Monday 8th February 2021
Animal Farm: Exploring Chapter Five Learning Purposes
• Revisit chapter five of Animal Farm • Consider key characters, themes and events within the novella • Develop an understanding of Orwell’s intentions
Prior learning: Future learning: Next slide… Continue to revisit the novella whilst focusing on setting, characters and themes.
Develop analytical writing skills for Section B. Starter
Put these events from chapter four in order. The first one has been done for you. ❑ Mr Jones and his men attack the farm and attempt to take it back. ❑ Snowball sounds the retreat and pulls his forces back to the yard. 1. Animals begin to rebel against humans in other farms across the country. ❑ The men run from the farm, defeated. ❑ The larger animals attack the men. A sheep is killed and Snowball is injured. ❑ Snowball, Boxer and the dead sheep receive medals at the sheep’s funeral. ❑ The smaller animals, including the birds and the sheep, attack Jones and his men. Starter
Put these events from chapter four in order. The first one has been done for you. 2. Mr Jones and his men attack the farm and attempt to take it back. 4. Snowball sounds the retreat and pulls his forces back to the yard. 1. Animals begin to rebel against humans in other farms across the country. 6. The men run from the farm, defeated. 5. The larger animals attack the men. A sheep is killed and Snowball is injured. 7. Snowball, Boxer and the dead sheep receive medals at the sheep’s funeral. 3. The smaller animals, including the birds and the sheep, attack Jones and his men. Key Words
• Manipulate – control or influence (a person or situation) cleverly or without morals.
• What are some synonyms that you can think of? This will help with phrasing your response later. Reading
Read through the fifth chapter.
Whilst reading, consider the following: • How Napoleon is presented and why Orwell presents him this way • Any manipulation that takes place • The expulsion of Snowball from the farm Summary
______vanished and is rumoured to be happy serving under Mr ______. The conflict between ______and Snowball increases as their disagreements become more ______. Snowball suggests building a ______, which brings the farm’s ______out into the open. Napoleon’s ______attack Snowball and he is forced to flee for his life. Once he has seized power, Napoleon ______the Sunday debates. ______tells the animals that the windmill will be built after all, and that it was Napoleon’s idea all along. abolishes Mollie serious Squealer dogs Pilkington Napoleon divisions windmill Make notes in your own words as it is more beneficial than copying notes out word Why is this chapter important? for word.
• The pigs now control what happens on the farm; they decide ‘all questions on farm policy’. • Plans for the windmill are simplified into slogans rather than discussed in reason speeches. Orwell argued that simplifying language led to simple thoughts. • The continued disagreements between Napoleon and Snowball indicate the differing views of socialism held at the time. Make notes in your own words as it is more beneficial than copying notes out word Why is this chapter important? for word.
• Napoleon shows his contempt for free speech. • The Sunday meetings, instead of being a time when the animals agree their workload, becomes the assembly at which their orders are given. • The chapter ends on a much bleaker note than that on which it opened. Mini-Plenary
1. What does Mollie’s love of sugar suggest? 2. What hints are there in this chapter that Napoleon has carefully planned the way in which he gains power? 3. How does Squealer persuade the animals to doubt their own opinions? Make notes in your own words as it is more beneficial than copying notes out word Character: Napoleon for word.
• Napoleon makes little response to Snowball’s speeches, and when he does speak it is only to criticise Snowball. • His campaign against Snowball is carefully planned, as is demonstrated by his use of the sheep and dogs. • Napoleon’s use of violence to establish absolute control suggests that his coup has been planned for a long time. • An immediate parallel is drawn between Napoleon and Mr Jones when we are told the dogs wagged their tails to Napoleon ‘in the same way as the other dogs had been used to do to Mr Jones’. Character: Napoleon
• Create a power graph, charting the changing authority of Napoleon and Snowball between the start of the novel and the end of Chapter 5 • Pick out specific events and decide who is in control at each point • Join the crosses to see the shape of power
Napoleon
Snowball Make notes in your own words as it is more beneficial than copying notes out word Theme: Manipulation for word.
• Although the revolution is supposed to have created an equal society, in this chapter we see the animals slowly lose control over their lives. • All decisions are taken by the pigs, although at first they claim that decisions are to be agreed by a majority vote. • The animals’ fickle nature (for example, changing their mind based on whoever is currently talking) and their lack of intelligence make it easy for Napoleon to manipulate them. • The sheep, with their mindless bleating, effectively silence any opposition. Though the animals are uneasy about Napoleon’s actions, they cannot express what they feel. Theme: Manipulation
‘If Comrade Napoleon says it, it must be right.’ • Using the above quote as a starting point, explore how manipulation is presented in this chapter. • Support your ideas with evidence from the text. • EXT: Consider where else manipulation is shown.
Manipulation Event: Snowball’s Expulsion
• Consider the events leading up to Snowball’s expulsion. • Identify, and support with evidence, how Napoleon opposes Snowball. Snowball Napoleon
Snowball wants the idea of Animalism to be spread to other farms so that they can ‘stir up rebellion’.
Snowball is innovative and seeks to improve life on Animal Farm. He makes a ‘close study’ of books.
Snowball is keen for a windmill to be built on the farm. Whilst the initial labour would increase, the outcome would be a three-day working week. Make notes in your own words as it is more beneficial than copying notes out word Event: Snowball’s Expulsion for word.
• Snowball’s expulsion from Animal Farm solidifies the idea that Napoleon saw him as a threat. • We can infer that Napoleon pre-empted Snowball’s opposition from the very beginning, hence why he took the puppies and later had the sheep disrupt Snowball’s speeches – the expulsion was too organised to be a spontaneous power grab. • A mere three weeks after his expulsion, Squealer begins trying to alter the animals’ perceptions of Snowball and his achievements, suggesting that ‘the time will come when we shall find that Snowball’s part in [the battle] was much exaggerated’. Thinking more deeply
• Write one or two sentences in response to each of these questions: 1. Why do you think the sheep bleat ‘Four legs good, two legs bad’ during Snowball’s speech? 2. Why do you think Napoleon says so little in the debate about whether to build a windmill? 3. Why do you think Napoleon changes his mind and decides to build the windmill? Writing task
• Produce two paragraphs for the following:
“He had seemed to oppose the windmill, simply as a manoeuvre to get rid of Snowball, who was a dangerous character and a bad influence.” Explore the importance of manipulation in the novella. You must refer to the context of the novel in your answer.
• You should use the quotes that you found earlier in the lesson to help. • Look at the model response on the next slide. Writing task
In order to seize and consolidate power, manipulation is a crucial tool. The animals of Manor Farm are initially influenced by Old Major, moved by his rousing rhetoric on how to achieve the ‘overthrow of the human race’. Here, we are shown a more subtle form of manipulation: persuasion. Whilst ordinarily considering the idea of manipulation as a bad thing, Orwell, at this stage of the novella, presents it to us as a positive and necessary measure needed to propel the concept of Animalism. By considering Old Major’s speech to be persuasive, not manipulative, it presents the idea as being more acceptable. However, it could also be inferred that Orwell himself is controlling the way in which the reader views the notion of manipulation: to support it when it furthers the socialist cause and to oppose it when it is used in conjunction with totalitarianism. Therefore, from the very beginning of the novella we are acutely aware of the importance of control and how the minority can use it to sway the masses.