Animal Farm - Snowball's Diary
Animal Farm Snowball's Diary 8th March Old Major died in his sleep today. He had known that his time was near. He gathered us all into the barn only 3 days previously and spoke openly of the wisdom he had gained over the years and of the strange dream that he had. He spoke of how we are all comrades. He asked what kind of life do we have? 'Miserable, laborious and short.' We are given only so much to eat that will keep us breathing and give us the strength to carry out a days work and no more. We are pushed to the limits and when we are not capable of carrying out our duties we are slaughtered with hideous cruelty. Most animals do not know the meaning of happiness because they do not live beyond 1 year. The life of an animal is misery and slavery. Remove man from the scene and the root cause of hunger and overwork is abolished forever. Man is lord of all the animals, he makes them work, gives food enough to prevent us from starving and keeps the rest for himself. He is very selfish he is our enemy. He spoke of Rebellion and how we must fight when the time came for future generations to carry on the struggle until it is victorious. Little did we know the Rebellion was going to start so soon. 1th March Napoleon and I decided to hold meetings during the, week to discuss and prepare for the Rebellion if it was to happen. Today I was talking to my comrades about how we
George Orwell ResearchEric Arthur Blair was born in 1903 at Motihari in British-occupied India
George Orwell Research Eric Arthur Blair was born in 1903 at Motihari in British-occupied India. While growin up, he attended private schools in Sussex, Wellington and Eton. He worked at the Imperial Indian Police untill 1927 when he went to London to study the poverty stricken. He then moved to Paris where he wrote two lost novels. After he moved back to England he wrote Down and Out in Paris and London, Burmese Days, A Clergyman's Daughter and Keep the Apidistra Flying. He published all four under the psuedonym George Orwell. He then married Eileen O'Shaughnessy and wrote The Road to Wigan Pier. Orwell then joined the Army and fought in the Spanish civil war. He became a socialist revolutionary and wrote Homage to Catalonia, Coming Up for Air, and in 1943, he wrote Animal Farm. It's success ended Orwell's financial troubles forever. In 1947 and 48 despite Tuberculosis, he wrote Nineteen Eighty-Four. He died in 1950 (Williams 7-15). This essay will show and prove to you that George Orwell's life has influenced modern society a great deal. BIOGRAPHY In 1903, Eric Arthur Blair was born. Living in India until he was four, Blair and his family then moved to England and settled at Henley. At the age of eight, Blair was sent to a private school in Sussex, and he lived there, except on holidays, until he was thirteen. He went to two private secondary schools: Wellington(for one
Who is the hero of Animal Farm?
Who is the hero of Animal Farm? The novel Animal Farm was written in 1945 by author George Orwell. George Orwell was the pseudonym of Eric Arthur Blair, he was a British writer born in Motihari, India in 1903. Animal Farm is a novel based on the lives of a society of animals living on the Manor Farm. Although the title of the book suggests the book is merely about animals, the story is a much more in depth analysis of the workings of society in Communist Russia. The animals are used as puppets to illustrate how the communist class system operated, how Russian citizens responded to this, how propaganda was used by early Russian leaders such as Stalin and the effect this type of leadership had on the behaviour of the people of Russia. Mr. Jones' principles and harsh mistreatment of the animals that Napoleon adopted proves to the reader that communism is not equality, but just another form of inequality. What qualities make a hero? Are they a large number of good deeds or something to do with one extraordinary event/achievement? Could it be the stereotype-cliché superhero meaning, maybe it's someone we admire? Perhaps it's someone who puts his or her own life on the line to save others- a someone with an aura of invulnerability. Many people would say that you have to be brave, fearless and courageous. Usually, in a book or film the protagonist is the hero. Boxer, Snowball
Animal Farm
How does George Orwell reflect the Russian Revolution in Animal Farm? Towards the end of the First World War in 1917 the defeated Russian nation was forced to surrender to the mighty German army. This lead to the abdication of the Russian Monarchy and the installation of a liberal provisional government. Within nine month however, the provisional government was overthrown by a new system of government which had previously not been seen, Communism, which lead to the establishment of the Soviet Union. In 1945 George Orwell released his well respected satirical allegory of the communist government which was a parody of the soviet revolution in 1917. The book highlights the downfall of communism which eventually developed into a totalitarian dictatorship. In the book Snowball is a fictional character, a pig that is commonly believed to represent Leon Trotsky. The two characters display striking similarities, both appear to have the best interests of their nations at heart. Snowball is concerned with the improvement of conditions on the farm, such as the building of the windmill and the improvement of the animal's social welfare, which is apparent at the battle of the cowshed. This battle represents the civil war in Russia between the Tsarist forces and the Bolsheviks where the old regime tried to retake power. During the battle of the cowshed Snowball is in the thick of
How does Orwell use the fable form to explore ideas about power in Animal Farm?
How does Orwell use the fable form to explore ideas about power in Animal Farm? Remember to write about the society in which the stories are set. Orwell wrote this play to illustrate the Russian revolution. He used the animals to symbolise the main characters in the Russian Revolution. The moral of this fable is that power can corrupt anyone if they are not careful. Animal Farm is used to represent Russia in the time when Stalin was ruling Russia. Orwell represents the populations of Russia through the animals. Boxer is used to represent the community of Russia that did just as Stalin liked and didn't question his word. When the dogs attacked him he held them down with his hoof with ease. "Boxer looked at Napoleon to know whether he should crush the dog to death or let it go." He doesn't understand that the dogs were sent to attack him by Napoleon. This shows just how imprudent Boxer is. He is not as clever as Napoleon at all. If Boxer had a brain as good as a pig he would have been a great leader of the farm. Snowball is meant to symbolise Leon Trotsky and how he tries to do good for the country. Snowball has many attributes. He is a very helpful character and tried to help all the animals on the farm." He formed the Egg production Committee... the clean Tails League..., the wild Comrades' Re-education Committee" This shows that Snowball is dedicated to spreading the
Does the rest of the story show the fulfilment of the ideals and aims expressed in Old Major's Speech?
Does the rest of the story show the fulfilment of the ideals and Aim expressed in his speech? Give a full commentary on what takes place. Personally I do not agree that Old Major's ideals and aims were achieved by the other Pigs and animals. The pigs are shown to take control from the very beginning making up rules and then changing them to suit themselves even before the speech the pigs have taken the front seats in the meeting. The ideals and aims are peace, unity, equality, fraternity, fairness and justice. These are the concepts behind the animal commandments (Listed previously in this essay). The pigs have already learnt reading, writing and language to get ahead of the other animals allowing them to change the rules without confrontation. Language is fundamental to the pigs gaining power. The exclusion of the pigs from day to day work on the farm marks the beginnings of power for the pigs. This is no longer going to carry along with Old Major's ideals of a classless society. The pigs resemble management in a place of work, which again violates Old Major's rules "remember that also in fighting against man we must not come to resemble him." There is not perfect unity between the animals because of the pigs telling the other animals what to do and when to do it. This does not unite them it drives them apart because deep down they know that they have a leader. The
How does Major seek to persuade the animals in chapter one of Animal Farm?
'How does old Major seek to persuade the animals in Chapter 1 of Animal Farm?' There are many ways in which Orwell uses rhetoric in order to persuade the audience (the farm animals). Old Major wants to create an animal utopia, and in order to do this, encourages rebellion within the farm. Techniques such as pathos and rhetorical questions are used effectively with a wide variety of other techniques e.g. antithesis, anaphora and ethos being used, though perhaps not as widely or as well as the two devices mentioned previously (pathos and rhetorical questions). The other main persuasive method was via structure, which was also used successfully. Pathos and emotive vocabulary is used extensively in the speech. For example,'...our lives are miserable, laborious and short...' this phrase is very good because he (Old Major) refers to himself as one of his audience which makes them listen to him. This is also an example of emotive vocabulary because Orwell could have written 'our lives are sad, tiring and short' but he didn't he used his vocabulary to make the reader really think about what he was saying. The broken repetition of the word 'man' also adds to the emotive atmosphere, and as old Major becomes more and more heated throughout the speech he begins to repeat the word more and more whi8ch, by the end, perhaps even evokes the word as a 'bad word' a word that should not be
Focusing on THREE key incidents, explore the extent to which language is an effective method of control in "Animal Farm".
IGCSE English Literature Coursework - Animal Farm 4. "The pen is mightier than the sword" Focusing on THREE key incidents, explore the extent to which language is an effective method of control in "Animal Farm". Animal Farm is a fable, and all fables have meanings. This fable, "Animal Farm" has a very strong meaning and that is that the pen is mightier than the sword, which means that language can alter many things that violence can't. In Animal Farm, we can see violence but we also see a small character who could "turn black into white" by his language. He changes everything that happens in the farm only in language, and all the other animals believe him. His name is Squealer and he was one of the cleverest pigs in the farm. We first see him in the novel when George Orwell describes the pigs. "All other male pigs on the farm were porkers. The best known among them was a small fat pig named 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 persuasive. The others said of Squealer that he could turn black into white."(p.9) Here with only his first description we can see that Squealer was a very good talker, and he was good at arguing things. In the story, Napoleon gets advantage of
Animal Farm: Compare and contrast Napoleon and Snowball. What methods do they use for their struggle for power?
English GCSE Coursework: Animal Farm Compare and contrast Napoleon and Snowball. What methods do they use for their struggle for power? George Orwell (25 June 1903 - 21 January 1950), whose real name was Eric Arthur Blair, was an English writer and journalist. His birth in India, schooling in England, and adult life in India, Burma, and later Spain encouraged an eye for critique and review, and this was put to good use in his staunch disapproval of British Imperialism, a politic which was further refined into socialism whilst living in Paris, and continued to the birth of his 'anarchist theory', detailed in "The Road to Wigan Pier". As mentioned, though, it was by no means politics alone which received his attention and review; he was equally vociferous when it came to the Art of literary writing, providing six rules for writers in "Politics and the English Language". It is, then, no surprise that he painted such a picture of Napoleon and Snowball in "Animal Farm", as he himself could be said to have been rather dictatorial in his ways, even when the subject and cause of his attentions, was so noble and deserving. Animal Farm is said to be an allegory and a satire, meaning that two coherent stories run throughout the piece, and that the attacks made upon the subjects give the appearance that they are worthy of our contempt. The allegorical nature of this piece ensures that
Animal Farm - Power Corrupts, and Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely
In 1887, Lord Acton told his friend in a letter, "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men." In 1945, George Orwell published the short novel Animal Farm, which was as allegory to Soviet totalitarianism, in which he made his views about several topics clear. Many of the characters in the book are corrupted by power, particularly the pigs, as they begin to manipulate their position of leadership to exploit the other animals, showing that absolute power corrupts absolutely. Firstly, it can be seen how power corrupts the pigs in Animal Farm simply by their actions, which include the changing of the commandments and their manipulation of the other animals. The actions of the character Napoleon are a particular case in this argument. In the fifth chapter of the book, Napoleon ousts Snowball from the farm during one of the regular debates with the aid of his trained dogs. Napoleon, not being satisfied with the amount of power that he currently had, decided to expel Snowball from Animal Farm with the support of his trained dogs. He did this in blatant disregard to the second of the Seven Commandments of Animalism. "Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend. (Chapter 2)" The law is written so that every animal is considered a friend. However, Napoleon chose to treat Snowball as an enemy because Snowball's
