Animal Farm

Animal Farm - Plot summary

Animal Farm is a novel about a group of animals who take control of the farm they live on.

The animals get fed up of their master, Farmer Jones, so they kick him out. Once they are free of the tyrant Jones, life on the farm is good for a while and there is hope for a happier future of less work, better education and more food. However, trouble brews as the pigs, Napoleon and Snowball, fight for the hearts and minds of the other animals on the farm. Napoleon seizes power by force and ends up exploiting the animals just as Farmer Jones had done. The novel ends with the pigs behaving and even dressing like the humans the animals tried to get rid of in the first place

Themes:

• class- The animals' unhappiness represents class struggle, this leads to the Rebellion which offers some equality. Then the pigs' actions allow inequality back on the farm.
• equality and inequality 
• power, control and corruption - The theme of power and control is explored throughout the novel and is highlighted by the characters' relationships on the farm.

Before the Revolution of 1917, Tsar Nicholas II ruled Russia. The ruling classes had money and power, whilst most of the population were poor, exploited peasant workers or from the working class. These people lived in terrible conditions and what they farmed was taken from them leaving them to face starvation and poverty.

The Revolution that came in 1917 sought to overthrow the Tsar and change the balance of society to give power back to the working class. The plot of Animal Farm closely parallels these events. In Animal Farm, Orwell uses the animals to highlight the hardships of the working classes. He uses Mr Jones as a symbol for the Emperor - to highlight how lazy and neglectful the Tsar was. The animals each represent a different section of society at the time - they are a metaphor for what happened to the people.

The animals, like the working class of Russia, had short, difficult lives, working to produce things that the ruling class would take for themselves. The Rebellion on the farm seeks to change this, but the revolutionary pigs soon adopt the ways of the ruling class that they sought to abolish.

In Animal Farm, Orwell uses the animals and their actions to make the reader think about equality and inequality. Before 1917, the majority of Russian people suffered from great inequality - they had far less money and food than the ruling classes.

Likewise, before the rebellion in Animal Farm Mr Jones takes everything that the animals have away from them. After the Rebellion the animals are free from the tyranny of Mr Jones and seek to establish equality amongst themselves. One of the Commandments is 'All animals are equal'. However, this equality is short-lived and the pigs begin to bend the rules until inequality returns to the farm.

Power and control is one of the most important themes in Animal Farm. Orwell explores political power - Mr Jones owns the farm and the animals and uses his men and whips to keep them under control and maintain his power.

Orwell shows that the animals have the power to challenge Mr Jones' control and take over the farm - using power in a positive way. He then explores how the pigs use rhetoric and propaganda to establish themselves in power and take control of the farm. It is interesting that the working animals, especially Boxer the horse, have great physical power but they don't use it to break free from the control of the pigs.

Old Major is partly based on Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin. Karl Marx, was a German philosopher who lived during the 19th-century. His ideas formed the basis of communism - his ideas are collectively known as 'Marxism', like 'Animalism' in the novel. He developed theories on how power structures in society keep people under control. Vladimir Lenin was a Russian revolutionary who established a form of 'Marxism' in Russia in the early 20th-century.

Orwell explores the idea of power leading to corruption. Many of the characters in the novel are eventually corrupted by the power they have, particularly the pigs, as they manipulate their position of leadership to exploit other animals.

MINIMUS:

Minimus - I want to play Minimus as a younger, easily excitable pig who tries to gain respect and power. The main way I do this is by trying my hardest to get on the good side of Napoleon by sucking up to him and constantly trying to please him. I compose propaganda songs and poems to praise Napoleon and his way of running Animal Farm. I have a hand in the downfall of Animal Farm as I help gain the other animals vote for Napoleon.