For Topic #1 (Leaders and Followers): 1. In Animal Farm, Orwell shows how both the leaders and the followers in a society can act in ways that destroy freedom and equality. Choose one leader and one follower from the novel, and explain how the behavior of each contributes to the loss of freedom and equality on Animal Farm. Use specific examples from the novel to illustrate your points.

Step 1:  Think of the leaders in the novel, find several examples of actions the leaders take that curtail the animals’ rights. Then, decide which leader you want to focus on in your paper.  Have 5 examples ready to use.  How would you judge the leader’s behavior?  How does the leader gain and keep his power?  What does the leader’s goal seem to be? Does he achieve it?

Step 2:  The followers want freedom and equality, but the leaders do not. The followers, however, often act and think in ways that make it easy for the leaders to take advantage of them. Think of several followers and then select the one you want to focus on in your paper.  How does the character act in specific situations to weaken equality and give up freedom?  Does the character realize the animals are loosing this? Why or why not?  Does the character influence the attitudes and behaviors of other followers? How or why not?  Is the character’s behavior typical of that of most of the other followers? Can you identify a type of behavior that puts the ideals/freedom in danger?

Step 3:  Write a thesis statement.  Compose an introduction paragraph that gives enough background info about the plot to make your paper clear to someone who has not read the novel.  Tell what your paper will be about.  You should make a statement about Orwell’s use of satire in the novel. Include your thesis statement in your intro.

Step 4:  Body Paragraphs: explain the character’s behavior, give examples (at least 3 per paragraph), explain how the behavior contributes to the loss of freedom or equality.  Figure out the order you want : leader or follower first.  Use clear transitions between the 2 body paragraphs.  Use topic sentences that name the character and tell what the paragraph will show about the character’s behavior.  Make clear points and support them with evidence from the novel.  Write your essay in the present tense: “Orwell shows…” or “Boxer works….”  Use the author and page number for parenthetical citations (MLA7).  Do not use first or second person (I, we, you).

Step 5:  Conclusion: Reinforce the main idea of your paper.  Discuss Orwell’s use of satire (since you touched on it in your intro).  You may tell what warning you think Orwell is giving readers or what you have learned about human behavior from the novel.