ANIMAL FARMFables and Allegory

A FABLE IS… Very short

Features nonhuman characters personified to the extreme (such as animals, plants, objects)

Ends with moral or lesson

AESOP Most well known writer of fables Lived in Athens, Greece Wrote many popular fables you are

familiar with…The Ant and the GrasshopperThe Lion and the MouseThe Boy Who Cried WolfThe Fox and the Crow

FAMOUS MORALS FROM AESOP Don’t cry over spilled milk.

Don’t count your chickens until they hatch.

Birds of a feather flock together.

Appearances are often deceiving.

Slow and steady wins the race.

ALLEGORY Form of artwork (in our case a piece of

literature) that has at least two meanings

Literal meaning—what is about

Symbolic meaning—story stands for something else

Fables are often allegories

THE ANT AND THE GRASSHOPPERIn a field one summer's day a grasshopper was hopping about, chirping and singing to its heart's content. A group of ants walked by, grunting as they struggled to carry plump kernels of corn. "Where are you going with those heavy things?" asked the grasshopper. Without stopping, the first ant replied, "To our ant hill. This is the third kernel I've delivered today."

"Why not come and sing with me," teased the grasshopper, "instead of working so hard?"

"We are helping to store food for the winter," said the ant, "and think you should do the same."

"Winter is far away and it is a glorious day to play," sang the grasshopper.

THE ANT AND THE GRASSHOPPERBut the ants went on their way and continued their hard work.

The weather soon turned cold. All the food lying in the field was covered with a thick white blanket of snow that even the grasshopper could not dig through. Soon the grasshopper found itself dying of hunger. He staggered to the ants' hill and saw them handing out corn from the stores they had collected in the summer. He begged them for something to eat.

“What!" cried the ants in surprise, "haven't you stored anything away for the winter? What in the world were you doing all last summer?"

"I didn't have time to store any food," complained the grasshopper; "I was so busy playing music that before I knew it the summer was gone."

The ants shook their heads in disgust, turned their backs on the grasshopper and went on with their work.

MORAL Don't forget -- there is a time for work and a time for play!

THE ANT AND THE GRASSHOPPER

Literal Symbolic

Ant Corn Grasshopper Summer Winter

Hardworking People Work/Preparation Simple Minded

People Opportunity Hard Times

ANIMAL FARM

Literal Symbolic

Mr. Jones Old Major Napoleon Snowball Squealer Animalism The Rebellion The Dogs Moses Boxer Benjamin Mollie

Czar Nicholas II Karl Marx Stalin Trotsky Propaganda Communism Russian Revolution KGB Religion Working class people of

Russia Skeptical people of Russia Vain/Selfish people of Russia

MR. JONES CZAR NICHOLAS II Cruel—beats

animals with a whip

Irresponsible because he doesn’t feed them much

Sometimes kind—mixes milk in mash

Poor Russian leader

Lived lavish lifestyle at expense of people

Cruel—brutal to opponents

Sometimes kind

OLD MAJOR KARL MARX Taught

Animalism Workers do the

work, but rich keep the money

Dies before revolution

Collected ideas of communism

“Workers of the world unite” to take over gov’t

Dies before revolution

NAPOLEON STALIN Not a good

speaker, not as clever as Snowball

Cruel, brutal, selfish, corrupt

Ambition is for power, killed opponents

Used dogs to control animals

Not a good speaker, not educated like Trotsky

Didn’t follow Marx’s ideas

Ambition for power, killed all that opposed him

Used KGB and propaganda to get his way

SNOWBALL TROTSKY Young, smart,

good speaker Really wants

better life for all Chased away

into exile by Napoleon’s dogs

Other leader of Russian Revolution

Pure communist, followed Marx

Wanted to improve life for all people of Russia

Chased away by KGB

ANIMALISMCOMMUNISM No owners, no

rich, but no poor Workers get a

better life All animals equal Everyone owns

farm

No owners, no rich, but no poor

All people are equal

Government owns everything, people own government

THE REBELLION

SQUEALER

THE DOGS

MOSES THE RAVEN

MOLLIE

BOXER

BENJAMIN

FREDERICK AND PILKINGTON

OVERVIEW