Animal Farm by George Orwell

Background InformationModified from a Power Point Presentation found on the websitewww.bchs.ppsb.org/uploads/150/10/Intro_to_Animal_Farm.pps

From teacherweb.com/MN/PineIslandSchools/.../Intro_to_Animal_Farm.ppt

Length: 50,000 to 75,000 words

Prose: In paragraph form

Fiction by Nature: Not true

Uses: entertainment, propaganda, and expression of a personal philosophy

Characters: the personalities in a novel

•Developing Character (Round): a character who changes in some way during the course of the story; usually a major character who has several sides or traits to his personality

•Static Character (Flat): a character (usually a minor character) who does not change during the story; this kind off character generally has only one or two personality traits.

•Protagonist: a character who is trying to achieve some goal (usually the main character)

•Antagonist: a character who is trying to stop the protagonist

(1903-1950)

Real Name: Eric Blair

British Political Novelist

Born: To English parents in India

After his father retired, Eric and his family moved back to England.

He was sent to boarding school at the age of eight to prepare for Eton, an exclusive prep school.

Because he had a scholarship, he was teased and humiliated frequently.

                                     

                                          At eighteen, he passed the Empire’s Civil Service Exam and became a police officer

in Burma.          

Returned in Europe

Socialist: someone who believes that the government should own businesses so that everyone will be equal

Most fables have two levels of meaning. On the surface, the fable is about animals. But on a second level, the animals stand for types of people or ideas. The way the animals interact and the way the plot unfolds says something about the nature of people or the value of ideas. Any type of fiction that has multiple levels of meaning in this way is called an allegory.

A composition making fun of something, usually political.

Animal Farm makes fun of political society after the Bolshevik Revolution.

Russian society in the early twentieth century had two social classes: a tiny minority (bourgeoisie) controlled the country’s wealth.

The working class was called the proletariat.

Communism arose in Russia when the nation’s workers and peasants rebelled against and overwhelmed the wealthy and powerful class of capitalists and aristocrats.