» Real name: Eric Arthur Blair» Lived in India as a young boy and began writing at a

young age» His beliefs about politics were affected by his

experiences fighting in the Spanish civil War. » Viewed socialists, communists, and fascists as

repressive and self-serving.» Always felt he was an outsider and questioned any

group’s ideology.

» Published in 1945» Orwell criticized the Soviet Union» Orwell said it was the first book in which he

consciously tried to blend artistic and political goals.

» In explaining how he came to write Animal Farm, Orwell says he once saw a little boy whipping a horse:

It struck me that if only such animals became aware of their strength, we should have no power over them, and that men exploit animals in much the same way as the rich exploit the worker.

He was interested in HUMAN NATURE and in how revolutionary leaders can sometimes turn out to be worse than the people they overthrow.

» Animal Farm is more than a fairy story. It is a commentary on the relevance of independent thought, truth, and justice.

» Allegory – symbolic story structured with at least 2 levels of meaning.

» Critics often consider Animal Farm to be an allegory of the Russian Revolution.

» The characters in the novel have been directly compared to players in the Russian Revolution.

» Fable – Short tale with a moral, which often includes unusual or even supernatural incidents.

» They give human qualities to animal characters. These beast fables are usually satiric.

» Fables have two levels:» 1st level=about animals» 2nd level=animals stand for types of

people or ideas

» Russia was ruled by Czar Nicholas (king) until 1917 when the communists under Lenin took over the government.

» Lenin and his assistant, Trotsky, followed the ideas of the communist thinker Marx.

» When Lenin died in 1924, Trotsky became the leader of the Soviet Union.

» Trotsky was a good leader, but he only ruled for a short time because he was overthrown and killed by Stalin.

» Stalin was only interested in power. He was a ruthless dictator who killed or imprisoned anyone who stood against him. Stalin killed almost twice as many people as German dictator Adolf Hitler.