Animal+Farm


 * Modified from the Edsitement Website

Introduction
 George Orwell, author of // 1984 //.  Allegories are similar to metaphors: in both the author uses one subject to represent another, seemingly unrelated, subject. However, unlike metaphors, which are generally short and contained within a few lines, an allegory extends its representation over the course of an entire story, novel, or poem. This lesson plan will introduce you to the concept of allegory by using George Orwell’s widely read novella,// Animal Farm. //
 * Credit: **Courtesy of [|American Memory] at the Library of Congress.

Learning Objectives

 * Read and analyze the allegory used in George Orwell’s Animal Farm
 * Identify the use of allegory as a rhetorical device

Preparation Instructions
 Allegory can be found both in literature and in the visual arts, such as painting and sculpture. Like metaphors, allegories utilize one subject as if it were analogous to another, seemingly unrelated, subject. Unlike metaphors, the representational image is more detailed and is sustained throughout the length of a story, novel, or poem. Allegories are generally understood as rhetorical, and, as a form of rhetoric, are generally designed to persuade their audience. More information about allegories and rhetoric is accessible through the EDSITEment-reviewed web resource Internet Public Library.

In this lesson you will focus on George Orwell’s // Animal Farm // as an example of this rhetorical device, as it is perhaps the most widely read allegory in the middle school and high school classrooms. Orwell’s 1945 novella is an allegorical indictment of tyranny which utilizes the historical events and players of the Russian Revolution and the subsequent rise of Stalin as a cautionary tale. This unit is taught in conjunction with a close reading of the text. Other well known allegorical texts include Edmund Spenser’s // The Faerie Queen //, William Golding’s // The Lord of the Flies //, and John Bunyan’s // The Pilgrim’s Progress //.

Check out these web pages containing definitions for //allegory // and //rhetoric//, as well as the text of George Orwell’s //Animal Farm// , all of which are available through the EDSITEment-reviewed web resource<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #a9332d; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Internet Public Library.

In addition, you will be introduced to some of the main figures and events in the history of the Soviet Union. At the time when // Animal Farm // was published in the 1940s the rule of Stalin and events in Eastern Europe and in the Ukraine and Georgia would have been familiar to the average reader. This background knowledge will help to make the allegorical structure of Orwell’s novella clear to students. An <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #a9332d; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">overview of the history of the Soviet Union is available through the EDSITEment-reviewed web resource <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #a9332d; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Internet Public Library.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333229; font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 22px; vertical-align: baseline;">Lesson Activities

 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #a9332d; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">[|Activity 1. Animal Farm and Allegory]
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #a9332d; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">[|Activity 2. The Collective Farm and the Communist State]
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #a9332d; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">[|Activity 3. Tyranny by any other Name...]

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #333229; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 18px; vertical-align: baseline;">Activity 1. Animal Farm and Allegory
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #4b4b4b; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline;">George Orwell’s 1945 novella, // Animal Farm //, is the story of an animal revolution. The animal residents of Manor Farm, spurred on by the dream of the pig, Old Major, decide they will change their “miserable, laborious, and short” lives. They overthrow Mr. Jones, their master, and take over the management of the farm. Rather than living under the heel of their human master, the animals of Manor Farm decide that they will take control of the products of their labor, working for the good of the farm and other animals, rather than for the good of humans. How is this story allegorical? You may provide your own definition of allegory, or you can read the definition of <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #a9332d; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">allegory that is available through the EDSITEment-reviewed web resource <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #a9332d; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Internet Public Library. If an allegory is “a figurative representation conveying a meaning other than and in addition to the literal,” then what is the additional or alternative meaning contained in Orwell’s story of animal rebellion?

=
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #333229; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 18px; vertical-align: baseline;">Activity 2. The Collective Farm and the Communist State ===== <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #4b4b4b; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline;">Many of the events at Manor Farm are closely linked to political events in Russia during the first half of the twentieth century. The rebellion by the working animals of the farm against the oppressive human farmer who lives off the fruits of their labor is directly analogous to the Russian Revolution of 1917 in which workers and peasants revolted against a feudal system in which feudal lords lived luxuriously from the toil of the peasants who farmed on their lands. If you are not already familiar with some of the main events of Russian history from the turn of the twentieth century to the end of World War II, you may wish to read an <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #a9332d; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">overview of the history of the Soviet Union available through the EDSITEment-reviewed web resource <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #a9332d; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Internet Public Library. Answer the following questions about the events that take place on the Manor Farm, and how they are an allegorical retelling of the events from the Russian Revolution to the end of World War II in Russia. These questions are available in a <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #a9332d; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">PDF worksheet.
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; color: #4b4b4b; font-size: 14px; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; vertical-align: baseline;">How is Orwell’s // Animal Farm // an allegorical retelling of the end of feudalism and the rise and consolidation of communism in Russia?
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; color: #4b4b4b; font-size: 14px; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; vertical-align: baseline;">How does Orwell parallel Czarist Russia and the life of the Russian peasants in the characters and events of // Animal Farm //?
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; color: #4b4b4b; font-size: 14px; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; vertical-align: baseline;">What internal feud within the Communist party is paralleled in the struggle for power between Napoleon and Snowball?
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; color: #4b4b4b; font-size: 14px; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; vertical-align: baseline;">During the Stalinist period the Communist State repeatedly set industrial and agricultural production goals that were often difficult or impossible to reach. These goals played a major role in the government’s Five Year Plan and similar plans. How are these plans represented in Orwell’s novella?

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #333229; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 18px; vertical-align: baseline;">Activity 3. Tyranny by any other Name...
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #4b4b4b; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline;">Orwell’s // Animal Farm // and // 1984 //, are often cited as works that are designed to show the weaknesses of Communism. These works took aim at the Soviet Union, however Orwell’s larger target was tyranny, in whatever form it appeared. He was as much concerned with the repression of rights and the injustice of the economic system in his own England as he was about Stalinist Russia. As an allegorical tale about the dangers of tyranny, Orwell’s // Animal Farm // uses the story of Napoleon, Snowball, and Boxer as a form of // rhetoric //. Rhetoric can be understood as the use of language to persuade an audience of a belief or point of view. In the case of // Animal Farm //, Orwell is using the story of Manor Farm’s animal rebellion to caution people against the encroachment of tyranny. More information on <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #a9332d; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">rhetoric can be found through the EDSITEment-reviewed web resource <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #a9332d; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Internet Public Library.

Contemplate the use of rhetoric in // Animal Farm, then a //nswer the following questions by completing this <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #a9332d; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">PDF worksheet.
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; color: #4b4b4b; font-size: 14px; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; vertical-align: baseline;">How is this allegorical tale also a rhetorical tale?
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; color: #4b4b4b; font-size: 14px; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; vertical-align: baseline;">What is Orwell trying to persuade the audience to see or understand?
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; color: #4b4b4b; font-size: 14px; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; vertical-align: baseline;">What is Orwell cautioning his audience against?
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; color: #4b4b4b; font-size: 14px; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; vertical-align: baseline;">How does the story of Boxer act as a persuasive argument against tyranny?
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; color: #4b4b4b; font-size: 14px; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; vertical-align: baseline;">What are the lessons to be learned from Napoleon’s behavior?
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; color: #4b4b4b; font-size: 14px; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; vertical-align: baseline;">What is the warning contained in the changes to the list of commandments?
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; color: #4b4b4b; font-size: 14px; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; vertical-align: baseline;">What is the lesson contained in the final, single commandment: All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others?

ACTIVITY WORKSHEETS
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #a9332d; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">[|Animal Farm: Worksheet 1 - Animal Farm and Allegory]
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #a9332d; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">[|Animal Farm: Worksheet 4 - Tyranny by any other name...]

STUDENT RESOURCES
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #a9332d; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">[|Allegory and the Art of Persuasion]

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333229; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">Selected EDSITEment Websites
<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #4b4b4b; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #a9332d; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Internet Public Library


 * <span style="background-color: #ffffff; background-color: transparent; color: #4b4b4b; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #a9332d; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">George Orwell’s //Animal Farm//
 * <span style="background-color: #ffffff; background-color: transparent; color: #4b4b4b; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #a9332d; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Definition of allegory
 * <span style="background-color: #ffffff; background-color: transparent; color: #4b4b4b; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #a9332d; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Definition of rhetoric
 * <span style="background-color: #ffffff; background-color: transparent; color: #4b4b4b; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #a9332d; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Overview of the history of the Soviet Union

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333229; font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 22px; vertical-align: baseline;">Assessment
<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #4b4b4b; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline;">Gather together your answers to the questions posed throughout this unit, which you should then use as the basis for writing a short essay answer using the following questions: <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline;">
 * <span style="background-color: #ffffff; background-color: transparent; color: #4b4b4b; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; vertical-align: baseline;">How is Orwell’s // Animal Farm // an allegory, and of what is in an allegory?
 * <span style="background-color: #ffffff; background-color: transparent; color: #4b4b4b; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; vertical-align: baseline;">What are the rhetorical components of this allegory?
 * <span style="background-color: #ffffff; background-color: transparent; color: #4b4b4b; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; vertical-align: baseline;">How is Orwell’s use of allegory rhetorically successful?

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333229; font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 22px; vertical-align: baseline;">Extending The Lesson
<span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Martin Niemoller was a church pastor in Germany during Hitler’s rise to power. He shifted from an early support of Hitler to being very outspoken against the Nazi agenda and practices. He was arrested and held in concentration camps throughout World War II, and barely escaped execution. He is now perhaps best known for his cautionary poem: > // In Germany they came first for the Communists, // > // and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist. // > // Then they came for the Jews, // > // and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. // > // Then they came for the trade unionists, // > // and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist. // > // Then they came for the Catholics, // > // and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant. // > // Then they came for me, // > // and by that time no one was left to speak up. // Compare Niemoller’s cautionary poem with Orwell’s allegorical story of the Manor Farm. How are their messages similar or different? How is the method of delivering those message similar or different?