Animal Farm by George Orwell (1945)
Extra Credit Annotation Guide
Purpose: Annotating a text is an important strategy for reading comprehension. Taking notes and asking questions as
you read helps you to stay engaged in the text. As we read Animal Farm, you have the opportunity to earn up to 20
bonus points in the Literature and Research category for thoroughly annotating your text.
You Need: A copy of Animal Farm (paperback costs $10 at Barnes and Noble); if you use an electronic format, you need
to keep a double-entry journal of annotations
Your Focus: How are rhetorical appeals used in Animal Farm? What lessons about power and leadership does Orwell
present through the text? This is the focus of your final writing assignment for this unit, so it would benefit you to
annotate information that could help you address these questions.
Topics to Annotate: Annotating is all about tracking meaning in the text and making connections as a reader. There are a
variety of topics to consider when annotating. Use the list below as a reference while you are reading.
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PLOT: Trace the plot structure of Animal Farm: exposition, rising action and conflicts (internal and external),
climax, resolution, and denouement.
SETTING: Setting is comprised of time, location, and social environment. What information does Orwell give us
about the setting? How does the setting evolve throughout the novel? What are the consequences?
MOOD: The mood is the atmosphere the author creates through details about the setting and characters. What
sort of mood does Orwell create? How does he do this?
CHARACTERIZATION: Find evidence of personality traits, changes in character, and Orwell’s tone toward the
main characters: Mr. Jones, Napoleon, Snowball, Boxer, Squealer, and Old Major. Direct characterization is when
the author describes a character’s personality outright: “He is a lazy student.” Indirect characterization is when
an author provides clues about a character’s personality through the character’s thoughts, speech, and action:
“He was annoyed because his parents grounded him again for forgetting to turn in his English homework.”
ALLEGORY: Animal Farm is an allegorical novel that can be read on two distinct levels. On a superficial level, it is
a story about animals taking over a farm. On a critical level, it is a story not only about the Russian Revolution,
but also about the causes and consequences of power in any government or organization. Look for clues about
how the characters represent other historical figures or abstract subjects. Key characters are listed below, but
you can research others as well.
o Mr. Jones – Owns Manor Farm and represents the last Tsar of Russia, Nicholas II
o Napoleon – Represents Joseph Stalin, the second leader of the Soviet Union
o Squealer – Represents the Russian media, which spread Stalin's version of the truth to the masses
o Snowball – Represents Leo Trotsky. Trotsky was one of the original revolutionaries. But as Stalin rose to
power he became one of Stalin's biggest enemies, and was eventually expelled from the Politburo in
1925 - one year after Stalin took control of the nation
o Old Major – Represents Karl Marx. He is the father of 'Animalism'. He represents Karl Marx, but in some
ways also symbolizes the original communist leader, Vladimir Lenin
o Boxer – Represents the working class
o Clover – Boxer's female counterpart
o Mollie – Represents Russia's upper classes who opposed the revolution
ABSTRACT SUBJECTS: Orwell explores a variety of “big ideas,” including the nature of power and corruption,
means of effective communication, uses and consequences of propaganda, and the conflict between leaders
and followers. Look for passages that support these abstract subjects.
Dusto Freshman Literature & Composition
Animal Farm by George Orwell (1945)
Extra Credit Annotation Guide
ANNOTATION PRACTICE: excerpt from Chapter 1
Mr. Jones, of the Manor Farm, had locked the hen-houses for the night, but was too drunk to remember to
shut the pop-holes. With the ring of light from his lantern dancing from side to side, he lurched across the
yard, kicked off his boots at the back door, drew himself a last glass of beer from the barrel in the
scullery, and made his way up to bed, where Mrs. Jones was already snoring.
As soon as the light in the bedroom went out there was a stirring and a fluttering all through the farm
buildings. Word had gone round during the day that old Major, the prize Middle White boar, had had a
strange dream on the previous night and wished to communicate it to the other animals. It had been
agreed that they should all meet in the big barn as soon as Mr. Jones was safely out of the way. Old Major
(so he was always called, though the name under which he had been exhibited was Willingdon Beauty)
was so highly regarded on the farm that everyone was quite ready to lose an hour's sleep in order to hear
what he had to say.
At one end of the big barn, on a sort of raised platform, Major was already ensconced on his bed of straw,
under a lantern which hung from a beam. He was twelve years old and had lately grown rather stout, but
he was still a majestic-looking pig, with a wise and benevolent appearance in spite of the fact that his
tushes had never been cut. Before long the other animals began to arrive and make themselves
comfortable after their different fashions. First came the three dogs, Bluebell, Jessie, and Pincher, and
then the pigs, who settled down in the straw immediately in front of the platform. The hens perched
themselves on the window-sills, the pigeons fluttered up to the rafters, the sheep and cows lay down
behind the pigs and began to chew the cud. The two cart-horses, Boxer and Clover, came in together,
walking very slowly and setting down their vast hairy hoofs with great care lest there should be some
small animal concealed in the straw. Clover was a stout motherly mare approaching middle life, who had
never quite got her figure back after her fourth foal. Boxer was an enormous beast, nearly eighteen hands
high, and as strong as any two ordinary horses put together. A white stripe down his nose gave him a
somewhat stupid appearance, and in fact he was not of first-rate intelligence, but he was universally
respected for his steadiness of character and tremendous powers of work. After the horses came Muriel,
the white goat, and Benjamin, the donkey. Benjamin was the oldest animal on the farm, and the worst
tempered. He seldom talked, and when he did, it was usually to make some cynical remark--for instance,
he would say that God had given him a tail to keep the flies off, but that he would sooner have had no tail
and no flies. Alone among the animals on the farm he never laughed. If asked why, he would say that he
saw nothing to laugh at. Nevertheless, without openly admitting it, he was devoted to Boxer; the two of
them usually spent their Sundays together in the small paddock beyond the orchard, grazing side by side
and never speaking.
Dusto Freshman Literature & Composition