Hello, welcome, and thank you for joining me today.

I'm Mrs Butterworth and I will be guiding you through the lesson.

Today we are going to be reading chapter one of Animal Farm and exploring that in a bit more depth.

I really can't wait to get started.

So by the end of the lesson you'll be able to describe the events of chapter one and begin to recognise emerging themes in the text.

So before we begin the lesson, there are a few keywords that we need to look at.

See if you can spot these throughout the lesson.

They are hierarchy, oppression, ideology, and privileged.

So the outline of our lesson looks like this, we're going to start by reading chapter one together first and looking at that in a little bit of depth, and then the second part of the lesson is all about discussing chapter one.

So we'll be looking at some key events and key language choices and just really thinking about what is happening in that chapter.

So let's start by reading chapter one.

So, although Orwell referred to Animal Farm as a fairy story, it is actually a powerful allegory that explores many complex themes.

So we need to think about that as we are reading, it is not just a nice story about animals, there are some real emerging themes here that Orwell wants us to be aware of.

So, as we read, see if you can start to pick out where the themes of power and the inevitability of hierarchy are starting to emerge.

So before we do any close reading, let's just read the start of chapter one together.

Mr Jones, of the Manor Farm, had locked the hen houses for the night, but was too drunk to remember to shut the popholes.

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 the 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 12 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 thee 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 windowsills, the pigeons fluttered up to the rafters, the sheep and cows lay down behind the pigs and began to chew the cud.

So let's see what you can remember.

Why are the animals ready to lose an hour's sleep? Excellent, well done to those of you that got B, in order to hear what Old Major had to say, and absolutely that's right and this really emphasises how important and how highly they all regard Old Major that they don't even mind losing some sleep over it.

We're going to reread chapter one but going into it in a little bit more depth and exploring some of the features of it.

So in the very first part of the chapter, we are introduced to Mr Jones by name, Mr Jones of the Manor Farm.

So what does the opening tell us about the importance of Mr Jones? If a character is named at the very very start, what does this tell us about them? And we also get this description of Mr Jones and what does that tell us about him? What, as a reader, do we learn about him? So Mr Jones is depicted as the owner of Animal Farm.

Straight away, we know, it says Mr Jones, of the Manor Farm, so this signifies his role as an authority figure.

And by naming him straight away at the start, he is established as a central character.

When a writer does this, they are showing us, the reader, that this is an important character, establishing his importance.

And it could tell us that his actions and decisions will likely have an impact on the story's development.

We are being told by the writer this character is important, he is gonna impact the story.

And then we get these descriptions, he's too drunk, which suggests he's irresponsible because he's forgotten to shut things and it talks about his light dancing, his lantern dancing from side to side.

So it really emphasises his drunkness and this verb, he lurched across, suggests that he is uncontrollable and staggering around.

Orwell really creates a vivid image of what Mr Jones is actually like.

Then we move on and we get a description of Old Major.

And I want us to think about how this description of Old Major compares to the description of Mr Jones, this irresponsible, drunk owner of the farm compared to Old Major.

So, Old Major is respected, we know this, so whereas Mr Jones is depicted as a drunken, irresponsible farmer.

We know that the animals hold Old Major in high regard.

So, this comparison accentuates Old Major's authority, we are made aware as a reader that he is an important figure in the animals' life and it also hints at this potential challenge to Mr Jones' power and control by the animals.

We also get this description at the end of the barn that Major's sitting on this raised platform, and what is the significance of this, the fact that Old Major is placed on this raised platform? And then I want us to think about who sits directly in front of the platform? And what could this suggest about these characters? So it's interesting that Major is positioned by Orwell on this raised platform and this really symbolises authority and status and this instantly puts Old Major seemingly above everyone else, he's on this raised platform physically and metaphorically above the other animals.

And then the dogs and the pigs position themselves immediately in front of the platform.

And again, this suggests that they have status or positions of importance, as they are closest to the source of power in Old Major.

So Orwell is really using physical positioning to show these power structures and hierarchical structures and he's already hinting at these hierarchies that are present and alluding to the idea that these are always inevitable.

So which animals do not sit directly in front of the raised platform? Excellent, well done everyone, absolutely right, it's the hens, they flutter off to the rafters.

It's the dogs and the pigs who sit directly in front of the raised platform to really emphasise their status.

Now it's over to you to do some independent reading on your own.

I would like you to read from the two cart horses to the end of the chapter to asleep in a moment.

As you are reading, you should pause and discuss the following questions.

Number one, who does he call comrades? Number two, what does Major say he understands better than all the other animals? How does he describe their life on the farm? Why do you think Major repeats the noun comrades? Who does Major think is the root cause of hunger and overwork? Why do you think Major repeats the adjective miserable? And how do the animals react when they hear the song Beasts of England.

Pause the video and I look forward to hearing all of your answers on chapter one.

Well done, excellent reading everybody.

Now let's share our answers to these questions to really start to understand what is happening in chapter one.

So, who does major call comrades? And what is the effect? So he refers to all of the other animals as comrades and this is actually a very clever device because it uses it to give a sense unity amongst the animals.

It gives them this sense of being in it together and he repeats that continuously.

What does Major say he understands better than all the other animals? So he says that he understands the life of animals is miserable, laborious, and short, which is interesting when we think that actually Old Major is a very old pig and he's actually had quite a nice life, it is suggested.

So, perhaps there's something there in the fact that maybe he doesn't fully understand all of the animals.

How does he describe their life on the farm? So he describes their lives as filled with hard work, suffering, and an early death.

So why do you think Major repeats the noun comrades? So this is a really powerful rhetorical device.

It creates a sense of unity and solidarity among the animals.

It's a way to emphasise their shared struggle and the importance of working together.

And if we think about the purpose of this speech, which is to kind of galvanise action and to get the animals really ready to challenge authority.

Creating that sense of collective unity is incredibly powerful and incredibly important.

Who does Old Major think is the root cause of hunger and overwork? Humans.

And why do you think Major repeats the adjective, miserable? So this is to emphasise the harsh conditions the animals have to endure and it's also emotive, isn't it, it has a strong emotional impact on his listeners and he wants to provoke those responses so the animals join him in the challenge.

And then finally, how do the animals react when they hear the song, Beasts of England? So they react with enthusiasm and excitement.

They listen intently and their spirits are lifted by the idea of a better future, free from human oppression.

So again this song is a really powerful way to get the animals excited, to get them engaged, and to really get them to start thinking about challenging the status quo and the authority.

So we have reached the second part of our lesson.

So now we have read chapter one, we are going to look at it in a little bit more depth and discuss some of our ideas.

So the first thing I would like us to think about is how does Old Major use rhetoric effectively to influence the animals? So what I have done is in the table some devices have been identified.

So we've got repetition, anaphora, metaphor, and rhetorical questions and what I would like you to do is can you find some examples and explore the effects? You may want to pause the video in order to do this.

Excellent, I heard some really great discussions happening there.

So let's just share some of our findings.

So, for our first example of repetition we have this all animals are equal and actually Major repeats this throughout the speech and he does this to really emphasise the key ideas of his ideology.

Really his whole speech is all about this idea of equality, so that repetition really helps to drive that message home.

We then get this repetition of no and no in that anaphora.

No animal must, no animal must.

And again, this really reinforces the prohibitions that he's talking about and creates a tone of authority.

So Old Major is really establishing himself as an authoritative figure.

We then get a metaphor in no animal escapes the cruel knife and Orwell has used this metaphor and given it to Old Major because it really creates this vivid image of an animal's life and it shows the suffering, and again is really emotional because yes Old Major is talking literally about the death of the animals, but he's also comparing their lives leading towards just this inevitable cruel knife.

And then, finally, these rhetorical questions, so what is the nature of this life of ours? And we know that rhetorical questions are really powerful rhetorical devices at engaging audiences and getting them to think.

And here, it encourages the animals to ponder their circumstances and really consider that need for change.

So looking at the answers below, what is the primary purpose of Old Major's use of rhetorical devices in his speech? Well done, I heard lots of you say C, which is perfect.

It's to persuade and inspire the animals to rebel.

Old Major is really effective at using rhetorical devices and his speech to galvanise those animals into making change and challenging that authority.

So now I'd like us to look at some key quotes in chapter one.

I'd like you to discuss what these quotes tell us about power and hierarchy.

These are the quotes.

On a sort of raised platform, Major was already ensconced on his bed of straw.

Then the pigs, who settled down in the straw immediately in front of the platform.

All animals are equal.

Even the stupidest of them had already picked up the tune and a few of the words, and as for the clever ones, such as the pigs and dogs, they had the entire song by heart within a few minutes.

So pause the video and discuss, what do these quotes tell us about power and hierarchy in chapter one? I heard some excellent discussions going on there, so I'd really like to share some of our answers now.

So, the first quote, obviously this raised platform is a really key image because it positions Old Major above everyone else and suggests he is of higher status, which is interesting when we think about this idea of animal equality, but already Old Major was positioned as higher than everyone else.

And again, this idea that the pigs come in first with the dogs and settle in front of the platform, they already have a recognised hierarchy.

And it also tells us that the pigs have power on the farm.

And then this all animals are equal, it shows us challenge to the existing power structures on the farm.

So they are talking against humans, describing them as the root cause of all their problems and actually all animals are equal, so it's challenging those power structures.

And then finally this even the stupidest of them.

So, what this suggests is that the dogs and the pigs master the song before the stupidest of them.

And again, this puts them in a privileged position and it sort of suggests that they're above some of the other animals.

And what this does is it reveals the hierarchies and power structures present amongst the animals.

So, true or false? The dogs and pigs master Beasts of England first.

Well done everyone, yep, that is true, they master the song first.

Now, what does this tell us? A or B? Yeah, absolutely, A.

This suggests that their intelligence puts them in a privileged position above some of those animals.

So we can see in chapter one already Orwell is hinting at this inevitability of hierarchy and this inevitability of power that is already present within the animals.

We are now onto our second and final practise task.

So what I would like us to do is to think about everything we've thought about this lesson in regards to chapter one and these ideas of power and hierarchy.

So I'd like you to answer this question, how does Orwell introduce ideas of power and hierarchy in chapter one? So pause the video and just discuss some quick thoughts.

Great, so we now have some initial ideas as to how we can answer the question about how Orwell introduces ideas of power and hierarchy.

Now what I would like you to do is I would like you to use the discussion grid to really formalise your ideas.

So the grid looks like this.

So to develop ideas and add emphasis, I want you to use these phrases, so more specifically, more precisely, it is as if, in particular, indeed, and this is an example of my discussion that I created using this grid.

Old Major's speech introduces ideas of power and struggle.

More specifically, it acts as a catalyst, opening the door to the possibility of change, challenging the existing power structure, and marking a shift in the balance of authority and ideology.

So you can see how I have made use of that discussion grid to really formalise my ideas and to develop my argument.

So, pause the video, use that discussion grid to really develop those initial quick thoughts.

I can't wait to hear everything that you come up with.

Excellent discussions, I heard some really great and well developed thoughts on power and hierarchy in chapter one, so really well done everyone.

So I really want us to collect and share some of those fabulous ideas.

So we're still focusing on that power and hierarchy in chapter one.

So first I heard a lot of people talking about the physical positioning of the animals and how they represent hierarchical structures.

So more specifically, those with positions of powers like the dogs and the pigs.

So well done to those I heard talking about that.

Then I heard people talking about Old Major and that Old Major is presented as having more authority than Mr Jones.

Indeed, his speech marks his challenge to authority and dominant ideologies.

Then we also get this idea that Mr Jones is described as drunk and irresponsible.

It is almost as if Orwell is foreshadowing his downfall.

So again, although Mr Jones is established as an important character, he lacks the power and authority that Old Major has.

And then finally, we see that Orwell is presenting levels of intelligence as a marker of privilege.

In particular, how quickly the dogs learn Beasts of England.

And again, this idea that they learn the song quicker than everyone else, just again puts them slightly above the other animals really showing and emphasising those hierarchies and power structures.

Well done everyone, we've reached the end of the lesson.

I'm so impressed with the level of discussion that we had and the development of ideas in chapter one.

So let's just remind ourselves of everything that we have learnt this lesson.

So we know that Mr Jones is the drunk and reckless owner of the farm.

We know that Old Major is a well-respected boar and that he represents a challenge to authority and dominant ideology.

We know that Old Major uses rhetoric effectively to influence the animals.

We know that power and hierarchical structures are already beginning to emerge and that the pigs have more authority.

Well done everyone, you have worked really hard and it's been a great introduction to Animal Farm and chapter one.

I hope you will join me again for some other lessons and I will see you then, goodbye.