Animal Farm

[chaos_insomniac]

Has anyone rea goerge orwell's book? Because I have my english literature on wednesday and I need to find out about how it ties in with communism and the russian revolution. Any help would be much appreciated.

[Klever]

I have read it.
To see how it ties in with communism, did U actually read the book?

[Miffy]

This (http://www.jiskha.com/english/books_novels_and_plays/animal_farm_characters.html) might be useful. But haven`t you done it already when you studied it originally?

[Faith]

Originally posted by Klever
To see how it ties in with communism, did U actually read the book?

That's what I was gonna say! Isnt that kinda the whole point? :p

[chaos_insomniac]

I've read the book and I have a very brief idea of what it's about, but I missed almost all the time we covered the book, I was off school.

[sillystring]

quote from animal farm....all animals are equal it's just some are more equal than others...this is really a view of life from george orwell who took a communist view on life. he disliked the fact that some people had more than others because they hjad decided that they wanted it that way etc. he took the view of the pigs being like humans in the high up powers of the russian revolution that said they were all equal when it was very obvious that they weren't.
does this help?
The Silly String
ps it was a year since i did gcse english!! gd luck

[Simbelyne]

Tis about the collapse of communism more than anything - look for allegories to Stalin/Lenin/Trotsky. But if you've read it and don't realise that,your fucked.

[morrocan roll]

chaos i read it about a hundred years ago. if you can't see the connection be bloody thankful you aint doing poitics!

[chaos_insomniac]

Originally posted by Simbelyne
Tis about the collapse of communism more than anything - look for allegories to Stalin/Lenin/Trotsky. But if you've read it and don't realise that,your fucked.


I know it's basically about that, the russian revolution and all that, but I need to know who represented who and so on.


sorry miffy, it's only half of use. I need information on the bigger picture.

[chaos_insomniac]

Originally posted by morrocan roll
chaos i read it about a hundred years ago. if you can't see the connection be bloody thankful you aint doing poitics!


I'm thick. I didn't know there was a connection until they started to explain it at all....started to then I missed a wad of school and therefore all the information on how it connects with the russian revolution.

[The Matadore]

Uh-oh , things look bad.

Try buying one of those summary books tomorrow and read it overnight.

Its a bit late to be asking these types of questions..

[chaos_insomniac]

Originally posted by The Matadore
Uh-oh , things look bad.

Try buying one of those summary books tomorrow and read it overnight.

Its a bit late to be asking these types of questions..


I know....I'm despirate!!! If it makes it easier just tell me who Napolean, Snowball and Old Major represent for a start.

[badcoverversion]

Originally posted by chaos_insomniac
If it makes it easier just tell me who Napolean, Snowball and Old Major represent for a start.

Did you even look at the link Miffy posted?

[The Matadore]

(This may be wrong , I havent read it for a while and it is not my GCSE set text)

Napoleon - Marx - Pure visionary who envisages world without humans.

Snowball - Trotsky - Brilliant , charismatic and wishes to spread animalism to other farms.

Napoleon - Stalin - Evil , despotic with an army (NKVD) of dogs.

[chaos_insomniac]

Napoleon represents two people?

[The Matadore]

erm , sorry.

Mistype.

Old Major - Marx - Pure visionary who envisages world without humans

[chaos_insomniac]

it's a start. Thanks :)

[Miffy]

Originally posted by badcoverversion
Did you even look at the link Miffy posted?

I think (understandably) he`s in a bit of a panic. Nm.

[chaos_insomniac]

Originally posted by Miffy
I think (understandably) he`s in a bit of a panic. Nm.

I kinda looked at it for five seconds and then....clicked off it. i am indeed in a rush, and it does help. Thanks miffy :)

[Miffy]

Originally posted by chaos_insomniac
I kinda looked at it for five seconds and then....clicked off it. i am indeed in a rush, and it does help. Thanks miffy :)

Hope all goes well for you. Just do your best, remember, noone can ask any more of you than that.

[chaos_insomniac]

Originally posted by Miffy
Hope all goes well for you. Just do your best, remember, noone can ask any more of you than that.


I'm just worried my best isn't good enough :(

[Klever]

Originally posted by Miffy
This (http://www.jiskha.com/english/books_novels_and_plays/animal_farm_characters.html) might be useful.

That looks very useful, you would probably find it helpful to print it off and look over it. If you could learn that I would expect it to help

[Miffy]

Originally posted by chaos_insomniac
I'm just worried my best isn't good enough :(

Believe me it won`t be the end of the world if that should be the case. I know, I`ve spent my whole life being afraid of not being good enough.

[rockerchick]

i didnt get this much help with lord of the flies!



shouldnt you have language on wednesday?or have i got lit hmmm nope im pretttty sure im doin lang

[chaos_insomniac]

Originally posted by Klever
That looks very useful, you would probably find it helpful to print it off and look over it. If you could learn that I would expect it to help


I have printed it off and I'm gonna learn it :)


Rockerchick...I'll check now..................


English Lit:Wednesday 21st May AM

English Lang Paper 1 higher:Thursday 5th June AM

English Lang Paper 2 higher:Monday 9th June PM

[Amira]

...ok i may sound insane but i think ur best bet is to read the book over tonite and tm and get it all fresh in ur memory as well as doin wat the others say cos ur guna need to quote the book n shit!

[Cheezie Grin]

You could always rent the film out. Or does that defeat the point of English Lit??

You may need to do some homework on the main players of the russian revolution so you can tie it in with the book.

You can easily see the different levels of government appear as Orwell wrote it. Very clever!

[Mr_Wobble]

Do what Cheezie suggested and rent the film. Take notes while watching it, which will help you memorize it.
I'm sure you could find something about it on the net, a brief overview, or article, about the book. Then again, putting "animal farm" in to a search engine might not get quite what you're looking for! :eek:

Mr_Wobble ;)

[Miffy]

Well what I would do is go somewhere like WH Smith and get the York notes if at all possible. It`ll be more realistic to read that than the whole book, and it`ll tell you what you really need to know.

[Susie]

Offline - York notes is probably your best bet and as you ar short on time pick out the main points to remember and don't worry too much with the finer details, however if you can't get hold of it spark notes (link below) are pretty useful...

Some linkage for you (http://dewey.chs.chico.k12.ca.us/orwell.html)

spark notes on animal farm (http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/animalfarm/) is really good giving summaries on plot, historical context, symbolism, characters etc

Good Luck

Now get off TheSite and do some revision!!!
Susie

:)

[byny]

The book Animal Farm presents an allegory of Communist Russia. The beauty of Animal Farm it symbolically captures the history of Russia in a subtle, sophisticated yet comprehensible way. The novel was written between November 1943 and February 1944, at time at which Communism was at its peak in Russia Many events from the Russian Revolution are alluded to in Animal Farm. Three main Russian political events of this era are allegorized in Animal Farm. These events are the February Revolution of 1917, resulting in the overthrow of the old Czarist Russian government, the results of Stalin's collectivization from 1929-33, and the Great Purge from 1932-38 . Orwell also modeled the characters reflect the characteristics of key political figures and groups of the time (ie Stalin and Trotsky) and appropriately chose their names, such that they corresponded to the role they take in the story.

I did it in school...but I nicked this from the web!

[byny]

Mr. Jones symbolizes (in addition to the evils of capitalism) Czar Nicholas II, the leader before Stalin (Napoleon). Jones represents the old government, the last of the Czars.

Old Major: Old Major is the first major character described by Orwell in Animal Farm. This "purebred" of pigs is the kind, grand fatherly philosopher of change— an obvious metaphor for Karl Marx. Old Major proposes a solution to the animals' desperate plight under the Jones "administration" when he inspires a rebellion of sorts among the animals. Of course the actual time of the revolt is unsaid. It could be the next day or several generations down the road. But old Major's philosophy is only an ideal.
After his death, three days after the barn-yard speech, the socialism he professes is drastically altered when Napoleon and the other pigs begin to dominate. It's interesting that Orwell does not mention Napoleon or Snowball anytime during the great speech of old Major. This shows how distant and out-of-touch they really were; the ideals old Major proclaimed seemed to not even have been considered when they were establishing their new government after the successful revolt. It almost seemed as though the pigs fed off old Major's inspiration and then used it to benefit themselves (a interesting twist of capitalism) instead of following through on the old Major's honest proposal. This could be Orwell's attempt to dig Stalin, who many consider to be someone who totally ignored Marx's political and social theory.
Using old Major's seeming naivety, Orwell concludes that no society is perfect, no pure socialist civilization can exist, and there is no way to escape the evil grasp of capitalism. (More on this in the Napoleon section.) Unfortunately when Napoleon and Squealer take over, old Major becomes more and more a distant fragment of the past in the minds of the farm animals.

Moses: Moses is perhaps Orwell's most intriguing character in Animal Farm. This raven, first described as the "especial pet" of Mr. Jones, is the only animal who doesn't work. He's also the only character who doesn't listen to Old Major's speech of rebellion.

Moses represents Orwell's view of the Church.

Snowball: Snowball represents Trotsky, the arch-rival of Stalin in Russia. The parallels between Trotsky and Snowball are uncanny. Trotsky too, was exiled, not from the farm, but to Mexico, where he spoke out against Stalin. Stalin was very weary of Trotsky, and feared that Trotsky supporters might try to assassinate him.

Napoleon: Napoleon is Orwell's chief villain in Animal Farm. Obviously a metaphor for Stalin, Comrade Napoleon represents the human frailties of any revolution.

Boxer: The name Boxer is cleverly used by Orwell as a metaphor for the Boxer Rebellion in China in the early twentieth century. Boxer and Clover are used by Orwell to represent the proletariat, or unskilled labor class in Russian society. This lower class is naturally drawn to Stalin (Napoleon) because it seems as though they will benefit most from his new system.

Squealer: Squealer is an intriguing character in Orwell's Animal Farm. He's first described as a manipulator and persuader. Many critics correlate Squealer with the Pravda, the Russian newspaper of the 1930's. Propaganda was a key to many publications, and since their was no television or radio, the newspaper was the primary source of media information.
In Animal Farm, Squealer, like the newspaper, is the link between Napoleon and other animals.
Squealer is also thought by some to represent Goebbels, who was the minister of propaganda for Germany.

Mollie: Mollie is one of Orwell's minor characters, but she represents something very important. Mollie is the animal who is most opposed to the new government under Napoleon. Mollie characterizes the typical middle-class skilled worker who suffers from this new communism concept. No longer will she get her sugar (nice salary) because she is now just as low as the other animals, like Boxer and Clover.
Orwell uses Mollie to characterize the people after any rebellion who aren't too receptive to new leaders and new economics.

Benjamin: Old Benjamin, an elderly donkey, is one of Orwell's most elusive and intriguing characters on Animal Farm. He is described as rather unchanged since the rebellion. Although there is no clear metaphoric relationship between Benjamin and Orwell's critique of communism, it makes sense that during any rebellion there or those who never totally embrace the revolution— those so cynical they no longer look to their leaders for help. Benjamin symbolizes the older generation, the critics of any new rebellion

Muriel: Muriel is a knowledgeable goat who reads the commandments for Clover. Muriel represents the minority of working class people who are educated enough to decide things for themselves and find critical and hypocritical problems with their leaders. Unfortunately for the other animals, Muriel is not charismatic or inspired enough to take action and oppose Napoleon and his pigs.

Pigs: Orwell uses the pigs to surround and support Napoleon. They symbolize the communist party loyalists and the friends of Stalin.

Dogs: Orwell uses the dogs in his book, Animal Farm, to represent the KGB or perhaps more accurately, the bodyguards of Stalin. The dogs are the arch-defenders of Napoleon and the pigs, and although they don't speak, they are definitely a force the other animals have to contend with.

Animals: The sheep and other animals are very similar to Boxer and Clover. Both the horses and sheep represent in many ways the proletariat, or working class of unskilled laborers. These animals depend on their backs, not their brains, to do work. Thus, they fall into the bottom of society and are the focal point of politicians' brainwashing.
The animals are stubborn and easily swayed. Orwell points out repeatedly that if it wasn't for the bleating of the sheep, "Two legs bad, four legs good," which was strategically inspired by the pigs, Napoleon wouldn't have the power and control that he eventually came to enjoy and then abuse.