Animal Farm

Communism and Characters

Allegory

• What is an allegory?

– An allegory is a fable (improbable story), or a

short moral story. Often, it has animals as

characters

• Example of Allegory

– Aesop’s fables

– Read/Find Moral here

Animal Farm: A Fairy

Story

• The complete title of Animal Farm is

Animal Farm: A Fairy Story. What fairy

stories can you think of?

• What do these stories have in common?

Communism

• Communism—a form of government in

which there are no “owners”—everyone is

a worker, everyone produces, everyone

takes what they need. There is no

“oppression” of people by those who are

rich. There is no “oppression” of those

who are poor.

• Do you think Communism could work in

the United States? Why/Why not?

Brief Communism

Hisory--Players

• Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels– Create idea of communism

• Vladimir Lenin – Founder of Soviet Republics

– Leads October Revolution to overthrow government

• Leon Trotsky – Original partner of Lenin

– Broke with party after disagreeing with the direction the party was going

• Josef Stalin– Secretary General of Communist Party

– Increasing power made him dictator

Characters

•Workers get a better

life; all animals equal

•No owners—no rich, no

poor

•Everyone owns the

farm

•No owners—no rich, no

poor

•All people equal

•Government owns

everything—people own

government

����Animalism

Communism ����

Characters

•Taught Animalism

•Workers do work while

rich keep

money=animals revolt

•Dies before revolution

•Citizens unite to

overthrow gov’t

•Created Communism

•Dies before Russian

Revolution

����Old Major

Karl Marx����

Characters

•Neglected his animals—

let them starve

•Sometimes cruel—beat

them with a whip

•Sometimes nice—mixed

milk in with their mash

•A poor leader at best—

compared with Western

kings

•Cruel—sometimes

brutal with opponents

•Sometimes kind—hired

students as spies to

make money

����Farmer Jones

Czar Nicholas II ����

Characters

•Followed teachings of Old

Major

•Lead Animals’ Revolution

•Chased away by

Napoleon’s dogs

•Followed teachings of

Marx

•Lead “October

Revolution”

•Chased away by KGB

(Secret Police)

����Snowball

Leon Trotsky����

Characters

•Not a good speaker or

clever like Snowball

•Wanted power—killed

those who opposed him

•Didn’t follow Old Major’s

plans for the farm

•Not a good speaker or

well-educated like Trotsky

•Wanted power-killed those

who opposed him

•Didn’t follow Marx’s ideals

����Napoleon

Josef Stalin����

Characters

•Big mouth, talks a lot

•Convinces animals to believe

and follow Napoleon

•Changes and manipulates

the commandments

•Used by Stalin to better his

image

•Used any lie to convince

people to support Stalin

•Benefitted from the fact that

education was controlled

����Squealer

Propaganda����

Characters

•Strong, hardworking—

believes in Animal Farm

•“Napoleon is always right”, “I

must work harder”

•Gives his all, yet is betrayed

by Napoleon

•Believed Stalin because he

said he was Communist

•Stayed loyal after Stalin’s

tyrannical takeover

•Betrayed by Stalin, who

killed or ignored them

����BoxerDedicated Communist

supporters����

Characters

•A private army that used fear

to force animals to work

•Killed or intimidated any

opponent of Napoleon

•Another part of Napoleon’s

strategy to control animals

•Used force—often killed

entire families for

disobedience

•Not really police—forced

support for Stalin

•Totally loyal, powerful over

army

����The Dogs

The KGB (Stalin’s Secret

Police)����

Characters

•Tells animals about “Sugar

Candy Mtn.,” where they can

go if they work hard

•Snowball and Major were

against him

•Napoleon let him stay because

he taught animals to work hard

and not complain

•Marx said religion was a lie

•Used to make people not

complain and do their work

•Tolerated by Stalin, who knew

it would stop violent

revolutions

����Moses

Religion����

Characters

•Vain—loved beauty and

herself

•Didn’t think about animal

farm

•Went with anyone who

gave her what she wanted

•Some didn’t care about

revolution

•Only thought about

themselves

•Went to other countries

who offered more for them

����Mollie

Vain, selfish people

of Russia/world����