1. Animal Farm
George Orwell

2. George Orwell (Eric Blair)
Born in India as his father was in civil service
Became police officer in Burma and was troubled by English imperialism
Agreed and fought with socialist in Spanish Civil War
Feared communism and wrote AF in 1943 to expose truths of Soviet government
George Orwell (Eric Blair)

3. Russian people hungry and country lost 1 million men in WWI
March 1917 people began to demonstrate for food and the army joined the demonstration
Czar Nicholas II abdicated for himself and his son
Provisional government set up as democracy which was overthrown by Bolsheviks led by Lenin Nov 7, 1917
Russian Revolution

4. Lenin and Karl Marx The ideal society is communist
Divide all wealth by need
End private ownership
Revolution will create this new society
Promise democracy
Working class must take control
Single dictatorship will outweigh individual needs
Lenin and Karl Marx

5. Novel’s parallels with history
Productivity down
Food rationed
million starved
Government moved to Moscow
Lenin died and Trotsky, his successor, exiled
Stalin becomes dictator
Stalin purged millions, had history rewritten, demanded uniformity
Slogans: “Peace, Land, Bread” “All Power to the Soviets”
Russian became involved with Allies in WWII
Novel’s parallels with history

6. Steps to totalitarianism
Compliance to the leader
Difference of the system will lead to its appeal
Isolation because of difference prevents sharing the experience
Dictatorship prevents any other input
Steps to totalitarianism

7. Literary devices to know
Satire: criticize through ridicule
Irony
Dramatic: audience knows what the characters do not
Situational: what happens is not what is expected
Symbolism: each character represents a part of the revolution
Literary devices to know

8. Fable/Fairy Tale characteristics
Animals have human traits
Animals remain in character as animals and humans don’t develop personalities
Story is told from an animal point of view
Story has a moral
Fable/Fairy Tale characteristics