ANIMAL FARMAN INTRODUCTION

George Orwell (1903 - 1950)George Orwell (1903 - 1950)

"If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they don't want to hear". From the Preface of Animal Farm The Freedom of the Press

GEORGE ORWELL• ERIC ARTHUR BLAIR, BETTER KNOWN BY HIS

PEN NAME, GEORGE ORWELL, WAS A BRITISH AUTHOR AND JOURNALIST.

• NOTED AS A NOVELIST, CRITIC AND POLITICAL AND CULTURAL COMMENTATOR, HE IS BEST KNOWN FOR TWO NOVELS: ANIMAL FARM AND NINETEEN EIGHTY-FOUR.

• BLAIR WAS BORN IN 1903 IN MOTIHARI, BENGAL, INDIA; THE THEN BRITISH COLONY OF INDIA

• ORWELL'S POLITICAL VIEWS SHIFTED OVER TIME, BUT THERE IS NO DOUBTING HE WAS A MAN OF THE POLITICAL LEFT.

• HIS TIME EMPLOYED IN THE INDIAN IMPERIAL POLICE IN BURMA MADE HIM A STAUNCH OPPONENT OF IMPERIALISM.

• WHEN HE LEFT INDIA IN HIS MID-TWENTIES, HE LIVED FOR SEVERAL YEARS IN POVERTY, SOMETIMES HOMELESS; HE BEGAN HIS CAREER AS A WRITER.

GEORGE ORWELL, CONT’D.

• ORWELL JOINED THE FORCES IN THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR.

• HE WAS CRITICAL OF COMMUNISM BUT CONSIDERED HIMSELF A SOCIALIST.

• WOUNDED AND HAD TO FLEE TO FRANCE.

• WHEN ORWELL RETURNED TO ENGLAND HE WROTE ABOUT HIS EXPERIENCES OF THE WAR IN A BOOK CALLED HOMAGE TO CATALONIA (1938).

• ORWELL ATTEMPTED TO EXPOSE THE PROPAGANDA DISSEMINATED BY NEWSPAPERS IN BRITAIN.

• ORWELL’S VARIOUS EXPERIENCES WITH TOTALITARIAN POLITICAL REGIMES HAD A DIRECT IMPACT ON HIS PROSE.

GEORGE ORWELL’S ANIMAL FARM• ANIMAL FARM BY GEORGE

ORWELL, IS ABOUT A GROUP OF ANIMALS WHO OUST THE HUMANS FROM THE FARM THEY LIVE ON AND RUN IT THEMSELVES, ONLY TO HAVE IT CORRUPTED INTO A BRUTAL TYRANNY ON ITS OWN.

• IT WAS WRITTEN DURING WORLD WAR II AND PUBLISHED IN 1945, ALTHOUGH IT WAS NOT WIDELY RECOGNIZED UNTIL THE LATE 1950S.

LITERARY DEVICES USED IN ANIMAL FARMALLEGORY: AN ARTISTIC

DEVICE IN WHICH THE CHARACTERS AND EVENTS OF A STORY REPRESENT SOMETHING ELSE.

THE LITERAL (ACTUAL) CONTENT OF AN ALLEGORICAL WORK IS LESS IMPORTANT THAN ITS SYMBOLIC MEANING.

ORWELL USES HIS ALLEGORICAL FARM TO SYMBOLIZE THE COMMUNIST SYSTEM IN RUSSIA UNDER STALIN.

LITERARY DEVICES CONTINUED…

• SATIRE: A WORK OF LITERATURE THAT MOCKS SOCIAL CONVENTIONS, ANOTHER WORK OF ART, OR ANYTHING ITS AUTHOR THINKS IS RIDICULOUS. ORWELL BELIEVED THAT COMMUNISM WAS JUST

ANOTHER WAY FOR THE ELITE (RICH & POWERFUL) TO CONTROL THE COMMON MAN. [POLITICAL SATIRE]

LITERARY DEVICES CONTINUED…•FABLE: A STORY IN WHICH ANIMALS USUALLY SPEAK AND ACT LIKE HUMANS IN ORDER TO TEACH A UNIVERSAL TRUTH.

ORWELL’S LITERARY STYLE

IN HIS ESSAY "POLITICS AND THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE," GEORGE ORWELL PROVIDES SIX SIMPLE RULES FOR ALL WRITERS OF ENGLISH (THAT IS, IN A NON-LITERARY CONTEXT)

• NEVER USE A METAPHOR, SIMILE, OR OTHER FIGURE OF SPEECH WHICH YOU ARE USED TO SEEING IN PRINT.

• NEVER USE A LONG WORD WHERE A SHORT ONE WILL DO. • IF IT IS POSSIBLE TO CUT A WORD OUT, ALWAYS CUT IT

OUT. • NEVER USE THE PASSIVE VOICE WHERE YOU CAN USE THE

ACTIVE. • NEVER USE A FOREIGN PHRASE, A SCIENTIFIC WORD, OR A

JARGON WORD IF YOU CAN THINK OF AN EVERYDAY ENGLISH EQUIVALENT.

• BREAK ANY OF THESE RULES SOONER THAN SAY ANYTHING OUTRIGHT BARBAROUS.

TRACING THE EVOLUTION OF RUSSIA FROM A MONARCH TO A

COMMUNISTIC DICTATORSHIP

MAP OF THE WORLD

Note the size of Russia. It’s massive size alone makes the country a threat in world politics. The political uprising in Russia

had ramifications across the globe.

CZAR NICHOLAS II• NICHOLAS II WAS THE

LAST EMPEROR OF RUSSIA. HE RULED FROM 1894 UNTIL THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION OF 1917. HE IS SOMETIMES REFERRED TO AS NICHOLAS THE MARTYR DUE TO HIS EXECUTION.

• HE WAS A SENSITIVE CHILD AND WAS UNPREPARED FOR THE DUTIES OF THE CROWN.

DOWNFALL OF CZAR NICHOLAS

• LACK OF LEADERSHIP & REFUSAL TO COMPROMISE

• THE DUMA (ADVISORY COMITTEE) PROPOSED A PLAN TO REFORM THE POLICY OF LAND DISTRIBUTION; NICHOLAS PROCLAIMED THE BILL “INADMISSIBLE” AND THEN DISSOLVED THE DUMA.

• JUSTIFIED HIS POWER SAYING HE NEED ONLY ANSWER TO GOD.

• NICKNAMED “NICHOLAS THE BLOODY” AS MANY SOLDIERS AND CITIZENS DIED UNDER HIS RULE.

The most significant things Nicholas did to “dig his own grave”:

ALEXEIALEXEI (NICOLAS’S SON) INHERITED

HEMOPHILIA FROM HIS MOTHER (NICOLAS’S WIFE) ALEXANDRA.

ALEXEI WAS THE CENTER OF THIS UNITED FAMILY, THE FOCUS OF ALL ITS HOPES AND AFFECTIONS AS HE WAS NEXT IN LINE FOR THE THRONE.

• Russian doctors attempts to treat Alexei generally failed and as a result his mother turned to the

mystic Grigori Rasputin.• Many claim that Rasputin played a

huge role in the downfall of the family.

GRIGORI RASPUTIN • RASPUTIN CLAIMED TO BE ABLE TO "HEAL" ALEXEI WHEN HE WAS ON THE BRINK OF DEATH

• THERE ARE VARIOUS EXPLANATIONS FOR RASPUTIN'S ABILITY, SUCH AS THAT RASPUTIN HYPNOTIZED ALEXEI, ADMINISTERED HERBS TO HIM, OR THAT HIS ADVICE TO THE TSARINA NOT TO LET THE DOCTORS BOTHER ALEXEI TOO MUCH AIDED THE BOY'S HEALING. OTHERS BELIEVE HE TRULY POSSESSED A SUPERNATURAL HEALING ABILITY OR THAT HIS PRAYERS TO GOD SAVED THE BOY.

• ALEXANDRA’S RELIANCE ON RASPUTIN ENHANCED HIS POLITICAL POWER, WHICH SERIOUSLY TO UNDERMINES ROMANOV RULE DURING THE FIRST WORLD WAR.

ROMANOV FAMILY• NICHOLAS ABDICATED THE

THRONE, AND WAS PLACED ON HOUSE ARREST.

• DURING THE NIGHT OF 16–17 JULY, NICHOLAS, ALEXANDRA, THEIR CHILDREN, THEIR PHYSICIAN, AND THREE SERVANTS WERE TAKEN INTO THE BASEMENT AND EXECUTED AT 2:33 A.M. ON JULY 17.

• THE ACTION HAD BEEN ORDERED BY THE GOVERNMENT IN MOSCOW BY VLADIMIR LENIN AND YAKOV SVERDLOV

Clockwise from the top: Empress Alexandra, Grand

Duchess Anastasia, Tsarevich Alexei, Grand Duchess Tatiana, Tsar

Nicholas, Grand Duchess Maria

MONARCHY RULE UNDER CZAR NICHOLAS II

1 MAN

Aristocracy

Military

Agriculture Industry

Proletariator

Workers from Privatized Farms and Industry

(owned by aristocracy)

Czar

Millions of People

Power

Powerless

Wealth

Poor

SO, OK, HE WASN’T A GOOD LEADER BUT WHY THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION?

• RUSSIAN LIFE ON THE EVE OF WAR AND REVOLUTION WAS DEFINED BY ENORMOUS CHANGE AND UNCERTAINTY. • CITIES AND INDUSTRY GREW RAPIDLY, CREATING SOCIAL

OPPORTUNITIES BUT ALSO UNCERTAINTY. • RUSSIA CONSISTED MAINLY OF POOR FARMING PEASANTS,

WITH 1.5% OF THE POPULATION OWNING 25% OF THE LAND.• WHILE PEASANTS HAD BEEN EMANCIPATED FROM SERFDOM

IN 1861, THEY STILL RESENTED PAYING REDEMPTION PAYMENTS TO THE STATE, AND DEMANDED COMMUNAL TENDER OF THE LAND THEY WORKED.

• MANY PEASANTS MIGRATED TO THE CITIES CREATING A GROWING URBAN LABOR FORCE.

• ALMOST EVERYONE FELT THE VERY TEXTURE OF THEIR LIVES TRANSFORMED, WHICH REMADE THE VERY SURFACES OF MATERIAL LIFE (BUILDINGS, STORE FRONTS, ADVERTISEMENTS, FASHION, CLOCKS, MACHINES) AND NURTURED NEW OBJECTS OF DESIRE.

DON’T UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF A TOILET!

• THE RAPID INDUSTRIALIZATION OF RUSSIA ALSO RESULTED IN URBAN OVERCROWDING AND POOR CONDITIONS FOR URBAN INDUSTRIAL WORKERS.

• BETWEEN 1890 AND 1910, THE POPULATION OF THE CAPITAL OF ST PETERSBURG SWELLED FROM 1,033,600 TO 1,905,600, WITH MOSCOW EXPERIENCING SIMILAR GROWTH.

• IN ONE 1904 SURVEY, IT WAS FOUND THAT AN AVERAGE OF SIXTEEN PEOPLE SHARED EACH APARTMENT IN ST PETERSBURG, WITH SIX PEOPLE PER ROOM.

• THERE WAS ALSO NO RUNNING WATER, AND PILES OF HUMAN WASTE WERE A THREAT TO THE HEALTH OF THE WORKERS.

IN SHORT…

• MAJORITY OF RUSSIAN POPULATION WANTED GOVERNMENT REFORMS

• THE MONARCHY RULED WITH ABSOLUTE POWER

• USED HARSH MEASURES TO SUPPRESS POPULATION; INCLUDING EXECUTION

• CLAIMED TO DRAW POWER DIRECTLY FROM GOD

• JOINED IN WWI WAR EFFORT

• MONEY FLOWED OUT TO SUPPORT WAR

• STARVATION AND DISEASE RAN RAMPANT THROUGHOUT COUNTRY

• REVOLUTIONARIES OVERTHREW THE GOVERNMENT IN 1917

SO THE RUSSIANS REVOLTED—WHAT THEN?

KARL MARX: GERMAN PHILOSOPHER (THINKER—NOT A

LEADER)

• FATHER OF COMMUNISM

• WROTE THE COMMUNIST MANIFESTO

• DREAMED OF A NEW SOCIAL ORDER

• STRENGTHEN INDUSTRY, AGRICULTURE, AND MILITARY

• POPULACE OF EDUCATED PEOPLE WILL SUCCESSFULLY GOVERN THEMSELVES

• CITIZENS WILL COLLECTIVELY OWN THE COMBINED WEALTH

• UTOPIAN TYPE DREAM WHERE A CLASSLESS SOCIETY PROVIDED ALL ITS CITIZENS WITH A COMFORTABLE AND MEANINGFUL LIFE

COMMUNISM AS ENVISIONED BY KARL MARX

NO MAN

Collectively Owned Agriculture

Collectively Owned Industry

Self Governance

Mandatory Military Service For All Citizens

POWER

WEALTH

THE RUSSIANS, PARTICULARLY VLADIMIR

LENIN, READ MARX’S BOOK AND WANTED TO CREATE A

COMMUNIST RUSSIA.

VLADIMIR LENIN (1870-1924)

His accomplishments:• Modernized industry and

agriculture• Got rid of the aristocracy• Provided adequate food, shelter,

and medical service to the masses of poor

• Educated their population in the ways of Communism

• Strengthened the military

He did all of this efficiently and quickly.

"Comrade Lenin Cleanses the Earth of Filth," 1920 Communist poster

TRANSITIONAL RUSSIAN RULE UNDER LENIN

1 MAN

Communist Party

Agriculture Modernization

Industry Modernization

Military Modernization

Lenin

Millions of People

Power

Powerless

Wealth

Poor

Workers quickly absorbed Into Agriculture, Industry, and Military

LENIN DIED BEFORE HE COULD SEE A NEW RUSSIA EMERGE…

• BEFORE HIS DEATH, LENIN DICTATED SEVERAL PAPERS REGARDING THE GOVERNMENT TO HIS WIFE. MOST FAMOUS OF THESE IS LENIN'S TESTAMENT, WHICH AMONG OTHER THINGS CRITICIZED TOP-RANKING COMMUNISTS, INCLUDING JOSEPH STALIN AND LEON TROTSKY. OF STALIN, COMMUNIST PARTY'S GENERAL SECRETARY SINCE APRIL 1922, LENIN SAID THAT HE HAD "UNLIMITED AUTHORITY CONCENTRATED IN HIS HANDS" AND SUGGESTED THAT "COMRADES THINK ABOUT A WAY OF REMOVING STALIN FROM [AS THE COMMUNIST PARTY’S GENERAL SECRETARY]."

• A POWER STRUGGLE ENSUES BETWEEN TROTSKY AND STALIN

Joseph Stalin, Lenin, and TrotskyLeon Trotsky

LEON TROTSKY (1879-1940)

• Commissar of Foreign Affairs

• Brilliant speaker and writer

• Visionary thinker• Wanted to

transform Russia to an Industrial powerhouse

• Gained many followers

JOSEPH STALIN (1879-1953)

• Quick mind & great speaker• While Trotsky dreamed…

Stalin created bonds with the powerful

• Trotsky is run out of country• Stalin’s power lies in his

secret police• The Russia that Stalin

developed was renamed the Soviet Union

• He was Russia’s leader for 25 years

• Not the same country that Lenin had hoped for

COMMUNISTIC RULE UNDER STALIN

1 MAN

Secret Police

Military

Agriculture Industry

Proletariat Or Workers From Government Farms And Industry

(owned by Stalin)

Stalin

Millions of People

Power

Powerless

Wealth

Poor

THE ENDTHIS INFORMATION IS IMPERITIVE FOR YOUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE NOVEL. YOU CAN ALSO EXPECT TO SEE SOME OF THIS

POP UP ON TESTS! SAVE THESE NOTES!