George Orwell (1903-1950)

1. George Orwell (1903-1950) George Orwell, 1933.

2. Rejection of his English background  he accepted new ideas and impressions. Conflict between middle-class education and emotional identification with the working class. The role of the artist  to inform, to reveal facts and draw conclusions from them social function, independent from party policy George Orwell The artist’s developement George Orwell.

3. George Orwell Social themes • Influence of Dickens in the choice of: • social themes • realisticlanguage • miserycausedbypoverty • depravation of society George Orwell while working for the BBC Criticism of totalitarianism, the violation of liberty and tyranny in all its forms.

4. Reaction to Stalin’s Purge Trials (1930) and signature of the non-aggression pact with Hitler (1939) The book expresses Orwell’s disillusionment with totalitarianism in the form of an animal fable It is an anti-utopia influenced by Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels (1721-1725) George Orwell Animal Farm Historical background First hardcover edition of Animal Farm by George Orwell.

5. The writer’s role Warning against the risks of revolutions => masses can easily be controlled and deceived => utopia/ideals can turn into dystopia/dictatorship SATIRE OF DICTATORSHIP => ATTACK with irony and humour => dictatorships start with false illusions => defend democratic socialism based on liberty and justice

6. Animal Farm : Literary genre and style • Satire = attack on totalitarianism • Beast/animal fable = • - easy to understand • - personification of animals • - central moral • (warning against the risks of revolution, propaganda, personality cult) • Allegory = two levels of meaning • Epic tale = conflict and rebellion • Anti-utopia influenced by Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels (1721-1725) = promoting the creation of a better society by presenting a negative one as hideous • LANGUAGE: clear, straightforward, direct • BUT ALSO a political instrument that can be manipulated

7. Orwell’s inspiration George Orwell Animal Farm History as fable Animated cartoons Literary sources The fables of AesoporLa Fontaine Third and fourth books of Gulliver’s Travels A contemporary edition of Animal Farm.

8. George Orwell • Short narrative set on a farm. • A group of oppressed animals, led by Napoleon, overcome their cruel master and set up a revolutionarygovernment. • Napoleon’s leadership becomes a dictatorial regime • All the Seven Commandments are abandoned and only one remains: “all animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others”. Animal Farm The plot A scene from Animal Farm, a 1954 animated movie based on Orwell’s book.

9. George Orwell Animal Farm The Revolution A contemporary edition of Animal Farm. Animal Farm shows how the initial idealism of the revolution gradually decayed into inequality, hierarchy and finally dictatorship. This decay of the revolution is always seen from the community’s point of view, never from the pigs’ one.

10. George Orwell Animal Farm The Revolution A contemporary edition of Animal Farm. Animal Farm does not attackthe original ideals of the Revolution but the ways in which they were betrayed. Gradually, the privilegesand abuses of the old regime are restored in a systematic, tyrannical form: this is what Orwell means by totalitarianism (each step violates some revolutionary principle of the Seven Commandments).

11. Parallel with the history of the USSRbetween 1917 and 1943. Each animal symbolises a precise figure or representative type. Animal Farm is not only a satire on the Soviet Union, but a satire on dictatorship in general, as the name “Napoleon” shows George Orwell Animal Farm An allegory Stalin

12. George Orwell Animal Farm An allegory

13. George Orwell Animal Farm Description of the working class From different points of view through different animals Besides being a symbol, each animal possesses the traits of its species.

14. George Orwell Animal Farm Religion A raven • Orwell remains conventionally socialist in portraying religion.  the raven Moses, who is Mr. Jones’s favourite pet, derives its name from the Hebrew word “lawgiver”. When the revolution turns conservative and nationalistic, Napoleon brings the raven back, as Stalin brought back the Russian Orthodox Church.

15. WRITING - TYPE A NES (about 20 lines) 1. “The creatures outside looked from pig to man, from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossile to say which was which.” What does this sentence tell us about life on Animal Farm? Comment on content and style. 2. Do you feel the story is more or less powerful for its use animals as the main characters? (give reasons) Which character in the story do you feel most sympathy towards? (explain)