Characters

Question 1

Which are the characters in the book correspond with which characters in the russian revolution

Answer 1

Old Major - Marx/Lenin

Napoleon - Stalin

Snowball - Trotsky (who was exiled and later assassinated)

Mr Jones - Tsar Nicholas II, the last Tsar of Russia

Mrs Jones - the Tsarina

Frederick - the leaders of Germany but particularly Hitler

Pilkington - the leaders of England

The dogs - the Russian secret police (KGB)

Moses - the Russian Orthodox Church

Question 2

What three things did Orwell try to with the

characters in the book?

Answer 2

The characters in Animal Farm tried to:

• They represent different types of person
• They represent different characters in the historical Russian Revolution
• They engage our sympathy or dislike as the story unfold

Question 3

How does Orwell use the characters to play on the readers emotions e.g.To be liked, To be disliked

Answer 3

• At a simple level the allegory helps us to build stereotypical associations with certain animals
• The pigs are portrayed as greedy, selfish and intelligent in the allegory.
• The sheep do not think for themselves and follow Squealers direction blindly.
  
  • Their chanting drowns out any protests about the pigs walking on two legs
• Perhaps we think quite sentimentally of the cart horse, linking its great strength with qualities like loyalty and devotion to duty.
• The way that Boxer follows Napoleon so doggedly, to the point of his imminent death, only serves to strengthen our admiration for him, even if it’s tinged with despair at his gullibility and grief at the way he is treated.
• In a similar way, we share Clover’s horror at the collapse of the animals’ ideals.

Question 4

So what about Benjamin the donkey?

Answer 4

One of the most interesting characters in Animal Farm is Benjamin, the donkey.

Although Benjamin is clever enough to understand what the pigs were doing (and he can read), he does not choose to use his skills.

Instead he watches the corruption of the pigs with a world-weary eye.

Orwell does not seem unduly critical of him for this. There is recognition that life will always be cruel and unjust for many.

Question 5

Which events from the russian revolution were satirised from the book

Answer 5

Hoof and Horn - the Hammer and Sickle on the Russian Communist flag.

The Windmill - Stalin’s Five Year Plan, which took control of industry in Russia.

Committees - the animal committees are an echo of how Communist Russia was organised.

Battle of the Cowshed - this was the October Revolution in 1917, whereas the initial revolt refers to the February Revolution.

Battle of the Windmill - the Battle of Stalingrad.

Hens’ Revolt - the protest of Ukranian farmers against Stalin’s proposed collectivisation of the small (peasant) farms.

Pnemonic…

Question 6

What other events were reflected in the book

Answer 6

• Stalins era had many examples
• Civil war after 1917
  
  • Battle of cowshed
• Frederick portrays Adolf Hitler
  
  • Who forged an alliance with Stalin in 1939, But then found himself fighting each other later in 1941
  • In the book this was reflected in the forged banknotes
• The purges and trials which Stalin conducted to rid himself of dissent
  
  • Reflected in the confessions and executions of the animals
• The sailors of Kronshdadt attempted to rebel
  
  • As did the hens against Napoleon
• The battle of Windmill
  
  • Involvement in WWII
  • Napoleon defeated Frederick just as Stalin did to Hitler most notably at the battle of Stalingrad
• The card game at the Novels end reflects the Tehran conference where the UK, USA and USSR came together to discuss how they could create a lasting peace together after the war.

Question 7

Who is old major

Answer 7

Old major - Lenin

Question 8

What were old majors strengths on the farm

Answer 8

• Lenin
• Wise, inspirational, excellent rhetoric
  
  • e.g. Persuades other animals to be indignant of man
    
    • e.g. Leading and teaching them to sing “Beasts of England” which they then repeated 5 times
  • e.g. He persuaded the Animals persuaded to plan a rebellion based upon a list of mans crimes

Question 9

What was the flaw in Old Majors thinking

Answer 9

• He said once you remove man
  
  • The root cause of hunger and overworking will be removed
• Orwell portrays Old Major of thinking man can only do harm and the animals can only do good
  
  • Ignoring the desire for power in all living things can only result in this beind disproved
• Ironic that he also say the animals must not become like man later
  
  • This warning is clearly ignored by Napoleon and the other PIGS who completely resemble their previous masters

Question 10

What was the historical facts which Orwell chose to reflect in his book re: Old Major

Answer 10

• _Lenin
• _{Leader of the Bolshevik party which seized control in 1917}
• _{He believed in Karl Marx theory of Communism,}
  
  • _{Workers of the world unite against their oppressors - Animals vs Man}
• _{He believed that it was possible for all workers could share the prosperity of Russia in a commune of equality - Animals shared the prosperity of the farm}
• _{He was uncompromising in his views e.g. Ordered the death of the Tsar and his family - Old Major hated man}
• _{He was resposible for changing Russia to the USSR as Old major was manor farm to animal farm}
• _{The flag of Russia reflects the tools of rebelling workers e.g. Hammer and Sickle whereas the flag on the farm featured the horn and hoof}
• _{Like Lenin, old major dies before his vision is executed}

Question 11

Who was snowball

Answer 11

• Trotsky
• Marxist
• Devotes himself to improving the animals intellectual, moral and physical ways
• Introduces the 7 commandments to try and manage the animals
  
  • Reduced to one commandment
  • 4 legs good 2 legs bad so even the most illiterate could understand
• Great thinker
  
  • At the battle of cowshed
  • the fact that he even tried to put committees together showcases this even though they failed he was trying to do better for the animals
• Similarly his plan for the windmill shows he wanted to give the animals more freetime
  *

Question 12

How did Orwell portray historical facts in the animal farm novel with respect to Snowball

Answer 12

• Trotsky
  
  • was Snowball
• Marxist
  
  • Animals needed to rise up against tyranny
• Windmill policy to transform Marxist theory into practice
  
  • Reflected in snowballs plans for the windmill to give more free time
• Trotsky was eventually exiled from the USSR
  
  • Just as Snowball was chased off the farm by Napoleon

Question 13

Who was Napoleon

Answer 13

• _Stalin
  
  • Had Trotsky exiled just as Napoleon had Snowball run off the farm
• Stalin did not like debates or discussions
  
  • He liked power for its own sake as did Napoleon
    
    • This can be seen by the brutal acts of Stalins KGB and Napoleons dogs
• Once Stalin took control he used a great deal of Propoganda, to try and show himself as an idealist working for change
• Stalins 5 year plan for industry and agriculture
  
  • ​Reflected Napoleons plan for the windmills
• Stalins order of Lenin
  
  • ​Napoleons order of the Green Banner
• His plan to have Lenins body put in a tomb
  
  • ​Refected in Napoleons unearthing of a skull