English -- Animal Farm Notes (quiz) Flashcards
How long did George Orwell live?
1903-1950
Orwell is noted as a _______ and _______ as well as what other two things?
novelist and critic; political and cultural commentator
He’s best known for two novels ______ of _______ in general and ________ in particular:
Animal Farm
1984
critical of totalitarianism and Stalinism
Orwell was a person who had a what and even making a virtue of his detachment?
reputation for standing apart
The “outsider” position often led him to do what?
oppose the crowd
How did Orwell view socialists, communists, and fascists?
repressive and self-serving
Orwell was skeptical of governments because?
their willingness to forsake ideas in favor of power
Orwell was a lonely boy who was likely to do what?
make up stories and talk with imaginary companions
Animal Farm is a masterpiece of what?
political satire
Animal Farm is a tale of oppressed individuals who long for freedom but are ultimately corrupted by what?
by assuming the very power that had originally oppressed them
The story traces the deplorable conditions of what, who can speak, and exhibit what?
mistreated animals and exhibit human characteristics
After extreme negligence by their owner, the animals do what?
revolt and expel Mr. Jones and his wife from the farm
The tale of the society the animals form into a totalitarian regime is generally viewed as Orwell’s critique of what?
the communist system in the former Soviet Union
Does Animal Farm deserve our attention? The answer lies in what?
power of allegory
Orwell’s chilling story of the ______ of ______ through what is as fresh and relevant today as when it was first published in 1945.
betrayal of idealism; tyranny and corruption
When was Animal Farm published?
1945
What is one oldest literary forms?
a fable
what is usually short, written in either verse or prose, and conveys a clear moral or message
fable
The earliest fables still preserved date back to when?
6th Century Greece BCE
Though Aesop’s animal fables were ostensibly about animals, they were really instructional tales on what?
human emotions and human behavior
Orwell took the short animal fable and expanded it to what?
the length of a short novel in the form of an allegory
Most fables have how many levels of meaning?
two
the animals stand for what?
types of people or ideas
The way the animals interact and the way the plot unfolds says something about what?
nature of people or the value of ideas
Any type of fiction that has multiple levels of meaning in this way is called a what?
allegory
Animal Farm is strongly what?
strongly allegorical
On the first level the story of the animals is what?
very moving
The story’s second level involves the careful critique Orwell created to what?
comment on Soviet Russia
Animal Farm also has a third meaning, this meaning is usually what?
a more general level of meaning
the animals could also be symbols for what?
tyranny more broadly
The characteristics are the qualities of all leaders who rely on what?
repression and manipulation
the writer attacks a serious issue by presenting it in a ridiculous light or otherwise poking fun at it is what?
a satire
Orwell uses a satire to do what?
expose what he saw as the myth of Soviet socialism
Irony results when there is a disparity between what?
what an audience would expect and what really happens
Orwell uses what type of irony?
dramatic
Orwell relies on what to conclude about the situation on Animal Farm?
the difference between what the animals understand and what the audience concludes
We know just what the animals know, but we also see what?
much more of its significance than they can
Satire stages a critique of an individual, group, or idea by doing what?
exaggerating faults and revealing hypocrisies
Animal Farm is an allegory of what?
the Russian Revolution
by what year, amidst the tremendous suffering of WW1, did a revolution begin?
1917
the Czar’s government was overthrown and replaced by what?
the Bolshevik leadership of Vladimir Lenin
When did Lenin die?
1924
Leon Trotsky and Joseph Stalin struggled for what?
power
Stalin won the battle and did what to Trotsky?
deported him to permanent exile
Stalin began with despotic urgency and exalted nationalism to do what?
move the Soviet Union into the modern industrial age
Stalin’s government seized land in order to create what?
collective farms
Stalin’s Five Year Plan was to attempt to do what?
modernized Soviet industry
The government controlled the what? and outlawed all what?
flow and content of information to the people; outlawed all churches
Who is Joseph Stalin in the book?
Napoleon
Napoleon is what animal in the book?
boar
In the book, Napoleon’s plan is to do what?
rebel against Farmer Jones
In the book, Napoleon systematically begins to control all aspects of the farm until he is what?
undisputed tyrant
Joseph Stalin is the communist dictator of the Soviet Union from what year? (he killed all who opposed him)
1922-1953
Stalin loved power and used what to enforce his ruthless corrupt antics?
KGB (secret police)
Who is Czar Nicholas II in the book?
Farmer Jones
Farmer Jones is the irresponsible what in the book?
owner of the farm
Farmer Jones does what to his animals?
starves and beats them with a whip
Farmer Jones also periodically shows his animals what?
random kindness
Czar Nicholas II was a weak what?
Russian leader during the early 1900s
Czar Nicholas II often treated his subjects how?
cruel and brutal
Who is Leon Trotsky in the book?
Snowball
Snowball is a boar who becomes one of the rebellion’s what?
most valuable leaders
Leon Trotsky was a pure communist leader who was influenced by the teachings of who?
Karl Marx
Who is Karl Marx in the book?
Old Major
Old Major is and old boar whose speech about the evils perpetrated by humans rouses the animals into doing what?
a rebellion
Old Major’s philosophy concerning the tyranny of Man is called what?
Animalism
Karl Marx is the inventor of what?
communism
Karl Marx wanted to unite the working class to do what?
overthrow the government
Many of the ideals behind the Soviet revolution were based on the writings and teachings of who?
Karl Marx
Many that societies are divided into two segments, which are?
a working class and an owner class
Marx’s objective was to create a classless society in which the work is shared by all for the benefit of all, he believed what was a way to reach this goal?
the revolution
Fables teach what?
moral or lesson
The animal characters often function as a satiric device to point out the follies of what?
humankind
who is Squealer?
a big mouth pig who becomes Napoleon’s mouthpiece
Who is boxer?
a dedicated but dimwitted horse who aids in the building of the windmill but is sold to a glue-boiler after collapsing from exhaustion
Who is jessie?
the farm’s sheepdog, keeps tabs on pigs, first to suspect something is wrong on the farm
Who is Moses?
a tame raven and sometimes-pet of Jones who tells the animals stories of paradise called Sugarcandy Mountain
Who is Pilkington?
Jone’s neighbor, forms an alliance with the pigs
Who is Muriel?
a goat who believes in the rebellion
Who is Mollie?
A vain horse who resists the animal rebellion because she doesn’t want to give up the petting and treats
Who is Benjamin?
the most cynical of all the animals, farm’s donkey doubts leadership of pigs but is faithfully devoted to Boxer
Who are the sheep?
remind themselves of the principles of animalism by chanting “four legs good, two legs bad” (not clever)
who are the dogs?
Napoleon’s private army that used fear to force the animals to work; killed any opponent of Napoleon
In the book, animalism represents what?
communism
Animalism means what 4 things?
no rich, but no poor
better life for workers
all animals are equal
everyone owns the farm
communism means what 3 things?
all people are equal
government owns everything
people own the government
the animal farm revolution represents what?
Russian revolution
Animal Farm Revolution made life better or worse at the end?
worse
In the Russian Revolution life became worse at the end and Stalin made Czar look like what?
a nice guy
