Animal Farm

1. Animal Farm By George Orwell

2. Who is George Orwell? • “Orwell was born Eric Hugh Blair in 1903 in Motihari, Bengal, an area in eastern India only about three hundred miles from Burma, where Orwell was to serve twenty years later as a British civil servant. Orwell had a sister about five years old than he, and another five years younger, but he was never very close to them. • In 1911, at a very early age, Orwell was sent back to England to begin his education. • Orwell graduated from Eton at age eighteen, and rather unexpectedly, was to spend the next five years (1922-27) in Burma as an officer of the Indian Imperial Police. • In this year, 1945, Orwell's wife died as the result of a minor operation. He attributed her death to lowered physical resistance due to the war; both she and Orwell had consistently given up a part of their wartime food rations to feed children, and consequently had impaired their health. • 1949 he married Sonia Brownell, who assisted him in taking care of his adopted son. • On January 21, 1950, as he was about to leave for a sanitarium in Switzerland, he had a tubercular hemmorhage and died.” • http://library.thinkquest.org/2847/authors/orwell.htm

3. Orwell’s Novels • George Orwell is a novelist, essayist and critic. He's famous as the author of Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four. Here's a list of works by George Orwell. • Novels • 1934 - Burmese Days • 1935 - A Clergyman's Daughter • 1936 - Keep the Aspidistra Flying • 1939 - Coming Up for Air • 1945 - Animal Farm • 1949 - Nineteen Eighty-Four • Other Books1933 - Down and Out in Paris and London • 1937 - The Road to Wigan Pier • 1938 - Homage to Catalonia • 1947 - The English People

4. What is Animal Farm About? • Animal Farm is a satire, or mockery, of the Russian Revolution and the events that followed the revolution. The farm and the animal characters symbolize Russia as an allegory. Orwell’s novel was extremely loved, but also very controversial due to the criticism of the political agendas of the post revolution leaders. • “The farm animals who inhabit the Manor Farm are mistreated and abused by Farmer Jones. The animals rebel, expel Jones, and take over the farm, which they rename Animal Farm. Soon, however, the pigs (who represent the party bosses) begin to take special privileges for themselves, e.g. extra food. They enlist the farm's dogs as enforcers to put down any dissent, and they teach the sheep (rank and file) to speak the party line on demand. At first, this is, "Four legs good, two legs bad"- animals (four legs) are good, humans (exploiters) are bad. As time passes, the Seven Commandments (Animal Farm's Constitution) undergoes subtle changes as the pigs rewrite it to suit their own agenda… “ • What do you think will happen on Animal Farm? Think about the events of the Russian Revolution. Does this story sound familiar???? • http://www.stentorian.com/animfarm.html