Assignment
1. Like in a fable all the animals have human characteristics.
Choose 3 animals that you associate with real persons (well-known persons from the past or present, people you know…). Describe the characters and discuss the correspondences and differences by giving examples.
• Napoleon = Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (18 December 1878 – 5 March 1953) became the first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union’s Central Committee in 1922. After Lenin died and his inner power struggle with Trotski was over, he was building at an absolute dictatorship from 1928 until his death in 1953. A lot of people died of famine under Stalin’s rule.
It’s the same with Napoleon. We can call him the ‘first General of the Animalist Party’. He also had a inner struggle with Snowball and he let a lot of animals die.

• Snowball = Trotski
Leon Trotski (actually Lev Davidovitsj Bronstein) was a Bolshevik revolutionary and Marxist theorist. Trotski was one of the leaders of the Russian October Revolution. He had struggles with Stalin. Stalin removed him from power, he was expelled from the Communist Party, he was deported from the Soviet Union and assassinated on Stalin’s orders.
We can also compare Snowball with a Russian communist. Snowball had intern struggles with Napoleon, they never agreed. Napoleon was, like Stalin, able to remove Snowball from his power and he expelled him from the Animalist Party.

• Boxer = a working-hard farmer, inhabitant of Russia who’s suppressed.
Because of the Communist Party in Russia, a lot of people died; the rating goes from 20 billion until 42.8 billion people! Under Stalin’s leadership the farmers were struggling with famine, wars, miserable conditions, political problems…
At animal farm, all the animals (except the dogs and pigs) are also suffering from hunger, but they keep on working hard. Animals die in wars and because of political reasons. ‘Animal farm’ is a book that explains the Communism in Russia by making use of animals with human characteristics.

2. Novels do more than just simply ‘tell’ a story. Writers use their stories to explore particular themes and ideas. When we talk about a theme we are really talking about the idea that lies behind the story as a whole. What is the main theme of this story? Give evidence.
I think the main theme is Communism (= Animalism). That together with the suppression the inhabitants of Russia(= the animals) had to bear. We can compare the story with the Russian Revolution. At animal farm starts a rebellion, what actually has the same meaning as the Russian Revolution. There’s a inner struggle between Napoleon and Snowball like there’s an inner struggle between Stalin and Trotski. The animals at animal farm are the inhabitants of Russia who suffer from the revolution, without complaining or being able to do something against it. The animals are often betrayed.

Some elements (words, objects, events…) occur throughout the story, they come back a couple of times because they are so meaningful.
Look for 3 elements that regularly occur in the novel and explain their meaning in the context of the novel.

• Element 1: the commandments are changed by adding a few words
These are the commandments in the beginning of the story:
1. Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy.
2. Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend.
3. No animal shall wear clothes.
4. No animal shall sleep in a bed.
5. No animal shall drink alcohol.
6. No animal shall kill any other animal.
7. All animals are equal.
They get changed through the story:
1. 2. And 3. don’t get literary changed, but in the end of the story we see that the pigs and the dogs have changed these rules too. They walk on two legs and are friends with the human beings. They also wear the clothes of Mr. en Mrs. Jones.
4. No animal shall sleep in a bed with sheets.
5. No animal shall drink alcohol to excess.
6. No animal shall kill any other animal without cause.
7. All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.
8.
Every single rule of the 7 commandments get changed through the story by the pigs, without the other animals knowing it. They think they’ve forgotten the added words, but actually Squealer adds them in the night with white paint. The other animals are just too naïve and believe everything that the pigs say. Except Benjamin, a smart donkey.

• Element 2: The song ‘Beasts of England’
The animals learn this song of The Old Mayor, a few days before he dies. It’s a song that gets mentioned a lot in the story. The animals sing it after they’ve won a battle, on the birthday of Napoleon, on the day that Snowball went away etc. The song is important for the animals, and the tune gets through the whole area. That’s why all the people in that area know the song. But from one day to another the animals aren’t allowed anymore to sing it. Napoleon thinks, because it stands for the Rebellion, the animals don’t have to mention it anymore, because they’ve reached their goal with their ‘revolution’.

• Element 3: The building of the ‘Napoleon Mill’
The windmill gets build again a few times because others ruined it a couple of times. The windmill is something important to the animals, so they talk a lot about it in the story. The Napoleon Mill will ‘help’ the animals, because when they’ve finished it, they’ll have to work just 3 days a week. All the animals believe it, but they never reach their goal. They’ve always worked hard for nothing, only for the good of the pigs and the dogs.

3. What are, according to you, the strongest and the weakest points of the novel? Motivate your answer in at least 100 words.
The strongest:
• It gives a clear image of the Russian Revolution:
- The pigs are the leaders
- The dogs are the soldiers
- The horses are the hard working citizens
- The chickens are the normal citizens
- Etc.
• The story is not difficult to read or follow.
• You get a good explanation about all the animals.
• The story isn’t wordy.
• It looks like a simple a story for children with the animals, but there’s a lot more behind it.
• Everything gets explained at the end of the book in lists etc.

The weakest:
• I can’t find a weak point, but there’s one thing that I don’t know about the story. Who do the human beings stand for?

4. Would you call this novel topical? Why (not)?
Yes, there are still countries who work with Communism. For example North-Korea.

In general we can also say that there’s a sort of Communism in Europe. We’re living in a country where we also have to listen to the others. My opinion is that we’re ruining the world and everything is getting worse and worse for the community, more people are suffering from the policy of their countries. The poverty only increases. But we can’t do a lot about it.

5. Choose one of the task sheets which you find on the next pages and complete the task.
Task sheet 3: Friendship

What qualities do you like with your friends? Write them down and look for someone in the novel who has these qualities. Alternatively, you could illustrate a quality that the character does not have.
Five qualities which I find important with fiends are:
1. reliable
2. that you can count on them
3. unselfish
4. honest
5. funny

The character from the novel who has most of these qualities is:

Example: Boxer

Quality 1:
It think Boxer is a horse that you can trust. He would never want to hurt someone by doing something false or talking behind one’s back. I am pretty sure he has never betrayed someone at the farm. We can say that Boxer is a reliable horse, but in general, all the horses in animal farm are reliable, because they stand for the hard-working inhabitants of Russia who do what the leaders tell them.

Quality 2:
I think we can all be very sure of the fact that you can count on Boxer. One of his phrases is “I will work harder”. Boxer is very loyal and will do everything to help. He works almost day and night, he works when the others don’t work. He does this to do good for everyone, but actually it’s only good for the pigs.

Quality 3:
Boxer only thinks of the other people. He’s getting old, but only works harder and harder to help the pigs in finishing the windmill. He doesn’t pay attention to his health, the only thing that counts for him is helping the others. He would go through a fire for someone.

Quality 4:
I suppose we can all trust Boxer. I think he would never lie, he is an honest and loyal horse. Maybe he doesn’t always say what he thinks. He is a honest horse, but sometimes he doesn’t dare to complain because of the fear of the reaction of the pigs. This is a pity, but it was probably better for his own sake.

Quality 5:
I think this quality is a bit difficult to compare with Boxer. Maybe this one doesn’t really fits him, because Boxer is always serious in the things that he does. But I still think it’s a nice characteristic for a friend, because for me it’s important to laugh a lot