Animal Farm

BY: Yacoub , Caroline , Brittany, Connie and Anthony

Overview of the book’s Plot,Theme and Symbols

Animal Farm begins with a very drunk Mr. Jones (owner of Manor Farm) doing a really crumby job of, you know, his job. The neglected animals listen to a wise old pig, old Major, who encourages them all to rebel and run the farm themselves. Above all, he says, everyone should be equal. Then he dies. Everyone is excited except for Benjamin, a cynical donkey whose main job in life is to be, well, cynical.

The animals do rebel, and the pigs, being the smartest animals, naturally take the leadership role (so much for that equality business). There is some immediate conflict between two pigs, Napoleon and Snowball. Napoleon wants to sit around and be in charge of everything, while Snowball wants to teach the other animals (Imagine!) and build a windmill. Napoleon uses nine ferocious and enormous dogs (which he stole when they were young) to become the All Powerful Dominant Boss Leader Chief Pig. He doesn’t call it that, but it’s in the back of his mind somewhere. So Snowball is out of the picture, which is convenient for blaming everything on him.

Plot

The pigs exploit the other animals shamelessly, breaking all the rules that they had established after the Rebellion. Things fall apart: life on the farm gets worse and worse, the animals forget old Major’s original dream, and the pigs make some poor management decisions when dealing with the neighboring farms. The culminating miserable moment comes when the pigs send Boxer, a hardworking and loyal horse who is ready for retirement, to his death. Ouch.

In short, the pigs are starting to look a lot like the horrible human owners that we started with at the beginning of this whole mess. They may even be worse. So old Benjamin was right.

Plot

Animal Farm begins with a very drunk Mr. Jones (owner of

Manor Farm)doing a really crummy job of, you know, his

job. Luckily, there's a wise pig on the farm: Old Major. Old

Major encourages the neglected animals to rebel and run

the farm themselves with one important qualification:

everyone should be equal.

Then he dies.

Overview

This seems like a grand idea to everyone except Benjamin, a cynical

donkey whose main job in life is to be, well, cynical. So, they rebel.

The pigs, being the smartest animals, naturally take the leadership

role. So much for that equality business. So much for Old Major's

vision of a peaceful coup, too, because there's immediate conflict

between two pigs, Napoleon and Snowball. Napoleon wants to sit

around and be in charge of everything, while Snowball wants to

teach the other animals and build a windmill. Obviously, Snowball's

plan is way better, so he wins.

Not. Instead, Napoleon uses his private army of nine ferocious and

enormous dogs to become the All Powerful Dominant Boss Leader

Chief Pig. Okay, he doesn't call it that, but you know it's in the back

of his mind somewhere.

Overview

With Snowball is out of the picture, the other pigs blame everything on him. They

exploit the other animals shamelessly, breaking all the rules about equality that they

had established after the Rebellion. Life on the farm gets worse and worse, the

animals forget old Major's original dream, and the pigs make some poor management

decisions when dealing with the neighboring farms. The culminating miserable

moment comes when the pigs send Boxer, a hardworking and loyal horse who is

ready for retirement, to his death. Ouch.

In short, the pigs are starting to look a lot like the horrible human owners that we

started with at the beginning of this whole mess, walking on two legs and everything.

In fact, they may even be worse.

Overview

Old Major = Karl Marx Old Major * taught Animalism * workers do the work, rich keep the $, animals

revolt * dies before revolution Karl Marx * invented Communism * "workers of the world unite", take over gov't * dies before Russian Revolution

Symbol

● Snowball = Leon Trotsky*Trotsky led the Red Army in the Russian Revolution and civil war.

Snowball led the animals in the revolt against the farmer and the other humans when they tried to take the farm back

Trotsky proposed an internationalist communism where communism should be spread to other countries. Stalin opposed this and wanted to consolidate power in russia

Snowball wants to spread the Animal Farm revolution across the nation. Napoleon

opposes this.

Symbol

● Squealer = Pravda Propaganda in general

Squealer represents the propaganda newspaper Pravda rather than a person the way

the other pigs in the novel do. The statement that Squealer can turn black into

white was intended to refer to Pravda's ability to turn lies into truth.

Symbol

The Windmill

The great windmill symbolizes the pigs’ manipulation of the other animals for their own

gain. Despite the immediacy of the need for food and warmth, the pigs exploit Boxer

and the other common animals by making them undertake backbreaking labor to

build the windmill, which will ultimately earn the pigs more money and thus increase

their power.

Symbol

● Mollie = the bourgeoisie

● The vain, flighty mare who pulls Mr. Jones's carriage. Mollie craves the attention of

human beings and loves being groomed and pampered. She has a difficult time with

her new life on Animal Farm, as she misses wearing ribbons in her mane and eating

sugar cubes. She represents the petit bourgeoisie that fled from Russia a few years

after the Russian Revolution

Symbol

● Napoleon = Josef Stalin

*He acts as one of two leaders of Animal Farm with Snowball. *He acted as a leader with Trotsky

after the Russian Revolution.

*He isn't as clever as Snowball. *He was not quite well-educated compared to Trotsky.

*He runs off Snowball when he felt threatened by Snowball. * He ordered someone to kill

Trotsky.

Symbols

● Boxer = Russian laborers and workers

● The black horse whose incredible strength, dedication, and loyalty play a key role in

the early prosperity of Animal Farm and the later completion of the windmill. Quick

to help but rather slow-witted, Boxer shows much devotion to Animal Farm's ideals

but little ability to think about them independently. He naively trusts the pigs to

make all his decisions for him. His two mottoes are “I will work harder” and

“Napoleon is always right.” Boxer is later killed and his body parts sold. He

represents the working class.

Symbols

Mr.Jones = Tsar Nicholas II The often drunk farmer who runs the Manor Farm before the animals stage their

Rebellion and establish Animal Farm. Mr. Jones is an unkind master who indulges

himself while his animals lack food; he thus represents Czar Nicholas II, whom the

Russian Revolution ousted.

Symbols

Original cover art for the book

The pig who emerges as the leader of Animal Farm after the Rebellion. Based on Joseph Stalin, Napoleon uses military force (his nine loyal attack dogs) to intimidate the other animals and consolidate his power. Napoleon =Josef Stalin

Napoleon (James Franco)

The pig who spreads Napoleon’s propaganda among the other animals. Squealer justifies the pigs’ monopolization of resources and spreads false statistics pointing to the farm’s success. Orwell uses Squealer to explore the ways in which those in power often use rhetoric and language to twist the truth and gain and maintain social and political control. Squealer = Propaganda in general

Squealer (Adam Sandler)

The pig who challenges Napoleon for control of Animal Farm after the Rebellion. Based on Leon Trotsky, Snowball is intelligent, passionate, eloquent, and less subtle and devious than his counterpart, Napoleon. Snowball seems to win the loyalty of the other animals and cement his power. Snowball = Leon Trotsky

Snowball (Leonardo Dicaprio)

The vain, flighty mare who pulls Mr. Jones’s carriage. Mollie craves the attention of human beings and loves being groomed and pampered. She has a difficult time with her new life on Animal Farm, as she misses wearing ribbons in her mane and eating sugar cubes. She represents the petit bourgeoisie that fled from Russia a few years after the Russian Revolution. Mollie = the bourgeoisie

Mollie (Jennifer Lopez)

The prize-winning boar whose vision of a socialist utopia serves as the inspiration for the Rebellion. Three days after describing the vision and teaching the animals the song “Beasts of England,” Major dies, leaving Snowball and Napoleon to struggle for control of his legacy.Old Major = Karl Marx,

Old Major (Denzel Washington)

Mr. Jones (Zac Efron)

The often drunk farmer who runs the Manor Farm before the animals stage their Rebellion and establish Animal Farm. Mr. Jones is an unkind master who indulges himself while his animals lack food; he thus represents Tsar Nicholas II, whom the Russian Revolution ousted. Mr. Jones = Tsar Nicholas

The cart-horse whose incredible strength, dedication, and loyalty play a key role in the early prosperity of Animal Farm and the later completion of the windmill. Quick to help but rather slow-witted, Boxer shows much devotion to Animal Farm’s ideals but little ability to think about them independently.Boxer = Russian laborers and workers

Boxer (Terry Cruse)

● His real name is Eric Arthur Blair.

● Born June 25th, 1903 Died January 21st, 1950.

● Majored in english and was a journalist.

● Went to a boarding school called St.Cyprian.

George Orwell

● Son of a silver british servant.● Married Eileen O’Shaughnessy.● Orwells first word was “beastly”.● In 1922 he joined the India

Imperial Police Force.● Besides his most famous novels,

Animal Farm and 1984, Orwell wrote four other novels.

“All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” ― George Orwell, Animal Farm

● this quote means that all the animals are equals ,but the higher ranked animals are better than all the other animals

“Four legs good, two legs bad.” ― George Orwell, Animal Farm

● this means that all animal are good and all humans are BAD

Sale pitch

● A little girl who travels through the woods to give her grandma goods because she’s sick.

● Met a big bad woof who followed her and ate both the grandma and little red.

● This story is for children to teach them about 1. Not talking to strangers2. listening to your parents

Little Red Riding Hood

● There was a very cocky hare that would brag about how fast he could run.

● Beat everyone in a race, the tortoise, who was always made fun of for his slowness decided to race him.

● Surprisingly the hare fell asleep by the finish line and the tortoise beat him.

● This story teaches people to:1. Not Constantly brag and act cocky or else you’ll jinx yourself.2. Be humble.3. Don’t make fun of others.

The Tortoise and the Hare