ANIMAL FARM BY GEORGE ORWELL - Denton ISD · ANIMAL FARM BY GEORGE ORWELL . GEORGE ORWELL . BACKGROUND ON ORWELL George Orwell was born in Bengal, India. ... and he chose George as

ANIMAL FARM

BY GEORGE ORWELL

GEORGE ORWELL

BACKGROUND ON ORWELL

George Orwell was born in Bengal, India. His

real name is Eric Blair.

In 1904, his mother moved back to England so

that her children could begin their education

there.

Orwell received a scholarship to study at Eton

in 1917. Aldous Huxley (author of Brave New

World) was one of his teachers.


At Eton, Orwell was first exposed to popular liberal and socialist ideas.

After graduating in 1921, he joined the Civil Service and went to Burma as a sergeant in the Indian Imperial Police.

He quit this job in 1927 because he did not like being an instrument of power over the Burmese people.


After quitting the Civil Service, Orwell chose to live among the working-class people of Paris and the homeless in England. This experience lasted for more than a year.

He wrote about these experiences in his first book, Down and Out in Paris and London (published in 1933).

At this time, he adopted his pseudonym George Orwell.


He took Orwell from an English river near where he once lived, and he chose George as his first name because it was typically English.

At this time, he worked as a teacher, and after he married, he and his wife ran a village pub and the general store.

In 1936, he became a socialist, and his publisher encouraged him to write about oppressed people. He did.


In 1945, he published Animal Farm, one of

the two novels for which Orwell is most famous.

1984 , Orwell’s most celebrated novel, was

published in 1949.

Orwell got the idea for Animal Farm from seeing

a small boy driving a horse and whipping it

whenever it tried to turn.


“It struck me,” said Orwell, “that if only such

animals became aware of their strength, we

should have no power over them, and that men

exploit animals in much the same way as the

rich exploit the proletariat (working class).”

Orwell disapproved of Britain’s privileged class

and believed instead in the traditions and

virtues of the working class.


These beliefs were fostered by a visit Orwell had made to Spain about ten years earlier.

He went to Spain to write about their Civil War, and even to fight in it.

He was wounded in his neck in battle by a sniper’s bullet which caused his voice to become permanently altered.

The war experience had given him a horrifying glimpse of political reality.


He saw how revolutionary causes could become

corrupt and evolve into totalitarianism (a kind of

dictatorship where one political party has total control

and all opposition is ruthlessly suppressed), which he

saw as the future’s threat to human freedom.

Later in Russia, Orwell saw a powerful dictator-Joseph

Stalin-come up through the revolutionary ranks and

eventually oppress the people as badly as the Czar

had done before him.


To show how a whole nation could be enslaved,

Orwell created his fable (a brief, often

humorous, tale that presents a moral or

message) about the animals on Manor Farm.

Orwell said that the book was the first “in which

I tried, with full consciousness of what I was

doing, to fuse political purpose and artistic

purpose in one whole.”

HISTORICAL CONTEXT AND BACKGROUND

INFORMATION ON ANIMAL FARM

The novel is based upon the events that occurred during and after The Russian Revolution of 1917. Various historical figures are represented by different animals and events.

The ruling family at the time of the Revolution was the Romanovs.

The Czar was Nicholas II and his Czarina (wife) was Alexandra.

Nicholas and Alexandra had one of the most passionate love affairs of their day.

NICHOLAS AND ALEXANDRA



Nicholas and Alexandra had five children

together: 4 daughters-Olga, Tatiana, Maria, and

Anastasia. They also had one son- Alexei.

Unbeknownst to the majority of the Russian

public, Alexei was a hemophiliac.

Nicholas had no desire to be Czar of Russia, but

he was suddenly thrown into power at the young

age of 28 when his father died.

THE RUSSIAN IMPERIAL FAMILY DAUGHTERS

ALEXANDRA AND ALEXEI

THE RUSSIAN IMPERIAL FAMILY

THE RUSSIAN IMPERIAL FAMILY



Nicholas was the absolute sovereign of Russia, which meant that he controlled every aspect of the government.

The downfall of the Romanov Dynasty began with an incident that later became known as “Bloody Sunday.” unarmed demonstrators were fired upon by soldiers of

the Imperial Guard as they to present a petition to Tsar Nicholas II of Russia.

By the early 1900’s, the writings of Karl Marx, increasing hardship, and the injustices of the czars inspired widespread revolt among the working class.

KARL MARX



Communism is an economic system where the

basic idea is that everybody does jobs in which

they excel, and everybody gets everything that

they need.

Karl Marx is considered the “Father of Modern

Communism.”

His beliefs were known as Marxism.

Marxism is a theory of class struggle.



Marx divided people into two main classes:

Bourgeoisie: class of modern capitalists. They are the

minority of people who own the means of production.

Proletariat: the modern working class who always lived

at the lowest possible level to sustain health while

providing wealth for the upper class.

Karl Marx arranged his theories into a book entitled The

Communist Manifest.



Marx believed that through revolution private property

would cease to exist and that workers would break free

from their metaphorical chains.

The problem with this theory is that once the upper

class dissolved then the lower class would rise and take

its place, and the cycle would start anew.

Without competition there would be no market; thus,

modern industry would cease to exist.



1904 was a bad year for Russian workers. Prices of essential goods rose so quickly that real wages declined by twenty percent.

When four workers were dismissed at the Putilov Iron Works, a priest named George Gapon called for industrial action.

Over the next few days more than110,000 workers in St. Petersburg went on strike.



In an attempt to settle the dispute, Gapon decided to

make a personal appeal to Czar Nicholas. He drew up a

petition outlining the worker’s sufferings and demands.

This list included calling for a reduction in the working

day to eight hours, increasing wages, and improving

working conditions.

Numerous aspects of the petition were based upon Karl

Marx’s ideas.

Over 150,000 people signed the petition.



On January 22, 1905, Gapon led a large procession of

workers to the Winter Palace in order to present the

petition to Nicholas.

When the procession of workers reached the palace,

they discovered that Nicholas had received word about

their visit and decided to leave.

The guards that were surrounding the palace did not

know how to handle the angry mob; instead of trying to

reason with them, the guards decided to open fire.



Over 100 workers were killed and over 300 were

wounded in the incident.

After this incident, the people began to view Nicholas

as a blood-thirsty tyrant.

There were numerous revolts that sprang up around

Russia seeking retribution for the fallen workers.

This incident laid the groundwork for the Russian

Revolution.



WWI soon broke out and Russia found itself involved in the war.

Nicholas decided that he wanted to be a part of the action, so he made it a point to go out with the Russian troops and provide help.

During this time Nicholas makes some egregious decisions concerning the war effort. The Russian Army’s poor ____ reflected poorly on the Czar.

The Russian people begin to blame his wife, who was part German, and her so- called priest Rasputin for influencing the Czar’s decisions.



Nicholas soon gets word of a planned revolt in St. Petersburg (yes another one), so he leaves the front in an attempt to quell the revolt.

On his way to the city, the Bolshevik Party set up a barricade so that the train could not get through.

The train is forced to take an alternate route, which unfortunately leads the train right into Bolshevik territory.

Nicholas is taken prisoner and is forced to abdicate his throne.



On March 15, 1917, Czar Nicholas II was overthrown and later executed, along with his wife and five children.

A provisional government was set up to take over Russia.

Seven months later, the Bolsheviks (the majority), led by Vladimir Lenin, overthrew the provisional government.

This coup was known as the October Revolution.

VLADIMIR LENIN



Even though Lenin was a follower of Marxism, he did not agree with every aspect of Karl Marx’s philosophy.

Lenin eventually comes up with his own theory known as Leninism.

Unlike Marx, Lenin believed that once the proletariat became the only class, then the State’s role should not disappear entirely, but instead should be led by a Vanguard Party.

Vanguard –a group of people leading the way in new developments or ideas

As it pertains to the Russian Revolution: leaders and protectors of the working class.



Lenin believed that this party needed to exist for

quite some time to ensure protection of the

‘socialist state’ from its internal and external

enemies.

Lenin’s policies were often more violent and

sneaky than those of Marxist beliefs.

Human nature in full effect

Lenin believed in the total liquidation of the

bourgeoisie class, as well as anyone who stood

in the way of his Marxist dreams.



After the Russian Revolution of 1917, the first official socialist state was created with Lenin at the helm.

The Bolsheviks changed their name to the Russian Communist Party after the Revolution. They later became known as “The Reds.”

Lenin became so well-loved and revered that upon his death his body was placed on display for all to see and admire.

After his death in 1924, a power struggle emerged for control of the Communist Party.



The death of Lenin and the conclusion of Marxist-Leninist thought engendered two new Russian leaders: Leon Trotsky and Joseph Stalin.

A power struggle soon emerged between Trotsky and Stalin with different factions arising from their conflicts of ideology.

Trotsky was a strict Marxist and talented party organizer who had played an important role in the Russian Revolution.

LEON TROTSKY



Trotsky believed that the only way a

society could survive was through

permanent revolution. He reinforced

the need for a worldwide socialist

class. This idea was later known as

Trotskyism.

Stalin (secretary general of the

Communist party) favored a modified

form of Marxism.

JOSEPH STALIN



Later, however, Stalin’s ideas and practices

quickly turned totalitarian. The power-hungry

Stalin would not let anything stand in his way.

Totalitarianism is a form of government with a

strong central rule that attempts to control

individuals by means of coercion (SAT WORD)

and repression.

Stalin eventually won the power struggle and

had Trotsky exiled to Mexico where he is later

killed by USSR agents.



Stalin began several 5-year plans to stimulate the Russian economy, which actually decreased under his collective farming.

Although he took the formal title of Premier in 1941, Stalin was an absolute dictator.

Any opposition to Stalin was subject to secret arrests, fake trials, forced labor camps, and mass executions.



Estimates put the death rate in the neighborhood of 10-20,000,000.

Stalin guided Russia through WWII as an ally of the United States. This friendship perhaps explains why numerous details about Stalin’s regime were not made public.

He took Russia from an agricultural to an industrial society.

His death in 1953 brought about a series of other Premiers who continued with the same oppression of the people, although some changes slowly ensued.

WAS THE REVOLUTION A SUCCESS?

Do you think life changed for the better for the

people of Russia after Czar Nicholas II

abdicated his thrown?

What about this event do you think inspired

Orwell to write Animal Farm?



Animal Farm, which was published the year

after World War II ended, is an anti-utopian

(dystopian) novel which shows man at the

mercy of a force he can not control.

Orwell wanted people to remember the

errors of the past and learn from history’s

mistakes.

Animal Farm is an allegory.



An allegory is a story that can be read on two

distinct levels. Characters and events in an

allegory represent something else, and they are

used by the writer to convey a moral or

philosophical message.

Animal Farm is also a satire. A satire uses

ridicule to make certain people, events, or

institutions appear foolish.

One of the elements of satire is irony. Orwell

uses situational, verbal, and dramatic irony in

Animal Farm.

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ANIMAL FARM BY GEORGE ORWELL - Denton ISD · ANIMAL FARM BY GEORGE ORWELL . GEORGE ORWELL . BACKGROUND ON ORWELL George Orwell was born in Bengal, India. ... and he chose George as