Animal Farm Flashcards
1
Q
Author of Animal Farm
A
George Orwell
2
Q
George Orwell’s Real Name
A
Eric Arthur Blair
3
Q
George Orwell’s Reason for Writing Animal Farm
A
To bring public attention to the abuses of Stalinism. Orwell wrote the book in the context of World War II, when Britain and the Soviet Union were allied against the Nazis and support for Stalin and the Soviet Union would have been at its strongest.
4
Q
Allegory
A
A story or a poem that may be seen as one to have a hidden meaning - a moral or a political meaning.
5
Q
Totalitarian
A
A person relating to a system of government that is focused on absolute dictatorial regimes and ideologies.
6
Q
Propaganda
A
Information, often in different forms of media, used to promote a political view. It is often biased.
7
Q
Revolution
A
A form of coup or a schism against or in a political setting. For example, the Russian revolution against the Romanovs.
8
Q
Nationalism
A
A political ideology that promotes the interests of a specific nation.
9
Q
Napoleon’s Personal Security Measure
A
Using violence and intimidation to strike fear in anyone who would oppose him, also to maintain his power on the farm. Raising puppies as viscous bodyguards.
10
Q
Evil Actions Done by Napoleon
A
Taking food and other supplies for himself.
Using violence and deceit to manipulate the other animals.
11
Q
Chief Architect of Animalism
A
Snowball
12
Q
Why Snowball was Banished
A
Napoleon deemed Snowball as an extremely dangerous rival, so he had him exiled.
13
Q
Continents Mentioned in the Story
A
North America
Europe
14
Q
Why Boxer was Sold
A
He had collapsed and been unable to work thus being of ‘no use’ to Napoleon; Napoleon then sold him to a glue manufactory.
15
Q
Squealer’s Role
A
Napoleon’s chief enforcer and protagonist. His job was to bend information to the will of Napoleon and often altered data and fabricated lies.
16
Q
Animal that Represents Vladimir Lenin
A
Vladimir Lenin is represented by Old Major as a boar.
17
Q
The Animal That Left the Farm with Mr. Jones
A
Mollie left the farm with Mr. Jones and then returns.
18
Q
The Problem with the Farm Tools
A
They were designed for human use
19
Q
Animal that Hides During the Battle of Cowshed
A
Mollie
20
Q
To whom does Napoleon sell the farm’s pile of timber?
A
Mr. Frederick
21
Q
Who reduces the ideals of Animalism to the phrase “Four legs good, two legs bad”?
A
Snowball
22
Q
Who teaches the sheep to chant “Four legs good, two legs better”?
A
Squealer
23
Q
What is Sugarcandy Mountain?
A
The idea of animal heaven propagated by Moses the raven
24
Q
Which of the pigs proves the best writer?
A
Snowball
25
What does Napoleon rename Animal Farm in his toast at the end of the novel?
The Manor Farm
26
What is the name of the socialist philosophy advocated by Napoleon and Snowball?
Animalist
27
What is the reason for the windmill’s initial collapse?
It falls during a storm
28
Which Russian leader does Snowball most resemble?
Trotsky
29
Which Russian leader does Napoleon most resemble?
Stalin
30
Who is the farmer whom the animals overthrow?
Mr. Jones
31
What was Snowball like?
Passionate, intelligent, a gifted speech-maker
32
How does Napoleon ultimately triumph over Snowball's intelligence?
Brute force
33
What does Boxer represent?
The hard-working and exploited working class
34
Whom does Old Major represent?
Marx and Lenin
35
What does the windmill represent?
The pigs' manipulation of the other animals for their own gain
36
What are rituals like marching, parades, and songs meant to do?
Erase individuality, foster loyalty, provide group identity
37
Who gives a speech to the animals in chapter 1?
Old Major
38
What is Old Major's message to the animals?
The animals are enslaved and should rebel
39
Who is good and who is bad, according to Old Major?
Creatures on two legs are bad; creatures on four legs or winged are good.
40
What's the name of the song about an animal utopia that Old Major teaches the animals?
Beasts of England
41
Who are the smartest animals?
The pigs, especially Snowball and Napoleon
42
What event helps in causing the animals' rebellion?
Mr. Jones forgetting to feed them
43
What do the pigs paint on the side of the barn?
The Seven Principles of Animalism
44
What are the Seven Principles of Animalism?
1. Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy.
2. Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend.
3. No animal shall wear clothes.
4. No animal shall sleep in a bed.
5. No animal shall drink alcohol.
6. No animal shall kill any other animal.
7. All animals are equal
45
What is Boxer's motto?
I will work harder!
46
What do the animals do every Sunday morning?
Raise a flag and hold a meeting to vote on resolutions
47
Who does the harvest for the animals?
They do it themselves, adapting human tools to their needs.
48
What reason does Squealer give for the pigs taking all the apples and milk?
They need it for their brains to work.
49
What do Mr. Pilkington and Mr. Frederick do to try to prevent animal rebellion on their own farms?
Spread rumors about Animal Farm
50
Where does Snowball learn strategies of warfare?
Military history books about Julius Caesar.
51
Who dies in the Battle of the Cowshed?
One sheep
52
How many dogs did Napoleon have?
Nine dogs
53
How does Napoleon plan to get supplies the animals can't make?
Trade with humans.
54
Where do the pigs move to?
The farmhouse
55
How does Napoleon explain the storm that knocks down the windmill?
He says the "traitor" Snowball knocked down the windmill
56
How does Napoleon get the hens to lay eggs for him to sell?
He gives them no food until nine die and the others agree.
57
What do the animals decide to do about rebuilding the windmill?
They decide to work all winter and make it twice as thick.
58
What happens to the animals that confess to being in league with Snowball?
They are killed by dogs.
59
What is the commandment "No animal shall kill any other animal" changed to?
"No animal shall kill any other animal without cause."
60
What do Mr. Frederick and a group of men do?
Blow up the windmill.
61
What are the mandatory events where animals march and celebrate Animal Farm called?
Spontaneous Demonstrations
62
What is the windmill used for?
To mill corn for profit.
63
What do the animals notice about the pigs and the humans?
They can't notice the difference between them
64
Napoleon
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. In his supreme craftiness, Napoleon proves more treacherous than his counterpart, Snowball.
65
Snowball
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.
66
Boxer
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. He naïvely trusts the pigs to make all his decisions for him. His two mottoes are “I will work harder” and “Napoleon is always right.”
67
Squealer
The pig who spreads Napoleon’s propaganda among the other animals. Squealer justifies the pigs’ monopolisation 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.
68
Old Major
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. Orwell based Major on both the German political economist Karl Marx and the Russian revolutionary leader Vladimir Ilych Lenin.
69
Clover
A good-hearted female cart-horse and Boxer’s close friend. Clover often suspects the pigs of violating one or another of the Seven Commandments, but she repeatedly blames herself for misremembering the commandments.
70
Moses
The tame raven who spreads stories of Sugarcandy Mountain, the paradise to which animals supposedly go when they die. Moses plays only a small role in Animal Farm, but Orwell uses him to explore how communism exploits religion as something with which to pacify the oppressed.
71
Mollie
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.
72
Benjamin
The long-lived donkey who refuses to feel inspired by the Rebellion. Benjamin firmly believes that life will remain unpleasant no matter who is in charge. Of all of the animals on the farm, he alone comprehends the changes that take place, but he seems either unwilling or unable to oppose the pigs.
73
Mr. Jones
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.
74
Mr. Frederick
The tough, shrewd operator of Pinchfield, a neighboring farm. Based on Adolf Hitler, the ruler of Nazi Germany in the 1930s and 1940s, Mr. Frederick proves an untrustworthy neighbor.
75
Mr. Pilkington
The easygoing gentleman farmer who runs Foxwood, a neighboring farm. Mr. Frederick’s bitter enemy, Mr. Pilkington represents the capitalist governments of England and the United States.
76
Minimus
The poet pig who writes verse about Napoleon and pens the banal patriotic song “Animal Farm, Animal Farm” to replace the earlier idealistic hymn “Beasts of England,” which Old Major passes on to the others.
77
Setting
The Manor Farm—later called Animal Farm—is a small, independent farm somewhere in the English countryside. The name “Manor Farm” tells us that it was once owned by a local aristocrat, the lord of the manor. However, the farm has since come into the hands of Mr. Jones, an unsuccessful, lazy, drunken farmer.
78
Time and Place Written
1943–1944, in London
79
Major Conflict
There are a number of conflicts in Animal Farm—the animals versus Mr. Jones, Snowball versus Napoleon, the common animals versus the pigs, Animal Farm versus the neighboring humans—but all of them are expressions of the underlying tension between the exploited and exploiting classes and between the lofty ideals and harsh realities of socialism.
80
Rising Action
The animals throw off their human oppressors and establish a socialist state called Animal Farm; the pigs, being the most intelligent animals in the group, take control of the planning and government of the farm; Snowball and Napoleon engage in ideological disputes and compete for power.
81
Climax
In Chapter V, Napoleon runs Snowball off the farm with his trained pack of dogs and declares that the power to make decisions for the farm will be exercised solely by the pigs.
82
Falling Action
Squealer emerges to justify Napoleon’s actions with skillful but duplicitous reinterpretations of Animalist principles; Napoleon continues to consolidate his power, eliminating his enemies and reinforcing his status as supreme leader; the common animals continue to obey the pigs, hoping for a better future.
83
Themes
The corruption of socialist ideals in the Soviet Union; the societal tendency toward class stratification; the danger of a naïve working class; the abuse of language as instrumental to the abuse of power
