ANIMAL FARMOR HOW YOU ARE MANIPULATED BY OTHERS TO DO

THINGS THAT AREN’T GOOD FOR YOU

HOW AUTHORS USE FABLES, SATIRES, AND ALLEGORIES TO SHOW YOU THE TRUTH

WHICH PILL WOULD YOU TAKE?

DO YOU WANT TO KNOW THE TRUTH, EVEN IF IT IS UNPLEASANT?

OR

DO YOU WANT TO LIVE IN IGNORANT BLISS?

DAY ONE• YOU WILL BE INTRODUCED TO AND BEGIN TO BECOME FAMILIAR WITH THE

FOLLOWING CONCEPTS IN ANIMAL FARM:

• FABLE

• SATIRE

• ALLEGORY

• TOTALITARIANISM

• DYSTOPIA

• YOU WILL LEARN ABOUT GEORGE ORWELL’S BACKGROUND

FABLEUSING ANIMALS TO PORTRAY HUMANS

A FABLE

• USES ANIMALS AS MAIN CHARACTERS

• THE ANIMALS CAN TALK

• THE ANIMALS ACT LIKE PEOPLE

• THERE IS A MORAL AT THE END

• “THE TORTOISE AND THE HARE”

ANIMAL FARM IS A FABLEBECAUSE THE MAIN CHARACTERS ARE ANIMALS THAT ACT LIKE HUMANS

(BUT IT’S NOT AS NICE AND SWEET AS THIS PICTURE)

THERE ARE NO ANIMALS IN THE MATRIX(except for a cat that Neo sees briefly in a Déjà vu, so that doesn’t count)

BECAUSE THE MATRIX IS NOT A FABLE.

BUT . . .

THE MATRIX AND ANIMAL FARMARE SIMILAR

• DYSTOPIA

• TOTALITARIAN CONTROL OVER THE MASSES

• QUESTIONS VERSION OF PRESENTED REALITY

• REBELLION AGAINST THE STATUS QUO

• Allegorical• Irony• Offers the characters a chance to know the

truth and fight to change their oppressed circumstances

SATIRE

AN ATTACK ON OR CRITICISM OF ANY STUPIDITY OR VICE IN THE FORM OF SARCASTIC HUMOR, OR A CRITIQUE OF WHAT THE AUTHOR SEES AS DANGEROUS RELIGIOUS, POLITICAL, INSTITUTIONAL, MORAL, OR SOCIAL STANDARDS. THE INTENT IS TO MAKE PEOPLE REALIZE THAT CHANGE IS NEEDED.

RIDICULE, IRONY, AND EXAGGERATION ARE USED AS TOOLS IN SATIRE.

AN EXAMPLE OF SATIREIn 1729, Jonathan Swift explained how the impoverished Irish might ease their economic troubles in his satirical essay:

A MODEST PROPOSAL FOR PREVENTING THE CHILDREN OF POOR PEOPLE FROM BEING A BURDEN TO THEIR PARENTS OR COUNTRY, AND FOR MAKING THEM BENEFICIAL TO THE PUBLICK

In it he suggests the Irish should sell their children as food for rich gentlemen and ladies.  This satirical hyperbole mocks heartless attitudes towards the poor, as well as Irish policy in general.

AN EXAMPLE OF SATIRE

D’OH!

ALLEGORY• IS AN EXTENDED METAPHOR IN WHICH PERSONS, ABSTRACT IDEAS, OR

EVENTS REPRESENT NOT ONLY THEMSELVES ON THE LITERAL [ACTUAL] LEVEL, BUT THEY ALSO STAND FOR SOMETHING ELSE ON THE SYMBOLIC LEVEL.

• USUALLY INVOLVES MORAL OR SPIRITUAL CONCEPTS THAT MAY BE MORE SIGNIFICANT THAN THE ACTUAL, LITERAL EVENTS DESCRIBED IN THE NARRATIVE.

• TYPICALLY, INVOLVES THE INTERACTION OF MULTIPLE SYMBOLS, WHICH TOGETHER CREATE A MORAL, SPIRITUAL, OR EVEN POLITICAL MEANING.

THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH:AN ALLEGORY

LEVEL ONE: THE PLOT

Many people in the villages are dying from the Red death, which is highly contagious

Symptoms -- sharp pains, and sudden dizziness, and then profuse bleeding at the pores leading to death within half an hour

Prince Prospero attempts to avoid the plague by isolating himself and other wealthy friends in his castle and ignoring the suffering villagers.

The plague gets in and kills them all.

LEVEL TWO: HISTORY

the Black Death killed 30–60% of Europe's total population from 1348–50 (75 to 200 million people); highly contagious

Symptoms -- swellings in the groin, neck and armpits, which oozed pus and bled; fever and vomiting of blood. Most victims died two to seven days after initial infection.

Europeans living in isolated areas suffered less

The Black Death killed poor and wealthy alike.

LEVEL THREE: SYMBOLIC

The stranger with the death mask is death and brings with him the plague.

Blood and the color red symbolize human life and mortality.

You can’t hide from death

the indifferent wealthy suffer the fate they "deserve"

ANIMAL FARMOR HOW THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION OF 1917 AND

STALINIST RUSSIA IS A WARNING TO YOU

DAY TWO• THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION OF 1917

• STALINIST RUSSIA

• DISCUSSION OF CH. 1 OF ANIMAL FARM

• ALLEGORY CHART

• ANALYZING OLD MAJOR’S SPEECH

• IRONY

• INTRODUCTION TO PROPAGANDA

THE RUSSIAN

REVOLUTION OF 1917POWER POINT

YOU WILL . . .• WITH A PARTNER:

1. FILL IN ITEMS ON THE ALLEGORY GRAPHIC ORGANIZER

• COMPLETE ON YOUR OWN OR WITH A PARTNER, AS INDICATED:

1. ANALYZE OLD MAJOR’S SPEECH IN CH. 1 [S-8] ACTIVITY 1

2. CHARACTER ANALYSIS [S-10]

PROPAGANDAOR MAKING YOU WANT AND BUY WHAT YOU DON’T

WANT OR NEED

PROPAGANDA1.PUBLICITY TO PROMOTE SOMETHING:

• INFORMATION OR PUBLICITY PUT OUT BY AN ORGANIZATION OR GOVERNMENT TO SPREAD AND PROMOTE A POLICY, IDEA, DOCTRINE, OR CAUSE

2.MISLEADING PUBLICITY:

• Deceptive or distorted information that is systematically spread

BUY THIS! BELIEVE THIS!THINK WHAT WE TELL YOU TO THINK!

EXPLAINED EXAMPLESIN PRINT

IN COMMERCIALS

BY A GOVERNMENT

HOW EASILY WE ARE MANIPULATED

EVEN THE MANIPULATORS

CAN BE MANIPULATED!

TOTALITARIANISMOR THE KIND OF GOVERNMENT YOU NEVER EVER

WANT TO LIVE UNDER

TOTALITARIANISMDEFINITION: A MODERN, AUTOCRATIC GOVERNMENT IN WHICH THE STATE INVOLVES ITSELF IN ALL FACETS OF SOCIETY, INCLUDING THE DAILY LIVES OF ITS CITIZENS.

A TOTALITARIAN GOVERNMENT SEEKS TO CONTROL ITS POPULATION IN ALL:

• ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL MATTERS

• ATTITUDES

• VALUES

• BELIEFS

CHARACTERISTICS• LED BY A DICTATOR

• THE CITIZEN’S DUTY IS TO THE STATE ONLY

• THE EXISTENCE OF AN IDEOLOGY THAT COVERS ALL ASPECTS OF LIFE

• THIS IDEOLOGY OUTLINES HOW TO ACHIEVE A FINAL GOAL

• THE FINAL GOAL IS A SINGLE MASS PARTY

• ALL COMMUNICATIONS AND EDUCATION ARE CONTROLLED BY THE GOVERNMENT

• ANYONE GOING AGAINST THE GOVERNMENT IS GOTTEN RID OF

• SECRET POLICE TERRORIZE PEOPLE

EXAMPLES

STALINIST RUSSIA NAZI GERMANY NORTH KOREA

DYSTOPIAOR THE KIND OF WORLD YOU DEFINITELY DON’T

WANT TO LIVE IN

A DYSTOPIA IS DEFINED AS . . .• an imaginary place or state in which the condition of life is extremely bad, as from

deprivation, oppression, or terror

• a society characterized by human misery, as squalor, oppression, disease, and

overcrowding

• an imagined universe (usually the future of our own world) in which a worst-case

scenario is explored; the opposite of utopia. [no kidding]

AN EXAMPLE OF A DYSTOPIA

1984

BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU