AS1.3+Animal+Farm+Homework+Questions


 * Chapter One**

1. What problems does the owner of Manor Farm, Mr Jones, have? 2. Does Orwell present Mr Jones as a responsible or irresponsible farmer? Give a reason for your answer. 3. Who is Old Major? 4. Why does he assemble the animals? 5. What is the mood of the first meeting like? 6. Why would Orwell present Old Major's vision for the future as having its origins in a dream? 7. In your own words summarise the ways that Man is a tyrant according to Old Major. 8. Great speeches often feature: memorable or simple phrases and lines, strong imagery, rhetorical questions and slogans. Find 2 examples of each of these in Old Major's speech. 9. List the idealised behaviour, outlined by Old Major, that should occur after the rebellion. 10. What event happens which contrasts with the message of Old Major's speech?


 * Chapter Two**

1. The pigs formulate the teachings of Old Major into a system of thought. What is it called? 2. The animals encounter a couple of problems as they begin to discuss the coming rebellion. Describe these problems. 3. What do the animals do after the humans have been chased from the farm? 4. What do the animals do about the farmhouse? 5. What two leaders emerge after the rebellion? 6. Who was taking the milk? Does this action conform to Old Major's revolutionary dream? 7. In what way are the pigs different from the other animals?


 * Chapter Three**

1. Copy the Seven Commandments into your books (p.15). Put them in one column and then rule up another column. As you read through note the event and page number where each of these commandments are broken by the animals. 2. How well did the animals work together? Why do you think so? 3. Are all the animals equal? Describe any "classes" or rankings of animals that you see. 4. Give an example from the text which shows that problems already exist in the leadership of Animal Farm. 5. Who was sent to explain why the milk was being used by the pigs? 6. Summarise one of the arguments that he used to explain why the milk was going to the pigs.


 * Chapter Four**

1. How does Orwell describe the way that Mr Jones and the other farmers treat each other? 2. Identify a piece of farmer propaganda being spread about Animal Farm. Note it down. 3. Why do you think Orwell contrasts the unity of the animals at the Battle of the Cowshed with the disunity of the farmers before the Battle? 4. Describe the actions of Snowball at the Battle of the Cowshed. What do these actions say about his character?. 5. What main characters are notably absent from the description of the Battle of the Cowshed? What does this absence say about their character? 6. How does Boxer and Snowball's difference of opinion over the death of the stable boy, and Mollie's desertion, challenge Old Major's idealistic dream? 7. Who awards the military decorations to Snowball and Boxer?


 * Chapter Five**

1. Identify some of the signs of social change and division present at Animal Farm in this chapter. 2. How do Snowball and Napoleon's leadership styles differ? 3. How do Snowball and Napoleon's attempts to become sole leader of Animal Farm differ? 4. How does Napoleon use propaganda to distort the animal's memory of Snowball?. Describe a piece of this propaganda. 5. Briefly contrast the mood of Animal Farm before and after the exit of Snowball and the terrible military takeover by Napoleon. What would idealistic Old Major have thought of the change? 6. Are all the animals equal under the rule of Napoleon, or do his actions resemble that of Farmer Jones?. Give an example from the text to support your answer. 7. By the end of the chapter do you feel that the animals were fighting for their freedom at the Battle of the Cowshed, or for the benefit of the pigs?.


 * Chapter Six**

1. Are the animals falling in the trap of believing Squealer's propaganda?. Evidence your answer with a quote. 2. If the pigs see themselves as a "thinking", intellectual class, what class would Boxer see himself as belonging to?. Give an example why. 3. What of the early ideals does Napoleon ignore to ensure the Windmill is built?. 4. How are the suspicions of the other animals controlled? 5. What other early Animalist resolutions are broken by the pigs in this chapter? 6. What do the pigs do to trick the animals' memories into believing the law never existed? 7. Why is it ironic that Napoleon uses the term "Comrades" when blaming the destruction of the windmill on Snowball?


 * Chapter Seven**

1. What lines describe the growing cult of personality beginning to surround Napoleon? 2. In this chapter Napoleon increases the scapegoating of Snowball. Find evidence in support of this statement. 3. Why do the animals not trust their memories of Snowball at the Battle of the Cowshed and instead begin to believe Squealer's propaganda? 4. How does Squealer rewrite Napoleon's role at the Battle of the Cowshed? 5. What new method does Napoleon begin to use to create fear among the animals? 6. Identify, and write down, the passage in which Orwell emphasises the animals' sense that their revolution has been corrupted. How does this contrast with Squealer's reasons for the banning of the singing of "Beasts of England"?


 * Chapter Eight**

1. This chapter begins with another example of the pigs manipulating language for their own advantage. What do they do? 2. Note at least three new examples of Napoleon’s “cult of personality” given in this chapter. 3. Find an example of Napoleon’s growing paranoia in the text 4. Snowball’s past continues to be rewritten by Napoleon and the pigs. How do they rewrite Snowball’s past in this chapter? 5. After the mill is built the animals celebrate like they did after their revolution. After the revolution they rename Manor Farm Animal Farm. However, what does the windmill end up being called? 6. Napoleon directs the animals during the Battle of the Windmill “from the rear” (70). When compared with Snowball’s actions at the Battle of the Cowshed, why is this ironic? 7. At the end of Chapter Seven Squealer claims that the “better society” that Old Major dreamed of had been established. How do his actions at the Battle of the Windmill contradict this? 8. Which of the Seven Commandments are broken by the pigs immediately after the victory celebrations for the Battle of the Windmill? Who do the pigs seem to want to imitate? 9. Squealer gets caught altering the Seven Commandments, yet no one seriously questions his acts. What does this tell us about the state of mind of the animals?


 * Chapter Nine**

1. What lines let the reader know that Squealer could read any figures out to the animals and they would believe that he was speaking the truth? 2. How has the way the animals justify their life at Animal Farm changed? 3. In what ways do the pigs begin to consolidate their dominance and power? 4. What is ironic about Napoleon's "Spontaneous Demonstration"? 5. The "Spontaneous Demonstrations" remind the animals that "they were truly their own masters and that the work they did was for their own benefit". Do the events from Chapter Six onward confirm this?. Why or why not? 6. How does the pigs' treatment of hard working Boxer show how far they have strayed from the initial ideals of Animalism?. Find a quote from Old Major's speech which contrasts with these actions.


 * Chapter Ten**

1. How has Snowball's initial idealistic plan for the Windmill been corrupted by the pigs? 2. What has Napoleon turned the philosophy of Animalism into by the end of the book? 3. The animals marvel that "they were still the only farm in the whole country - in all England! - owned and operated by animals". How is this ironic? 4. What shocking image does Orwell create to demonstrate the complete corruption of the initial ideals of the Animalist revolution? What does this tell us about Napoleon's motivations for revolting against Mr Jones? 5. How is language manipulated in this scene (of the pigs walking on two legs) to repress the possibility of the animal's protesting? 6. In his speech in front of the farmers and the pigs Pilkington describes the ownership of the farm in very different terms to the ones understood by the animals (ie. "owned and operated by animals", see Question 3). How does he describe the ownership of the farm? 7. Note the differences between Old Major's speech early in the novel and Mr Pilkington's speech at the end of the novel. 8. Napoleon announces further changes to Animal Farm at the dinner which makes its transformation away from the early ideals complete. What are they? 9. Describe the famous scene at the end of Animal Farm where Orwell creates a fantastic visual image to make clearer his theme of the corruption of revolutionary idealism.