straight forward.
An example that demonstrates that style
Boxer's face did not reappear at the window. Too late,
someone thought of racing ahead and shutting the
five-barred gate; but in another moment the van was
through it and rapidly disappearing down the road. Boxer
was never seen again.
Memorable Quotes
Quotation
Significance
“Man is the only creature that While hard to listen to, Orwell does accurately describe the consumes without producing. He human race in terms of work/animal ethics. It’s entirely true does not give milk, he does not lay as we tend to leech the natural resources of the world and yet eggs, he is too weak to pull the give nothing back plough, he cannot run fast enough to catch rabbits. Yet he is lord of all the animals. He sets them to work, he gives back to them the bare minimum that will prevent them from starving, and the rest he keeps for himself." (Orwell 19) “No question, now, what had happened to the faces of the pigs. The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again;but already it was impossible to say which was which..” (Orwell 128) This shows that the pigs are becoming what they initially were fighting against: human oppression. They broke all the commandment that they set up and now the animals doesn’t even split the difference between man and pig. The irony of this Characters
Name
Napoleon
Snowball
Role in the Story
Dictator
Ousted Leader/Blame taker
Significance
Adjectives
He was the pig that assumed to
become the leader of the
Animal farm and decide all
aspect of the animals’ lives,
even death.
Brutal,
oppressive,
severe, and cold
blooded.
Napoleon's rival in the
competition for power,
suppose to represent Leon
Trotsky.
Smart,
passionate and
eloquent.
He isn’t that smart but is
extremely loyal to his task and
always strives to work harder.
Perseverance,
patience, and
relentless.
She always questions the pigs
about breaking the
commandments that were
established but always
Kind and gentle
Boxer
Workhorse
Clover
Questioner
Mollie
Non-conformist
She’s the horse that wants
human attention all the time.
She can not live without her
ribbons and sugar cubes.
Dependant and
reliant.
“Old” Ruler of Manor Farm
He was the oppressive dictator
that the farm animals
overthrew.
Drunk and angry
Mr. Jones
Setting
Significance of opening scene
This novel takes place on a farm based in England.
Correlating with the time of the Russian Revolution,
1917 -1945.
The opening scene is the “calm before the
story” where Old Major discusses his dream of
how the Animal Farm would be run.
Significance of ending/closing scene
Symbols
1. The dogs symbolized the military force that
Stalin used to enforce his power.
The closing scene shows how about the pigs
have changed into the thing they first
opposed: humans. It shows the irony that
George Orwell is trying to convey about
communism.
2. The pigs are the government with Napoleon being
representative of Stalin.
Old AP Questions
3. The windmill symbolizes the exploiting of the other
farm animals by the pigs for the pigs’ gain.
Leave Blank for Now
4. The other animals represent the lower/working class
5. The neighboring farmers represent foreign nations.
Mr. Fredrick being Germany/Hitler and Mr. Pilkington
being England/US.
Possible Themes
1. Communism/Socialism is corrupted
2. Having a low educated working class is dangerous
3. Communism creates two distinct classes: The working and the privileged/