Animal FarmBy George Orwell

Overview of Slideshow

Background of author

Historical Figures/Parallels

Timing of publication

Author George Orwell

Birth Name – Eric Arthur Blair

Born in India 1903

School at Eton in England

Youth spent in vastly different places/classes

Orwell cont.

Also wrote 1984 and many essays

Orwellian: Of, relating to, or evocative of the works of George Orwell, especially the satirical novel 1984, which depicts a futuristic totalitarian state.

Utopia

Coined by Sir Thomas Moore

A utopia is defined as an ideally perfect place, especially in its social, moral, and political aspects

So…what’s wrong with that?

Anti-utopian Literature

Writing which reveals the dark side of utopian thinking

Setting tends to be a dystopia

Anti-Utopian Theory

Utopian thinking is not only unrealistic

It is dangerous and destructive

Orwell’s books are based on historical examples of this happening

Controversy of Publication

Animal Farm finished in ‘44

Not published in UK until August of ’45

Book satirizes some world leaders

What else was going on at that time?

1945Germany surrenders in April of ’45

Potsdam July 1945

August brings A-bomb and the end of the war in the Pacific

Book considered a literary attack on a former ally.

A Very Brief Look at Three Political/Economic

Systems

Socialism

Capitalism

Communism

Socialism

Various types of

theories or systems

which the ownership/

operation/distribution

of goods and services is

owned by the community

rather than individuals.

Socialism Today

Sweden (along with many Western European countries) has subscribed to many different versions of socialism

Capitali$m

Economic system in which most means of production and distribution are privately owned and operated.

Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations (1776)

Meritocracy and the “invisible hand”

Capitali$m

Smith:

“It is not from the benevolence of the butcher the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest.”

Capitalism Today

The U.S. is a prime example of a market-driven, capitalist economy

Communism

Same basic system as

socialism, but with

the idea that only

revolution will create

a communist state.

Expansionism/Military

might is integral.

Communism Today

Exists in varied forms

North Korea is an extreme example of a Maoist/Communist state

Most have evolved away from true Marxism

Kim Jong-Il Golfing

Key Historical Figures

Characters in Animal Farm mirror real people/events/things

Orwell intends for us to examine these connections

Satire of post-revolution struggle for order & power

Karl Marx

Wrote The Communist Manifesto with Frederick Engels

Published in 1848

Deemed the “father” of communism

“Workers of the world unite”

Marx’s Flaw

The vacuum of power left by a communist revolution needs to be filled

Flaw: The assumed leaders would relinquish power back to the people

Leon Trotsky

Born Lev Bronstein

Charismatic, intellectual, and strategic leader of Bolsheviks

Exiled by Stalin upon Lenin’s death

Executed in Mexico City in 1940

Scapegoat of Stalinists

Vladimir Lenin

Born Vladimir Ulyanov

First head of Communist Party in Soviet Union

Dies in 1924

Stalin takes over

Joseph Stalin

Born Joseph Dzugashvili

Assumes power of Soviet Union by fierce political will

Maintains power through fear, cult of personality, and ruthless tactics

Totalitarian leader

Stalin’s Propaganda

Look carefully at the photograph to the right

Notice the empty stairwell

Stalin’s Propaganda

Look carefully at the photograph to the right

Notice the man in the stairwell

Who is it?

Why was he erased from history?

1924-1953

Stalinist Regime

Era of profound totalitarian brutality and betrayal of Marx’s ideas

The Great Purge, Ukrainian Famine, the Gulags

Poster says, “The leader and teacher of humanity in the fight for peace, democracy and socialism."

Hussein

Purge

Stalin Ovation

Final Quotes

“The most radical revolutionary will become a conservative the day after the revolution.”

- Hannah Arendt

Final Quotes

Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

-Lord Acton

The End