Four legs good, two legs bad

Marx- a German philosopher who propose ideas that led to the modern concept of communism (utopia)• The idea of a utopia was around before Marx (Thomas More)

Believed that life has two classes:• Working class and Owner Class

“From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs.”• Everyone shares

Wealthy vs. Everyone Else Czar Nicholas II and the Romanov Dynasty

Marx-Communist Manifesto• Unite the working class

1917• End of the Romanov Dynasty• Communist Take over

1924• Vladimir Ilych Lenin died• Joseph Stalin vs. Leon

Trotsky Stalin

• Manipulative• Violent

20 million Soviet citizens

Eric Blair British political novelist “Born 1903 to British colonists in Bengal, India” (pg. 1) Witnessed the oppression of Britain

on India as well as England’s class system

Became a Socialist• Highly regarded Marx and Lenin

1930’s and 1940’s• Against the Soviet Union and its policies• Still admired Lenin, but not Stalin and his

tactics Anti-totalitarian novels

• Animal Farm • 1984

Spain• Trotsky vs. Stalin

Animal Farm• “a fairy story”• Political tract• Satire on human folly• Lesson on Utopia• Allegory• Fable

The Soviet Myth Reception in Britain and America

• 1943 Published August 17, 1945

“a fairy story”• Includes legends, moral stories, and

beast fables Political Tract Satire on human folly

• “the use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues” (Google definitions)

Lesson on Utopia Allegory

• “a story, poem, or picture that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, typically a moral or political one” (Google definitions)

Fable• “a short story, typically with animals as

characters, conveying a moral.” (Google definitions)

Drunken Mr. Jones stumbles into the house and passes out on his bed

The animals gather in the barn knowing that Old Major, a pillar of the animal community, is going to speak

Old Major wishes to instill his wisdom to the other animals• Animals are slaves to the humans• His dream shows a time when animals are free

and happy

Make note that the story is a satire of all forms of totalitarianism• Fascism, Communism, and Capitalism

Why make it a fable?• Historically fables are great ways to openly

criticize a culture without the backlash• Also, the simplicity allows for the symbolism

and lessons to be clearly understood

The song “Beasts of England” creates the central goal of all people• A utopian place where government is not

needed• However, greed and self-interest will always

need a government to police it Finally, make note that the story

specifically targets the Russian Revolution

Old Major dies three days later, and the animals begin their plot to overthrow Farmer Jones

The animals, under the leadership of the pigs, begin to learn about animalism and other important teachings• What is the problem with rank and teachings?

Moses, the church, begins to interfere with the pigs’ plans for revolution• Tales about a paradise after death does not help

radicalism

The Revolution occurs earlier than expected• Mr. Jones’ drinking problem allowed for him

to forget about feeding the animals• When the animals wanted food they broke

into the storehouse• This created upheaval among the farmers

and violence broke loose

The comparison between Russia and the farm is more clear• Farm is part capitalist and agrarian

Religion and Communism do not mix! Ignorant loyalty can lead to

manipulation by the educated Orwell is feeling for the lower classes

• They are manipulated and mistreated just like the lowly animals

Focus- collective good• Snowball creates committees to educate the

animals• Use human tools to work the fields• Boxer “I will work harder”

However, we begin to see the manipulation• Napoleon secretly trains the dogs• The pigs receive the apples and milk for brain

food (it is for the greater good)

Boxer’s motto:• The oppression of the state against the trials of

the poor• Sometimes hard work is not enough and

sometimes it is exploitation Imbalance of knowledge

• Pigs possess it and the animals do not Generalization of the motto

• Moral values- do not kill another animal• Utopian ideals- all animals are equal

Squealer figures crucially in the novel, as his proficiency in spreading lie-filled propaganda allows the pigs to conceal their acts of greed beneath a veneer of common good.

His statements and behaviors exemplify the linguistic and psychological methods that the pigs use to control the other animals while convincing them that this strict regime is essential if the animals want to avoid becoming subject to human cruelty again.

Major- Snowball- Napoleon- Squealer- Goats- Moses- Horses-

The song "Beasts of England" is now being hummed and sung over half of the county, although no other farms have joined the Rebellion.

Armed with a shotgun, Mr. Jones and several men from town attempt to recapture the farm, but Snowball leads the animals in successfully defending it.

Medals for bravery are awarded to Snowball, Boxer, and the one sheep killed in the battle. Mr. Jones's gun is set up at the foot of the flagpole, and it will be fired on the anniversaries of the Rebellion

In this chapter, Orwell makes masterful use of irony, an important component of satirical writing, to illustrate the gap between what the animals are fighting for and what they believe they are fighting for.

Orwell's scrutiny of the motivations behind mass violence and manipulative leadership.

Mollie: still does not want to follow animalism• She eats sugar from men

Napoleon versus Snowball• Windmill: current versus future

Napoleon takes charge• The dogs chase away Snowball

Lenin once famously remarked that communism was merely socialism plus the electrification of the countryside• a comment that reveals the importance of

technological modernization to leaders in the young Soviet Union.

This chapter illuminates Napoleon's corrupt and power-hungry motivations.• He openly and unabashedly seizes power for

himself, banishes Snowball with no justification, and shows a bald-faced willingness to rewrite history in order to further his own ends.

The animals work at a great pace to gain enough food for themselves and rebuild the windmill

The animals’ lives are no different then under Mr. Jones

Napoleon begins to trade with humans to get some of the necessary supplies for animal farm

Pigs sleep in beds, but its fine because it has no sheets

Government strategies on the working class:• Overworking of the labor class• Justifying the riches of the ruling class• Propaganda on the government’s

ineffectiveness Invisible enemy of governments More power= more corruption

The rebuilding of the windmill must commence

Napoleon contracts to sell eggs to make money for the farm• The hens try to sabotage the selling and nine

die due to forced starvation Napoleon and the inquisition

• Many animals die due to their conspiracy with Snowball

Collapse of the windmill is a collapse of the pigs’ pride and prestige

Nevertheless, the pigs try to hide the failure of the farm from the public so as to not appear to be failures

Purges or trials are similar to what Stalin did in trying to demonize Trotsky

Napoleon becomes the leader and has a lot of other titles

The haggling of the timber• Whichever farm is going to buy the timber

is the favorite farm The Destruction of the windmill Whiskey rebellion

Systematic perversion of truth is unnoticed by the animals

Minimus's poem provides compelling evidence for the animals' largely uncritical attitude toward the regime that oppresses it. Though the poem is outrageously inflated and tastelessly sentimental, the animals don't question it; instead, they allow it to speak for them.

Similarly, Animal Farm's ever-alternating alliance with Mr. Frederick and Mr. Pilkington and the leaders' claim that the farm has always remained committed to the same farmer reaches the apex of absurdity in 1984. In the middle of a speech during Hate Week, the masses mindlessly accept the speaker's assertion that their country, Oceania, which has indeed been at war with Eurasia, is actually not at war and never has been at war with Eurasia. He says the country is and always has been at war with Eastasia. The masses, carrying explicit anti-Eurasia signs, become embarrassed about their apparent mistake.

Orwell uses Boxer's death as a searing indictment of such totalitarian rule, and his death points sadly and bitterly to the downfall of Animal Farm. The great horse seems to have no bad qualities apart from his limited intellect, but, in the end, he falls victim to his own virtues—loyalty and the willingness to work

Orwell's conception of the ways in which the Russian communist power apparatus treated the working class that it purported to serve: Orwell suggests that the administration exhausted the resources of the workers for its own benefit and then mercilessly discarded them.

In order to defuse potential outrage at his blatant cruelty, Napoleon brings Moses back and allows him to tell his tales of Sugarcandy Mountain, much as Stalin made a place for the once-taboo Russian Orthodox Church after World War II. Moses's return signals the full return of oppression to the farm.

The gullibility of the animals is still evident• They hope that someday they hope to

achieve the republic that Old Major talked about

However, we are at the end and its is the continuation of the beginning• Because some animals are more equal than

others