1
Cornell Notes
Animal Farm - Allegory
CHARACTER OVERVIEW
Old Major
=
Snowball
=
Napoleon
=
•Old boar pig
•Old & wise
•Dream inspires talk to animals
•Inspires animals to revolt/rebel; gives them
the basis to start Animalism
•Teaches son ‘Beasts of England’
•Dies at the end of Chapter 1, before the
Revolution
•A boar
•One of the rebellion's most valuable leaders
•Drew plans for the construction of a windmill,
he is chased off of the farm forever by
Napoleon's dogs
•Used as a scapegoat for the animals' troubles
•Snowball's name suits the revolution
-it "snowballs" and grows until, at the novel's
end, the animal rulers completely resemble
their previous masters
•A boar
•leads the rebellion against Jones
•systematically begins to control all aspects of
the farm until he is an undisputed tyrant
•Napoleon's name comes from the French
general Napoleon Bonaparte (a dictator)
•Worked boxer to death
•Had Snowball chased off the farm
•vain and childish
Mollie
=
Karl Marx
•In 1848 - wrote The Communist Manifesto
based on his vision/dream
•Gave Stalin and Lenin basis to start
Bolshevik party
•Karl Marx died in 1883 (before the Russian
Revolution)
Leon Trotsky
•Wanted to improve life for all in Russia
•One of the leader's for the October
revolution
•Chased away by Lenin's KBG (secret police)
•Trotsky blamed for all the problems in
Russia by Stalin
Stalin
•Stalin used the Russian Revolution to
empower himself as a dictator
•used secret police (KGB) to control others
•After Russian Revolution there were two
leaders, Trotsky and Stalin
•When Trotsky became too much of a threat
to his authority Stalin had Trotsky chased
out of the country by the KGB
•Orwell implies that Stalin was a fascist pig
in the allegory
The Bourgeoisie Class
(Middle to upper class of Russia)
2
Cornell Notes
Animal Farm - Allegory
•Owned industry
•Profited at the expense of the worker
•Many fled Russia because they did not want
•horse
•prefers ribbons and sugar (materialistic) over
ideas and rebellion
•a shallow materialist, concerned only with her
own image and comforts
•lazy; not very smart
•lured off the farm with promises of a
comfortable life
Boxer
•dimwitted horse
•Loyal to the Pigs
•Very hard-working
•Easily taken advantage of
•Lacks his own opinion
•Most gullible of all the animals on the farm
Moses
•Tame raven
•Pet of Jones
•Tells the animals stories about a paradise
called Sugarcandy Mountain
•The stories Moses told about "Sugarcandy
Mountain" representing heaven, helped to keep
animal docile and focused on their work
•The tales of this place gives the animals hope
that one day their labor and suffering will end
Benjamin
•donkey
•cynical and pessimistic about the revolution of
Animal Farm and is also cynical about life in
general
•the oldest animal on the farm, and the worst
tempered
to make the sacrifices for communism
•Many rich that did not flee were executed
or placed in slave camps.
=
Russian Proletariats
(working class)
•Played powerful role in the success of the
Bolshevik Revolution
•Easily manipulated by Stalin policies
•Little, if any education, compared to those
running the government
=
Russian Orthodox Church
(religion)
•Church was kicked out of Russian just after
the Revolution
•Karl Marx thought of religion as a drug that
kept workers calm (the opium of the people)
•The church was reinstated in Russia when
Stalin needed to drum up patriotic support
and realized just how useful the church
could be to him
=
Older Russian Population
•population of Russia was cynical during
their Revolution
•Hunger, hardship, and disappointment was a
way of life. They didn't believe that the
Revolution would change anything
3
Cornell Notes
Animal Farm - Allegory
• During the Russian Revolution, the people
•Benjamin tended to keep his mouth shut about
the new farm after the Revolution.
who did not believe in communism kept their
mouths closed to avoid getting hurt
The Dogs
•Bluebell, Jessie, and Pincher
•nine puppies born between Jessie and Bluebell
are taken by Napoleon
•taken by Napoleon and raised to be his guard
dogs
=
The Cat
•Stayed away from any conflict that occurred
on the farm
•Did NO hard labor
•Shared in all the rewards
•Main concern was a warm place to sleep and
food to eat
•Only looked out for self
•Joined the committee to recruit other animals
into animalism
-instead of helping, she tried to con the newcomers into becoming her next meal
=
Clover
•motherly and sympathetic
•horse
•silently questions some of Napoleon's decisions
•witnesses the corruption of the revolution
=
The Sheep
=
•Followers
•Not intelligent
•Believe whatever propaganda they are told
Secret Police
•investigated anyone who disagreed with the
government
•arrested citizens that opposed Stalin
•murdered citizens who were suspicious
The Gypsies & Con Men of Russian
Society
•represents some of the more 'shady'
members of society’
Female Working Class and Peasants
The Masses
•The citizens duped by the totalitarian state
4
Cornell Notes
Animal Farm - Allegory
Squealer
•A porker pig
•Napoleon's mouthpiece
•Ability to manipulate the animals' thoughts
through the use of hollow yet convincing
rhetoric
•Squealer’s name is exactly what it sounds like –
he is a squealer
Mr. Jones (human)
•often-drunk owner of Manor Farm
•expelled from his land by his own animals
•dies in a home for intoxicated people after
abandoning his hopes to reclaim his farm
=
•"Pravda" is defined as truth
•First issued May 5, 1912
•Run by Leon Trotsky until Josef Stalin ran
him out and took over the newspaper
•Became the main communication between
the Soviet Communist Party and its followers
=
Russian Emperor (Czar), Nicholas II
•last Russian Emperor
•trusted few people because they had
different ideals
•drinking problem
•always by himself
•forced to step down; killed alongside his
family
Adolf Hitler
Mr. Frederick (human)
•enemy of Pilkington
•owner of Pinchfield (neighboring farm)
•Known for "driving hard bargains
•rumored to cruelly torture animals on his farm
•cheats the animals out of their timber by
paying for it with fake banknotes (Represents
Hitler’s betrayal of the Nazi-Soviet nonaggression treaty.)
•Rumors of cruel animal tortures Frederick
enacts on his farm represent the Holocaust
of Nazi Germany.
Mr. Pilkington (human)
•owner of Foxwood
•neighboring neglected farm
•prefers pursuing his hobbies to maintaining
his land
Pravda Newspaper (propaganda
newspaper)
•Lenin made secret deals with Germany
including providing Germany with Russian
territory
-When the people of Russia found out
how much timber and ‘quality’ farming
land was given away, they were upset
•Invades Russia even though it betrays the
non-aggression treaty Germany has with the
Soviet Union
•Holocaust
=
The Allies
•Allied countries explored trade with the
Soviet Union before WWII, but kept their
distance
•Communist principles had strong proponents
among many Allied nations
5
Cornell Notes
Animal Farm - Allegory
•Pilkington’s unwillingness to save Animal
Farm from Frederick and his men parodies
the Allies’ initial hesitance to enter the War.
•Napoleon’s and Pilkington’s poker game at
the end of the book is the power struggle
that would later become the Cold War.
•sells some of his land to Napoleon
•plans to emulate Animal Farm’s low rations
and long work hours
Mr. Whymper (human)
•a solicitor hired by Napoleon
•human that the pigs use as their connections
to the outside world
•only interested in making money
•cares nothing for the animals and their
treatment
•name Whymper (whimper) means to whine,
snivel, or moan
=
Capitalist who got Rich
Doing business w/ USSR
•The nations that conducted business w/the
Soviet Union and turned a blind eye to their
internal affairs
EVENT & PLACE OVERVIEW
The Battle of the Cowshed
•Pigs take all of the food for themselves
•Barely enough to feed rest of the animals
•Napoleon used dogs to drive Snowball out
•Took control of Animal Farm
•Animals vs Humans
•Pigs ran the farm with their own rules
•Changed the rules numerous times
•Pigs were dictators of Animal Farm
=
Farmhouse
•Napoleon and the Pigs take over the farmhouse
and rule with their own interest in mind
•Commandments are made where they want and
are altered to suit the pigs own interests
=
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Russian Revolution
•Reds (Communists) vs Whites (Government
run by Czar Nicholas)
-Reds defeat Whites after 3 years of
fighting
•Czar Nicholas and his family are murdered
(think Anastasia)
•Food was taken from rural peasants without
payment
•7.5 million people died from famine
•Production after the War is slow
•Anyone who did not support the Communist
government was killed
Kremlin
•Used as a fortress for the Bolsheviks
during the Russian Revolution
•Only those who worked or lived there were
allowed inside
•A place where all the important
political/revolutionary decisions were made
6
Cornell Notes
Animal Farm - Allegory
The Windmill
•The wind mill represents the animals’ hard
work
•When the windmill is knocked down, it
symbolizes the failure of the farm’s economy
•Manipulation: the pigs manipulated other
animals to build the windmill and did not do any
of the hard labor
•Betrayal: Commercialization of the windmill
provide profit for the pigs, but did not provide
anything for the other animals
•Power: Keep exploiting other animals until they
have complete control of the farm
=
Russian Industry/Economy
•WWI threw Russian economy into a state of
crisis
•Stalin proposed a 5-Year-Plan to make
Russia prosperous
•5-Year-Plan failed many times
•Russian people work very hard, but nothing
changed
Manipulation: Stalin determined to make
Russia a super power forced industrialization
on them
Betrayal: Stalin collected all of the
farmer’s crops and did not allow them to
keep anything for themselves
Power: Stalin forced the Russian people to
surrender