Introduction

Background

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Animal FarmGeorge Orwell

Animal FarmGeorge Orwell

Who’s holding down the farm?

Things are about to get a little strange on Manor Farm.

Animal Farm: Introduction

Animal Farm: Introduction

Farmer Jones has locked up the henhouse and stumbled off to bed . . .

thinking all is well in the barnyard.

Animal Farm: Introduction

He doesn’t know—nor would he believe—the events that are about to occur inside his barn.

Animal Farm: Introduction

Old Major, Manor Farm’s prize-winning boar, has called all the animals together.

dogs, ducks, goats—

Pigs, hens, horses,

all gather round to hear about Major’s dream.

Animal Farm: Introduction

Humans, old Major tells his comrades, are the enemy. They produce nothing, yet own everything.

Animals work all their lives for their masters, but receive only enough food to keep them working.

Animal Farm: Introduction

They will create a farm of their own, in which they will live in harmony, plenty, and equality.

Old Major believes that someday animals will work together to throw off their oppressors.

Animal Farm: Introduction

The Rebellion will come.

And every animal must be ready.

Soon, Major says, the days of slavery will end.

Animal Farm: Introduction

Will the Jones place become the first true

ANIMAL FARM?!

Animal Farm: Background

Animal Farm is an allegory—a story that can be read on two levels.

One level is literal:

The other level is figurative—something represents something else.

A pig is a pig.

A pig is a political leader.

Animal Farm: Background

Events and characters in an allegory are used by a writer to convey a moral message.

Orwell’s story seems to be about barnyard animals.

But what is the story really about?

Animal Farm: Background

George Orwell uses his novel to comment on events in Russian history, Communism, and revolutions.

• Russian Revolution

• rise of totalitarianism

• the peasants’ revolt

• the Moscow purge trials

Animal Farm: Background

The Russian Revolution occurred in March 1917.

• It was brought on by economic hardship and the injustices of Russian czars, and

• was encouraged by the Communist Manifesto of Karl Marx.

The czar of Russia was overthrown and revolutionaries assumed leadership of the country. They tried to transform the country through communist principles.

Animal Farm: Background

Under Joseph Stalin, the country fell under totalitarianism—a form of government with strong central rule that tries to control individual freedoms.

• Stalin instituted “Five-Year Plans” to increase economic growth, but ordered farms to give most of their products to the government.

• Peasants who opposed Stalin were sent to labor camps, deported, or executed.

Animal Farm: Background

Not everyone wanted a Communist country. In 1920, peasants revolted against the government’s efforts to turn their individual farms into collective farms.

• The government wanted farmers to share land, equipment, and the rewards of their labor, but

• most farmers preferred to keep their own land and farm the old way.

Animal Farm: Background

By 1938, Stalin began to use what become known as the “Moscow purge trials” to control workers.

• Millions of peasants who opposed Stalin were severely punished.

• Nearly eight million were arrested and tried for treason.

• Some were sent off to labor camps or deported; others were executed.

Animal Farm: Background

• Joseph Stalin

• Leon Trotsky

Many of the characters in Animal Farm represent political leaders of the Russian Revolution.

• Karl Marx

• Czar Nicholas II

• Vladimir Lenin

Animal Farm: Background

Czar Nicholas II

• czar means emperor and comes from the word Caesar

• Russian czars lived in a magnificent palace called the Kremlin

• part of the Romanov dynasty that ruled Russia for over 300 years

• Czar Nicholas II, his wife, and his children were executed during the Russian Revolution

Animal Farm: Background

Karl Marx

• a journalist whose unpopular views forced him to leave Prussia and settle in London

• published the Communist Manifesto, a statement of his ideas about government and politics

• believed that communism would become the main form of government

Animal Farm: Background

Vladimir Lenin

• leader of the Bolsheviks

• overthrew the provisional government put in place by the Russian Revolution

• led the Communist government until his death in 1924

Animal Farm: Background

Leon Trotsky

• a talented organizer who played a major role in the Russian Revolution

• exiled in 1928 when rival Joseph Stalin became dictator

• a strict Marxist (favored pure communism)

• executed by Stalin’s forces while living in exile

Animal Farm: Background

Joseph Stalin

• secretary general of the Communist Party when Lenin died

• outmaneuvered Trotsky and became dictator

• favored a modified form of Marxism

• formed a pact with Germany in 1939, but allied with Britain by 1944

Discuss (1)

Communism in its purest form relies on people’s willingness to work to the best of their abilities to meet the needs of everyone in society.

Animal Farm

• Is such a system desirable? Is it possible?

• Why might attempts at pure communism be rare and hard to sustain?

Discuss (2)

The animals on Manor Farm hope to build a utopia, or perfect society, free of masters and the suffering they bring. Can a utopian society last?

Animal Farm

• What factors are needed to keep a utopian system in place?

• What forces might threaten or destroy it?