Animal Farm Suggested
Essay Questions
1.
How
is Animal Farm a satire of Stalinism or generally of totalitarianism?
Answer: A
good way to answer this question is to pick a specific example of
totalitarianism in any country, historical or current, and explain how the
ideas Orwell puts forth in Animal Farm apply to it. Go back and forth
between the historical facts and the events of the novel. Note the actions of
the leaders, the mechanisms of fear and power, and the reactions of the people
over time.
2.
Elucidate
the symbolism inherent in the characters' names.
Answer: The
symbolism ranges from the obvious to the more cryptic. Compare Napoleon with
the historical Frenchman and Moses with the figure from the Bible. Take
Snowball as representative of something that grows larger and more forceful.
Squealer has something to do with the spoken word. Boxer suggests strength.
Make sure to consider each character at various stages of the story and to use
specific examples from the text.
3.
What
does the narrator do, or fail to do, that makes the story's message possible?
Answer: The
narrator lets the story tell itself to a large degree by relating what is said
and done without moralization and reflection. The narrator speaks from the
perspective of the animals other than the pigs, a kind of observer who can
point out the significant details without interfering. The reader then can draw
his own conclusions about the symbolism, concordance with historical events,
and the awfulness of the events themselves.
4.
What
does the windmill represent?
Answer: The
windmill's symbolic meaning changes during the course of the novel and means
different things to different characters. It is to be for electricity but ends
up being for economic production. As it is built, it is a locus of work without
benefit and a medium of the pigs' power. For the humans, it is a dangerous
symbol of the growing power of the farm. Consider also the relationship between
the windmill and the biblical Tower of Babel.
5.
What
role does the written word play in Animal Farm?
Answer:
Literacy is a source of power and a vehicle for propaganda. Some examples to
consider are the Seven Commandments, "Beasts of England," the child's
book, the manuals, the magazines, and the horse-slaughterer's van.
6.
Examine
the Seven Commandments and the way they change during the course of the novel
from Old Major's death to the banquet Napoleon holds with the farmers.
Answer: The
commandments begin as democratic ideals of equality and fraternity in a common
animal identity, but they end in inequality when some animals are "more
equal" than others. As the pigs take more control and assume their own
liberties, they unilaterally change the commandments to fit their own desires.
Consider especially the interactions between Clover, Muriel, and Squealer
surrounding the Seven Commandments, determining how easy it is to change the
fundamental rules of society on the farm, where most of the animals can do no
better than to remember that four legs are good and two legs are bad.
7.
Would
Animal Farm be more effective as a nonfiction political treatise about
the same subject?
Answer:
Given the success of the novel, it is hard to see why Orwell might have chosen
a different genre for his message. A nonfiction account would have had to work
more accurately with the history, while Orwell's fiction has the benefit of
ordering and shaping events in order to make the points as clear as possible
from a theoretical and symbolic point of view. A political treatise could be
more effective in treating the details and theoretical understandings at
greater length and with more nuances, but the readership and audience for such
a work would therefore become quite different as well, so the general
population would be less likely to hear Orwell's warnings.
8.
Can
we perceive much of Orwell himself in the novel?
Answer:
Orwell seems to be most like the narrator, who tells the story from the
perspective of experience with the events related. We know from Orwell's
history that he was a champion of the working class and did not much like the
idea of being in a role where he had to exercise power to control people under
him. Orwell seems to be a realist about the prospects for the socialist ideals
he otherwise would promote.
9.
Compare
Animal Farm with Orwell's other famous novel, 1984.
Answer:
Consider the ways in which both novels are allegories with a political message
against the evils of state control and totalitarianism. How does totalitarian
control affect the illiterate versus those who are educated and wish to
exercise their human rights? Compare the political regimes in the two novels.
Does the relative anonymity of the leaders affect the reactions of the people?
10.
Pick
a classic fairy tale or fable and examine it in comparison with Animal Farm.
Answer: A
good way to answer such a question is to consider the function of animals as
characters. For instance, each of the Three Little Pigs expresses a different
approach to planning for the future and managing risk, which can lead to an
analysis of how each character represents a moral or physical quality. In terms
of narration, note the degree to which the narrator lets the characters speak
in their own voices and lets the plot play out without editorializing. In terms
of structure, consider how critical events shatter the calm (such as getting
lost in the woods or encountering an enemy) and lead to a moral once some kind
of order (for better or for worse) is restored.
Animal Farm
George Orwell
Study Questions &
Essay Topics
Study Questions
1. Compare and contrast Napoleon and
Snowball. What techniques do they use in their struggle for power? Does
Snowball represent a morally legitimate political alternative to the corrupt
leadership of Napoleon?
More Essay Topics
1. How does Orwell explore the
problem of rhetoric in Animal Farm? Paying particular attention to the
character of Squealer, how is language used as an instrument of social control?
How do the pigs rewrite history?2. Discuss Boxer. What role does he play on the farm? Why does Napoleon seem to feel threatened by him? In what ways might one view the betrayal of Boxer as an alternative climax of the novel (if we consider Napoleon’s banishment of Snowball and the pigs’ initial consolidation of power as the true climax)?
3. Do you think Animal Farm’s message would come across effectively to someone who knows nothing about Soviet history or the conflict between Stalin and Trotsky? What might such a reader make of the story?
4. Of all of the characters in Animal Farm, are there any who seem to represent the point of view of the author? Which of the animals or people do you think come(s) closest to achieving Orwell’s perspective on Animal Farm?
