Animal farma book by george orwell

Presented by:Nimisha Gupta

About the Author

• Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950),better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English novelist and journalist.

• He was born in 1903 in Bengal (where his father worked for the Opium Department of the Government of India) and educated in England.

• In 1922 he joined the Imperial police in Burma for 5 years.

• Came to Paris and had a series of ill paid jobs before becoming a contributor to ‘The Adelphi’ from 1930.

• His first book publication was Down and Out in Paris and London (1933) dealing with his experience of poverty and homelessness in those two cities.

• Orwell also wrote six fictional novels, as well as a number of essay collections and an account of his involvement in the Spanish Civil War, Homage to Catalonia (1938 ).

• From 1943-1945 he was a literary editor of ‘The Tribune’

• He is best known for the dystopian novel, Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949) and the satirical novel, Animal Farm (1945).

• He died in 1950 after a long battle with tuberculosis

• Considered perhaps the 20th century's best chronicler of English culture, Orwell wrote literary criticism and poetry as well as fiction and polemical journalism

• Orwell's influence on culture, popular and political, has been so much that several of his neologisms, along with the term Orwellian, (now a byword for any draconian social phenomenon or concept inimical to a free society) have entered the vernacular

About the book

• In March 1943 Orwell's mother died and around the same time he started work on a new book, which turned out to be Animal Farm

• By April 1944 Animal Farm was ready for publication.

• The novel was an allegory of the 1917 Russian Revolution

• Most of the publishers refused to publish it, considering it an attack on the Soviet regime which was a crucial ally in the World War II to England.

• Finally, Secker and Warburg agreed to publish Animal Farm, and it appeared in print in August 1945.

Why Orwell wrote the book

• He was a democratic socialist

• He was disgusted by Stalin’s betrayal of the ideals of the Russian Revolution

• He wanted to teach:-

Power corrupts;

Revolutions come full circle and devour their people;

Even good people are vulnerable to power hungry leaders if they don’t question what they’re told.

Animal Farm

The Characters…

An old boar whose speech rouses the animals into rebellion. His philosophy is called Animalism. He teaches the animals the song of freedom “Beasts of England.”

He is a young boar who becomes one of the rebellion’s most valuable leaders. He draws complicated plans for the windmill.

A boar, who with Snowball, leads the rebellion against Jones. He systematically takes over the farm and becomes undisputed tyrant.

A porker pig who becomes Napoleon’s mouthpiece. He uses his ability to manipulate the animals.

A dedicated and hard worker. He keeps believing that hard work solves all problems. He is sort of dimwitted.

A motherly horse who tries to take care of Boxer and who silently questions Napoleon’s decisions.

A cynical, pessimistic donkey who continually undercuts the animals’ enthusiasm.

A vain horse who prefers ribbons and sugar over ideas and rebellion. She is eventually lured off the farm.

A tame raven who tells the animals stories about a paradise called Sugarcandy Mountain

The owner of Manor Farm, later expelled by the animals.

The farmer’s wife who flees from the farm after the rebellion.

The dogs and their puppies raised to be Napoleon’s guard dogs.

A solicitor hired by Napoleon to act as an intermediary in Animal Farm’s trading with other farms.

The owner of Foxwood, another farm. He eventually sells some of his land to Napoleon.

An enemy of Pilkington and owner of Pinchfield, another farm. Known for driving hard bargains, he swindles Napoleon He later attacks the farm but is defeated.

Animal farm

The story…

• Animal Farm is a satirical fable set on Manor Farm, a typical English farm.

• Old Major calls a meeting of all the animals in the big barn.

• Old Major tells the animals that human beings are their sole enemies. Therefore the animals must take charge of their destiny by overthrowing Man in a great Rebellion.

• Old Major dies soon after the meeting and the other animals prepare for the Rebellion under Snowball, Napoleon, and Squealer’s leadership.

• One night, Mr. Jones passes out drunk, creating the perfect opportunity for the animals to rebel. The animals run them off the farm

• The animals burn all reminders of their former bondage

• Snowball changes the name of the farm to “Animal Farm” and comes up with Seven Commandments, which formed the basis of Animalism.

• These commandments were:

1. Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy.2. Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend.3. No animal shall wear clothes.4. No animal shall sleep in a bed.5. No animals shall drink alcohol.6. No animal shall kill any other animal.7. All animals are equal

• The first harvest is a great success. The animals adhere to the tenets of Animalism happily, and with good result. Each animal works according to his ability and gets a fair share of food.

• The pigs are the most intelligent animals, so they think up resolutions for the other animals to debate.

• Because most of the animals lack the intelligence to memorize the Seven Commandments, Snowball reduces them to the single maxim, “Four legs good, two legs bad.”

• As time goes by, the pigs increase their control over the animals and award themselves increasing privileges

• During this time, Napoleon also confiscates nine newborn puppies and secludes them in a loft in order to “educate” them.

• Jones and other farmers try to recapture Animal Farm but fail. The animals celebrate their victory in what they call “The Battle of the Cowshed.”

• Snowball and Napoleon clash over the windmill. Snowball wants to build a windmill in order to shorten the work week and provide the farm electricity, but Napoleon opposes it

• Napoleon summons nine fierce dogs (the puppies he trained) to run Snowball off the farm

• In the spring, Napoleon announces plans to build the windmill, claiming that it was his idea all along—rewriting history

• Building the windmill forces the animals to work harder and on Sundays. Shortages begin to occur, so Napoleon opens up trade with the human world

• Through Squealer, he lies that no resolutions against interaction with humans or the use of money had ever been passed.

• Napoleon enlists Whymper to be his intermediary, and the pigs move into the farmhouse. Yet again, Squealer assures the animals that there is no resolution against this

• One night, strong winds shake the farm and the animals awake to discover the windmill destroyed. Napoleon blames Snowball and sentences the expelled pig to death.

• In the winter, as conditions become worse on Animal Farm, Napoleon deceives the human world into thinking Animal Farm is prospering. He signs a contract for a quota of four hundred eggs per week, inciting a hen rebellion that results in several deaths

• Napoleon begins negotiating with Frederick and Pilkington to sell Animal Farm’s store of timber

• Napoleon holds an assembly in which he makes several animals confess to treachery and then has the dogs execute them.

• Another commandment is changed to read: “No animal shall kill any other animal without cause.”

• Napoleon continues to negotiate with the farmers and eventually decides to sell the timber to Mr. Pilkington.

• At last, the windmill is finished and named “Napoleon Mill.”

• Soon after, Napoleon announces that he will sell the timber to Frederick, quickly changing his allegiance and disavowing his earlier vilification of Frederick. Napoleon says that Pilkington and Snowball have been collaborating.

• Frederick pays for the timber in fake cash, and the next morning, Frederick and his men invade the farm and blow up the windmill. The animals manage to chase the humans off, though many die or are injured in what they call “The Battle of the Windmill.”

• After the battle, the pigs discover a case of whisky in the farmhouse. Squealer changes another commandment to “No animal shall drink alcohol to excess.”

• Napoleon declares the farm a Republic and is elected unanimously as President. The animals continue to work feverishly, most of all Boxer

• One day, Boxer collapses while overexerting himself. Napoleon promises to send him to the veterinarian in Willingdon. A few days later, a horse-slaughterer takes Boxer away in his van.

• One day, Squealer takes the sheep out to a deserted pasture where, he says, he is teaching them a song. On the day the sheep return, the pigs walk around the yard on their hind legs as the sheep chant, “Four legs good, two legs better.” The other animals are horrified.

• The Seven Commandments have been replaced with a single maxim: “All animals are equal , But some animals are more equal than others.”

• The pigs continue the longstanding pattern of awarding themselves more and more privileges.

• They buy a telephone and subscribe to magazines. They even wear Jones’s clothing.

• One night, Napoleon holds a conciliatory banquet for the farmers. He announces that the farm will be called “Manor Farm” again

• As the animals peer through the windows to watch the humans and pigs play poker, they cannot distinguish between them!

Who’s who…

Russian revolution and Animal Farm

• Mr. Jones- Czar Nicholas II

• Old Major- Lenin

• Snowball- Trotsky

• Napoleon- Stalin

• Dogs-KGB

• Windmill- 5 year plan

• Battle of the Cowshed- Russian Civil War

• Frederick- Hitler

• Animal Executions – Stalin’s Purge

• Battle of the Windmill – World War II

• Card Game- Tehran Conference

Teachings from the book

• Animal Farm is a story that uses animals to represent humans

• The central idea that the book carries is the one that has been known to us since ancient of days, put by Franz Kafka concisely in his quotation: ‘Power Corrupts’

• This distortion can be attributed to the natural tendency of human beings to start feeling superior of them and indulge in activities, which may not be virtuous themselves, by virtue of the authority

• Each form of regimen ends with a revolution with better future in minds of those who carry out this task but eventually leads to another corrupt form and hence, another revolution.

• The author administers superb usage of the metaphors to describe that human beings are always oppressed by others who are superior to them.

• The book tells its story in the form of a fable, animals depicting its main characters. The advantage of this type of literary technique borrowed from folklore literature is that it is easy to present different types of people in form of different animals

• Boxer, the horse, represents the labour class. A nation runs on because of its labour class which puts in their immense physical effort.

• But at the same time, Boxer (the labour class), is authoritatively ruled by the cleverer, pigs, despite its being much more powerful.

• Benjamin, the Donkey, represent the philosophers that despite knowing the future owing to their knowledge of the affairs, do not act promptly and are indifferent to the changes.

• Animal Farm talks of one of the most important aspect of the human society, Government and its relationship with the society to enforce justice in every sense of the term.

• Our society needs an authority to rule us lest we become a barbaric society. But the vices of human beings constituting the government have a great impact on everyone’s lives.

• It bears the message of social justice and makes one think of oneself as part of the human civilization first and then as an individual.

• Animal Farm is definitely a book that is worth reading, in fact a must- read.

• It has been on the list published by various organisations, of the best books and the best novels of the 20th century.

• It must be read for the beauty of sarcasm it displays and for the underlying message it conveys about social equality leading to the intended gist:

ALL MEN ARE EQUAL BUT SOME MEN ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS.