Year 8 English Half Term 2 – Animal Farm
Texts | Animal Farm – George Orwell |
Further reading | Fahrenheit 451 – Ray Bradbury Never Let Me Go – Kazuo Ishiguro The Time Machine – HG Wells The Iron Heel – Jack London |
Assessment | Analytical writing – How does Orwell use __________ to present ideas about society? Academic language includes: structural words (connects the text) analytical words (studies the evidence) descriptive words (refers to the main character/theme in the essay) |
What you need to know |
How to plan and structure a literature essay How to make inferences from a text How to comment on the effect of methods |
Analytical Paragraphs | What: In the extract, _______ is presented as … Quotations: Orwell shows this in the line ‘…’ How: The (metaphor/verb/word etc) ‘___’ suggests… Perhaps the writer is suggesting… It is as if… The reader understands how… What: Furthermore, ________ is presented as… |
Key vocabulary |
allegory – a story with two meanings. It has a literal meaning, which is what actually happens in the story. But it also has a deeper meaning. The deeper meaning is often a moral. It teaches you a lesson about life. |
tyrant – someone who has total power and uses it in a cruel and unfair way. A tyranny is a situation in which a leader or government has too much power and uses that power in a cruel and unfair way. |
rebellion – a rebellion is a situation in which people fight against those who are in charge of them. |
harvest – the time when crops are cut and collected from fields. |
corrupt – when people use their power in a dishonest way order to make life better for themselves. |
propaganda – Information that is meant to make people think a certain way. The information may not be true. |
cult of personality – a cult of personality is where a leader convinces people to worship him or her, and treat them like a god. |
treacherous – If you betray someone who trusts you, you could be described as treacherous. |
Biographical information – George Orwell | |
1 | ‘Animal Farm’ was written in 1945. |
2 | It was written by George Orwell. |
3 | Orwell was born in 1903. |
4 | ‘Animal Farm’ was influenced by the events of World War II. |
5 | Orwell wanted to write about the cruel leaders of Europe during World War II. |
6 | ‘Animal Farm’ is an allegory for the events of the Russian Revolution. |
Chapter breakdown | |
1 | The animals gather to listen to old Major. He gives them a vision of a life without man. |
2 | The animals rebel and overthrow Jones. The commandments are written. |
3 | The animals’ first harvest is a success. The pigs keep the milk and apples to themselves. |
4 | The Battle of the Cowshed: Jones attempts to reclaim the farm. |
5 | Snowball and Napoleon debate the windmill. Napoleon uses dogs to chase Snowball from the farm. Napoleon makes himself leader. |
6 | Work begins on the windmill. The pigs move into the farmhouse. Winds destroy the windmill. |
7 | Work on the windmill starts again. Napoleon demands eggs from the hens. Napoleon slaughters animals at the show trials. |
8 | Napoleon betrays Mr. Pilkington and sells timber to Mr. Frederick. Frederick pays with counterfeit money. Frederick attacks the farm. The animals suffer losses in the Battle of the Windmill. The windmill is destroyed. |
9 | Boxer is sold to the knacker’s yard. |
10 | The pigs are leaders on the farm. They start walking on two legs and carrying whips. There is no difference between the pigs and the humans they sought to overthrow at the start of the novel. |
The seven commandments | |
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. |
Characters |
Napoleon ‘a large, rather fierce-looking Berkshire boar, the only Berkshire on the farm, not much of a talker, but with a reputation for getting his own way.’ |
Snowball ‘a more vivacious pig than Napoleon, quicker in speech and more inventive, but was not considered to have the same depth of character.’ |
Squealer ‘with very round cheeks, twinkling eyes, nimble movements, and a shrill voice. He was a brilliant talker, and when he was arguing some difficult point he had a way of skipping from side to side and whisking his tail which was somehow very persuasive. The others said of Squealer that he could turn black into white.’ |
Boxer ‘an enormous beast, nearly eighteen hands high, and as strong as any two ordinary horses put together… in fact he was not of first-rate intelligence, but he was universally respected for his steadiness of character and tremendous powers of work.’ |