Animal Farm Novel Sheet

Title: Animal Farm
Author: George Orwell
Genre: Fiction
Setting: A farm in England during the Russian revolution.
Characters:
Major (pig) respected by all Snowball (pig) good speaker (Trotsky) Napoleon (pig) leader (Stalin) Squealer (pig) persuasive Boxer (horse) hardworking Clover (horse) motherly Benjamin (donkey) Mollie (horse) self centered Mr. Jones - harsh, usually drunk Mr. Pilkington- neighboring farmer
Theme: This book shows that when there’s too much power it can cause corruption.
Plot Summary: Animal Farm is a story of communism. The animals, led by pigs which are very smart compared to the other animal’s revolt against their owner, an often drunk and cruel farmer Mr. Jones. Successfully winning against the farm owner, Snowball which is a pig (Trotsky) tries to turn the farm into a sort of utopia with commandments to prevent the farm animals from ever becoming like humans. But unfortunately he is chased out by Napoleon which is more power hungry and cruel (Stalin). Later pigs begin to brainwash and confuse the other animals while at the same time turning into the same type of person that their old farm owner was.

Literary devices: Irony - “no animal may drink alcohol” (pg.25) later becomes “no animal may drink alcohol to excess” (pg. 109) Simile- “But the most terrifying spectacle of all was Boxer rearing up on his hind legs and striking out with his great iron-shod hoofs like a stallion” (pg. 42) Imager- “in the ecstasy of that thought they gamboled round and round, they hurled themselves into the air in great leaps of excitement. They rolled in dew, they cropped mouthfuls of the sweet summer grass, they kicked up clods of the black earth and snuffed its rich scent” (pg. 22)
Memorable Quotes: “Four legs good two legs bad”- the sheep used this saying a lot in the book meaning that any animal is a comrade and any human is an enemy.
“All animals are equal but some animals are more equal” pg 134. This was the commandment at the end of the book which meant that all animals are equal but some are more powerful than others.
“Beast of England, beast of Ireland, beasts of any land and clime, hearken to my joyful tiding of the golden future” pg 12. This is the beginning of the song that old major thought the animals when he foresaw the revolution that was coming. This song also stirred the animal’s emotions and gives the animals courage in many occasions.
Symbols: The battle of the cowshed= Russian revolution Pigs=Soviets Manor Farm=Russia