Tuesday, 6 September 2011

This is just an add on....

- The animals trust the pigs lies rather than the obvious truth because they still believe blindly that four legs good two legs bad
- Under Stalin's catastrophic 5 year plan, the USSR suffered famine that killed millions. Stalin covered it up.
- By tricking the animals into thinking animalism and animal farm are the same, the pigs can kill or punish anyone who disagrees with their orders and claim they are defending animalism. It's slavery disguised as freedom.
- The pigs rewrites the Animalism and all of animal farm history. If they can get the animals to fear snowball, they can use snowball to justify their rule, as they once used Jones.
- Boxer believes so much in animalism that he believes Napoleon's statement about what happened even over his own memories. But just the fact that he voices his own memories makes squealer sees him as a threat.
- Napoleon sees Boxer as a threat as he remembers the past correctly and boxer is so stupid he cannot comprehend that napoleon has just attacked him.
- After the purge, Napoleon and the pigs officially kills the revolution by banning Beast of England. As the new masters of the farm, the pigs fear the ideas in that Utopian and idealistic song would cause the animals to see that they are corrupted and start a revolution. They replace it with a propaganda song that defines the state as more important than the individual.

Animal Farm Guide


Guide To George Orwell’s Animal Farm Chapter 7
This is the book I used on sep 6 to tell your What to do Use this as reference only and do more in depth research. This is a starter guide to set your thinking and help your as your research.
P.s. you have to do your script and do not copy the full thing and put on PPT.
We can do it!! J

1.   This chapter is written with the Russian history in mind. The food problem faced by the animals is similar to that created by the failure of the Russian economics policies in 1920’s and the famine as a result thereof. But more important than this are the purges referred to in the novel. The communist party under Stalin in 1930executed many officials who confessed their crimes. We are not sure whether these officials were given an assurance of their life and security in case they confessed their crimes. He does not mention the methods used by Napoleon whereby the members of the parties confessed their crimes. But it is obvious that methods of torture must have been used, which are described by the author in his novel, 1984. The purpose of Napoleon like that of Stalin was to create fear in the minds of the subjects. The Hens and Sheep do not pose any threat to Napoleon, yet they are too destroyed. Napoleon did fear Boxer who was admired by all the animals, that is why he sets upon him the dogs. The Animal Farm has completely turned into an authoritarian rule. The social commandments have been violated and modified. The ideas of the Old Major are now observed more or less in the breach.

2.   The thoughts of Clover lay emphasis on what was expected and what has been achieved. The writer seems to convey that it is better to dream of a new order than to put it into practice and dreams are set at naught if they are not accompanied by a change of heart among all concerned. The dream related by a change of heart among all concerned. The dream related to equality and freedom of a perfect democracy, but in reality it amounted to terror of totalitarianism.

3.   Orwell is critical of all revolutions in general. The spirit of brotherhood inspired the Russian Revolution of 1917. Liberty, equality and fraternity were the ideals of the French Revolution, but there was a reign of terror in France. The Russian Revolution too followed the same bloody path of the French revolution. The writer is correct in his criticism of the revolution and his analysis of the situation.

4.   It is the chapter mainly of Napoleon. His grip over the whole farm tightens and he assumes the inaccessibility and mystique of a demi-god. He surrounds himself with the paraphernalia of a glorious image for the leader. He arranges a subterfuge to deceive the outside world about actual conditions on animal farm. He maintains the campaign of denigration of snowball in order further to enhance his own reputation as squealer with his secrete documents makes it clear. Was it not our heroic leader comrade Napoleon, Squealer cries the battle of the cowshed would have been a disaster for the Animal Farm?

5.   When squealer describes the role played by napoleon at the battle of the cowshed his genial brand of persuasiveness is still very much in evidence.

6.   The paragraph of old majors speech in Chap 1 which begins, “ And, even the miserable lives we lead, ” suggests a comparison with the pre rebellion days.

7.   Squealer justifies the abolition of the animal’s revolutionary song, Beasts of England on the grounds that the better society for which all animals had been working had finally achieved.