Year 8 English Animal Farm Task Booklet
Half Term 6
Introductory Notes
The tasks in this document focus on George Orwell’s iconic novel ‘Animal Farm’. Since Easter, your work for English has been based on this novel and this half term, you will continue to read and write about the characters in ‘Animal Farm’.
NOTE: The Year 8 AP3 will assess your ability to write analytical paragraphs about extracts taken from the novel ‘Animal Farm’. It is important that you understand this. In the assessment, you will be given an extract from the novel and asked to explain how the author, George Orwell, uses language to make readers believe certain things about a character. Revision Booklet for AP3: This will be uploaded onto the school website soon, so check back to access this!
To complete the tasks in this booklet, you will need to have read the relevant chapters from the PDF copy of the ‘Animal Farm’ novel, which has been uploaded onto the school website. While reading each chapter, it will be helpful to listen to the audio book readings, which have been hyperlinked in the student timetable.
If you get stuck, please email your tutor (or speak to them when they call) and ask them to send your question on to your English teacher. Your English teachers are here to help you to be successful and want to support you with anything you may find confusing.
And, if you have missed work or not kept up with the reading of Animal Farm, do not give up or feel worried. This term is your fresh start. Catch up on work you may have missed by watching a summary video about ‘Animal Farm’: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnTUV2k4CRs and then complete the tasks in this booklet. Online revision for ‘Animal Farm’ can be found on BBC Bitesize: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zqxhn39/revision/1
Week 1 Tasks You must have read Chapter 6 (VI) of the novel before answering these questions.
1. What happens in this chapter? Write a summary of the events of Chapter 6 and select two key quotations which demonstrate key moments from this chapter.
2. In the extract below, how does Orwell present the lives of the animals under Napoleon’s rule? Have they been able to create a farm where all animals are equal and enjoy a happy life? Write an analytical paragraph where you identify the key words from the extract below and explain what these words show about the animals’ experience of life on the farm.
Extract: ‘All that year the animals worked like slaves […] throughout the spring and summer, they worked a sixty hour week and in August Napoleon announced that there would be work on Sunday afternoons as well. This work was strictly voluntary, but any animal who absented himself from it would have his rations reduced by half.’
3. Napoleon lies to the animals and tells them that anything that goes wrong on the farm is Snowball’s fault. At the beginning of the novel, Snowball and Napoleon were rivals to become leader of the farm. Why do you think Napoleon spreads horrible lies about Snowball and tries to turn the other animals on the farm against him?
"Comrades," he said quietly, "do you know who is responsible for this? Do you know the enemy who has come in the night and overthrown our windmill? SNOWBALL!" he suddenly roared in a voice of thunder.”
Week 2 Tasks You must have read Chapter 7 (VII) of the novel before answering these questions. 1. At the beginning of ‘Animal Farm’, when the animals rebelled against the humans, they wanted to create a new kind of existence on the farm. They wanted all animals to be able to live a life of freedom and enjoy plenty of food and relaxation. Based on what you read in Chapter 7, has this been achieved? Provide evidence for your opinion.
2. Who or what is the reason as to why the farm is not a fair, positive and relaxing environment for all the animals to live in? What went wrong? Provide evidence for your opinion.
3. In the extract below, what impressions does Orwell give the reader about the character of Napoleon (the pig) and the kind of leader he has become? Remember that Squealer works for Napoleon. Write an analytical paragraph. This is good practise for your AP3, which will be a question just like this.
‘In these days Napoleon rarely appeared in public, but spent all his time in the farmhouse, which was guarded at each door by fierce-looking dogs. When he did emerge, it was in a ceremonial manner, with an escort of six dogs who closely surrounded him and growled if anyone came too near. Frequently he did not even appear on Sunday mornings, but issued his orders through one of the other pigs, usually Squealer. One Sunday morning Squealer announced that the hens, who had just come in to lay again, must surrender their eggs.’
4. This pyramid shows how important each of the characters on the farm has become.
Why have the dogs, horses and the other animals allowed the pigs to take control? How has the farm, which was supposed to be all about equality, become so unequal?
Week 3 Tasks You must have read Chapter 8 (VIII) of the novel before answering these questions.
1. In the extract below, how does Orwell present the animals as naïve? If you are ‘naïve’ you are too trusting and willing to believe something which may be a lie.
‘A few days later, when the terror caused by the executions had died down, some of the animals remembered--or thought they remembered--that the Sixth Commandment decreed "No animal shall kill any other animal." And though no one cared to mention it in the hearing of the pigs or the dogs, it was felt that the killings which had taken place did not square with this. Clover asked Benjamin to read her the Sixth Commandment, and when Benjamin, as usual, said that he refused to meddle in such matters, she fetched Muriel. Muriel read the Commandment for her. It ran: "No animal shall kill any other animal WITHOUT CAUSE." Somehow or other, the last two words had slipped out of the animals' memory.’
2. Why does Squealer make the other animals on the farm call Napoleon ‘Great Leader’ or ‘Comrade Napoleon’?
3. Is Napoleon a good leader of the farm? Provide evidence to support your answer.
4. Would Boxer be a better leader of the farm? Why or why not?
5. How might the farm be different if Boxer, the horse, was leader, rather than Napoleon the pig? Present your ideas by writing a description or drawing a picture of what life may be like.
Stretch: Is Boxer’s hard-working nature a good thing? Or is he foolish to keep working so hard on a farm which is becoming increasingly unequal and cruel?
Write an analytical paragraph explaining your answer, referring to the quotation ‘I will work harder’, which becomes Boxer’s motto throughout the story.