George Orwell Animal Farm

1. George OrwellAnimal Farm Chris Taylor Tom Leggette Corey Mauck Jordon Cox Chris Nguyen

2. George Orwell was born in Motihari, India in 1903. His real name was Eric Arthur Blair, he used George Orwell as his pen name. Orwell attended Eton College in England. George Orwell1903-1950

3. Orwell’s accomplishments • In 1922 Orwell joined the Imperial police in Burma. • He wrote Burmese Days in 1934 from his experiences in Burma. • His first book was Down and Out in Paris and London which he wrote in 1933. • His wife was Eileen O’Shaughversy. • He fought in the Spanish Civil war on the side of the loyalists in which he was wounded. • His two most famous book were Animal Farm (1945), and Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949).

4. Orwell’s inspiration for Animal Farm • Orwell became a socialist when he was a young man in England. • Though he was a socialist he resented the Soviet form of communism for its cruelty and oppression. • Stalin’s totalitarian rule of Russia, as well as his purging of the Soviet party of Leon Trotsky and his followers made a huge impact on Orwell’s decision to write Animal Farm. • Animal Farm was Orwell’s way of criticizing the Soviets while at the same time making his case for how communism should work.

5. Snowball, a pig in the story actually represented Leon Trotsky. Trotsky was one of Lenin’s closest confidants and was chased out of Russia by Stalin after the communist revolution. Trotsky was much more popular with moderate socialists, as such he was seen as a threat by Stalin, who is portrayed as Napoleon in the Animal Farm. Symbolism in Animal Farm

6. Joseph Stalin was the man who emerged to power in Russia after the death of Lenin. Stalin immediately set about purging his party of all his enemies, including Trotsky and his old ally Serge Kirov. In the Novel, when Napoleon drives snowball out of the farm and takes total control and begins to solidify his power is representative of Stalin’s purges of Russia.

7. Characters in Animal Farm • The pigs represented the Soviet leadership in Russia, just as they rule the farm. • Old Major is the prize winning boar who represented Lenin and Carl Marx, the original architects of Communist theology. • Boxer is the cart-horse who shows much devotion to Animal farms ideals but doesn’t question the pigs decisions, and is often heard saying “Napoleon is always right”. • Mr. Jones is the human who runs Manor farm before the animals take over, and is a representation of Czar Nicholas II.

8. Mr. Frederick is the neighbor of Animal Farm and represented Adolf Hitler of Germany. Mr. Frederick parallels by being enemies at first, friends with later, and an enemy again of Napoleons; just as Adolf Hitler treated Stalin. • Some other major character were Squealer, Napoleons propaganda pig. Clover was the female cart-horse who often suspects the pigs of violating the seven commandments. Mollie is the horse who pulls Mr. Jones carriage and misses the attention the humans gave her. Jessie and Bluebell are two dogs whose puppies are taken by Napoleon for “re-education” and turned into his own personal army.

9. Animal Farm: The Movie • Released in 1999 by Hallmark Home Entertainment • Actors/Actresses include -Kelsey Grammer (Snowball) -Ian Holm ( Squealer) -Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Mollie) -Peter Ustinov (Old Major) Awarded “Movie of the Week” by TNT in Oct. 1999

10. The plot • The story of Animal Farm starts when Old Major gives a speech on revolution at Manor Farm. • 3 days after the speech Old Major gives he dies and Snowball and Napoleon emerge as the leaders of Animal Farm. • The “revolution” begins when Mr. Jones becomes too drunk to feed the animals, and after a day and a half without food they finally revolt. • Soon after the revolution the pigs take the littler of puppies that have been born for “education”. • The pigs soon show their own greed by keeping the entire apple crop and milk for themselves as reward for “supervising” the farm.

11. More plot • Mr. Jones tries unsuccessfully to retake Animal Farm with some other farmers after their animals start acting badly as well. • After a dispute over building a windmill Napoleon has the puppies he took attack Snowball and chase him from the farm, and then go through with the plan anyway. • The pigs soon being trading with humans, and sleeping in the house, and the animals farms “rules” mysteriously keep seeming to change. • Food shortages soon hit animal farm, and is again attacked by the neighboring farmers.

12. End of Animal Farm • Near the end of the story most of the older animals have died off, and Squealer soon begins to take over from Napoleon and walk on two legs. • The name of the Farm is changed back to Manor Farm. • In the final scene the pigs invite the humans over for dinner, and the humans remark that the farm’s animals do more work and consume less food that any other farm in England. The animals watching through a window outside are horrified when they realize the can no longer tell the Humans’ faces from that of the pigs.

13. Orwell’s Death • George Orwell (Eric Blair) suddenly dies on January 21, 1950 due to a hemorrhaged lung caused by Tuberculosis. • He widowed his second wife, Sonja Bronwell, to whom he was only married to for less than a year.

14. Sources • Animal Farm. Dir. John Stephonson. Hallmark Home Entertainment. 1999. • Animal Farm. http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/animalfarm/section1.html • Kreis, Steven. "The History Guide." Editor. November 29, 2004 <http://www.historyguide.org/europe/orwell.html>. • Meyers, Valerie. George Orwell. St. Martin’s Press, New York. 1991 • Orwell, George. Animal Farm. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc. New York. 1946.