RAFEL SOCIAS TUGORES ENGLISH ADVANCED 2 EOI INCA ANIMAL FARM Draft of the oral presentation

The author George Orwell (real name Eric Arthur Blair, 1903-1950). Better known for his essays, like Homage to Catalonia. Reached world fame with his late novels, Animal Farm and 1984. Very compromised with the Marxist ideology and with the struggle of the working class. Fierce detractor of Stalinism and totalitarianism, that in fact inspired his novels.

The plot
Plot scheme Speech of Old Major revolution and seven commandments organisation of the work in the farm battle of the cowshed expulsion of Snowball business with human beings - conspiracy theory to hide the failure of the windmill construction massive killing of animals, supposed to be traitors cheat - battle of the windmill - Boxer is taken to knacker four legs good, two legs better Plot per chapter: 1. Speech of Old Major, a boar, to the other animals of the farm to talk them about the need of the revolution against human beings (represented by Mr. Jones, the owner of Manor Farm), because of the slavery and exploitation that they impose to animals. He teaches the other animal a hymn, Beasts or England, that he had learned in dreams. 2. After the death of Old Major, two other pigs, Napoleon and Snowball, start working to make the revolution possible. They teach the other animal the funds of the Animalism, a kind of a political though about the superiority of the animals over the human beings. Suddenly, without having been prepared, the revolution takes place; animals get rid of Mr. Jones and his men. They establish a new regime, based on The seven commandments. After the triumph of the revolution, animals start working in the fields. Manor Farm becomes Animal Farm. 3. The animal get organised by the pigs in order to grow the fields to have the necessary food for the winter. Pigs, as they are the cleverest animal, lead the new community, and they try to teach the other to read. Pigs take advantage of their position, reserving the milk and other kinds of food for themselves. 4. Mr. Jones and his men try to recover the farm, but they are overthrown by the animals. Boxer the horse and Snowball are decorated by their leadership in the Battle if the Cowshed. 5. Mollie, the white mare, is accused of fellowship with human being. Several days later, she

disappears. Definitively, the pigs take the control of Animal Farm with the agreement of the other animals. There is a hard struggle for leadership between Snowball and Napoleon, that gets increased when Snowball exposes his intention of building a windmill with the fierce opposition of Napoleon. During a meeting where it has to be decided whether the windmill would be build or not, Napoleon makes a coup d'etat, helped by nine fierce dogs he had raised, and Snowball is violently expelled form Animal Farm. Some time later, Napoleon decides the building or the windmill, telling everyone that this was his idea and Snowball has stolen it. 6. Animals have to work harder than ever, but they have reduced amount of food. Napoleon continues with his practise of tyranny, and he moves to the main house of the farm. He decides to start making business with human beings, althought one of main pillars of the Animalism was to reject the contact with them. Furthermore, all pigs move to the farmhouse and start adopting human behaviours like sleeping in beds. The commandments are rewritten to fit this attitudes. Due to a storm, the windmill gets partially destroyed, and Napoleon and his spokesman Squealer take the opportunity to acknowledge Snowball of conspiracy against Animal Farm. 7. To hide the failure of the windmill, Napoleon -faithfully assisted by Squealer, the pigs and the dogs- increases his accusations against Snowball and his conspiracy. As a result of this strategy, some animals confess that they have met Snowball in order to damage the farm; all these animals are automatically killed by Napoleon's dogs. To the eyes of some animals, the smarter ones, the revolution turns the dream into a nightmare. 8. Finally the windmill gets ended. Napoleon negotiates with the neighbours, Frederick and Pilkington of the farm about selling them some amount of timber. In the end, the timber is sold to Frederick, but he cheats the animals. A few days after the cheating, Frederick tries to conquer Animal Farm, but the animals manage to defeat them, although the windmill gets destroyed and Boxer seriously hurt. This is called The Battle of the Windmill. 9. Many animals have doubts about the fact that they are working a lot and eat just enough to keep on working. Boxer, recovered form his injuries of the battle, starts working in the rebuilding of the windmill, but has an accident that leaves him close to death. Squealer says that they will procure him a good treatment by a good veterinarian. The fact is that they sell Boxer to a knacker, and when Benjamin the donkey realizes of what is happening, the animals tries to avoid it without success. After that Squealer persuades the animals that the cart was form the veterinarian, but he has recently acquired it from the knacker. 10. The pigs are behaving more and more like human beings. One day, Napoleon and all the pigs start getting dressed with human clothes and proclaim that four legs good, two legs

better. A few days later, the pigs met the neighbours of the farm. The other animals discover that they are working more and eating less than all the other animals in England, and that the pigs just want to live like human beings, exploiting the animals as they do. In the end, the animals hardly distinguish pigs from human being. The animal revolution has definitively turned into the tyranny of the pigs over other animals. Finally, things are as they were in the beginning, with Napoleon and the pigs in the place of Mr. Jones and his men. Main characters: Napoleon: Personification of the Machiavellian behaviour. Traitor to revolution. Wants to be like human beings. Cruel in extreme. Tyrant. Intelligent, but perfidious. Snowball: very enthusiastic about revolution. Very energetic, man of action of the revolution. Really wants to the improve the living level of the animals. Boxer: the muscle of revolution, but not the brain. Very noble. I will work more. Squealer: Propagandist of Napoleon. Manipulative.

Personal opinion Disturbing because of the cruelty Very interesting as a political denounce Contrast between the candid form of a fable and the strong political message A demonstration of the firm political compromise of the author against Stalinism (although when he wrote it he was allied with England).