Hello and welcome.

I'm Mrs. Butterworth and I will be guiding you through our learning today.

And this lesson, we are introduced to the writer George Orwell, and we'll be exploring his purpose in relation to the novel "Animal Farm." I can't wait to get started, so let's dive in.

So by the end of the lesson today, you'll be able to explain why Orwell wrote "Animal Farm." So before jumping into the lesson, there are a few keywords that we need to explore before we start our learning.

These are authoritarian, allegory, socialism, capitalism, and Marxism.

So the lesson is all about exploring Orwell's purpose.

So for the first part, we'll be thinking about who was George Orwell.

So we'll be looking at his life, his thoughts, his beliefs, and how they influenced his writing.

Then we're going to be looking at different political systems and how they influenced George Orwell and how they appear in "Animal Farm." So let's first move on to who was George Orwell.

So here is a very brief biography of George Orwell.

As we read, think about how might Orwell's varied life have influenced his writing? So he was born in 1903 in Motihari, Bengal, a British colony in what is now India.

He moved to England when he was one and attended Eton, where he actually failed.

From the age of 25, he travelled seeking out experiences to write about, including working in the kitchens in Paris, odd jobs, a vagrant lifestyle, and he even tried to get arrested.

In 1937, he went to fight the Spanish Civil War to overthrow a dictatorship.

So you may want to pause the video and discuss, how might Orwell's varied life have influenced his writing? Great, now let's share some of those ideas.

So Orwell obviously had a huge range of experience, including exposure to political conflict when he was fighting in the war, and he witnessed the different struggles of different social classes.

So part of the reason he went to work in Paris in the kitchens is to see how kind of the working and lower classes lived in order to write about it and share that experience with the world.

So obviously this has given him a very unique perspective, as he had firsthand experience.

And Orwell, and he talks about this quite openly in essays and other things, he felt really compelled to write about these experiences and portray the realities of class and power, and these are themes that permeate a lot of his work.

So let's see how much you remember.

Orwell went to fight in which war? Excellent, I think most of you got that the answer was B.

It was the Spanish Civil War.

Well done.

"Animal Farm" was published in 1945, a very significant year.

It was post-war Britain, and there was a sense of hope and optimism in the air with the war ending and the start of a new future.

However, obviously the trauma and devastation of World War II still remained.

Much of this devastation was driven by authoritarian dictators like Hitler and Mussolini.

So discuss, what makes a dictatorship different to other forms of government? What do you know? Absolutely.

Yes, most of you thought that it involves a single person or a small group holding absolute and unchecked power, usually at the expense of personal freedoms. So linking to authoritarian regimes, there is a quote here from George Orwell, and I want you to think about what it tells us about his feelings towards power and authoritarian regimes.

So this is the quote, "Every line of serious work I have written since 1936 has been written directly or indirectly against totalitarianism and for democratic socialism." So we can see here this word every, so he uses that impactful word, shows how Orwell sees his work as important and having a particular purpose.

You know, everything he is writing is about important, pressing topics.

And he says that it is written directly or indirectly, and again, it shows that Orwell is continually influenced by the same themes.

He's continually challenging those regimes.

And again, against totalitarianism.

So this really emphasises Orwell's stance.

So totalitarianism refers to dictatorships, and this reveals Orwell's absolute opposition to these regimes and how he uses his writing to criticise the abuse of power.

It's a really important theme in a lot of Orwell's work, how leaders, individuals can abuse power to gain control.

And "Animal Farm" is an excellent example of this, and it shows how totalitarian regimes can gain power, but also maintain it.

And then finally we have this last statement, that he's for democratic socialism.

And this actually reveals to us Orwell's political philosophy.

He was a democratic socialist, which meant that he supported the idea that people should have a say in the government, so he believed in a democracy, and some shared ownership of resources and powers.

So true or false time.

True or false, George Orwell was a democratic socialist.

Well done, everyone.

Yes, absolutely, he was, true.

Now, what does this mean? Justify your answer and pick A or B.

Excellent.

Well done everyone that picked B.

Yes, he was a democratic socialist.

So this meant that he believed that everyone should be empowered to have a say and share ownership of resources, and this will become really significant when we start to explore "Animal Farm" further.

"Animal Farm" was originally given the subtitle "A Fairy Story" by George Orwell, and it's true, the novella does contain talking animals and simple language.

However, knowing how Orwell views his writing, is it likely that this is just a story about animals? So if we think back to the quote that we looked at where he describes what it is that inspires him to write and the purpose of his writing, do we really think that this is just a story about animals? You may want to pause the video to discuss your ideas.

There were some really fantastic discussions going on there.

Great work.

So yeah, absolutely.

This isn't just a story about talking animals and a nice fairy story.

It's actually an allegory.

And what this means is that Orwell is using the style of a fairy story to convey a political message.

And actually more specifically, he is using the people and events of the Russian Revolution, which happened between 1917 and 1923, to comment on power, class systems, propaganda, corruption, and totalitarianism.

So yes, this may seem like a simple story about animals, but it means so much more than that.

It is an allegory.

So we know that Orwell wants to make this political message, he wants to put this important story across.

So why didn't he just write a historical account about the Russian Revolution, or a formal essay about the dangers of power and totalitarianism? Why did he choose to write in this style, do we think? Pause the video and discuss your ideas for a moment.

Excellent! There was some really good ideas coming out there.

Let's just share some thoughts together.

So why didn't he just write an account or a formal essay? So he wanted the book to be accessible to all.

So by writing in a fairy story style with simple language and characters, it meant that he had a wider audience to reach.

It gets the message across in a less serious way.

Orwell really believed that education and power were linked.

So he believed that everyone should have access to resources, and that included his own writing.

He wanted everyone to be able to read it and learn from the lessons he was teaching.

And also if we think about this idea about it being less serious, if he had written an essay or a historical account, you might feel like you're being lectured at and it could put you off, which isn't the point of Orwell's writing.

He wants everyone to read it and take heed in the messages that he is writing about.

So true or false, "Animal Farm" is just a fairy story about animals.

False, well done, everyone.

I'm glad we got that one right.

Now let's justify our answers.

Excellent.

Well done to everyone that recognised that "Animal Farm" is an allegory based on the Russian Revolution.

We can never think about "Animal Farm" as just a fairy story about animals.

We need to acknowledge that it is this allegory, that George Orwell is making this political message.

We are at our first practise task.

What you are going to do is the following.

Imagine Orwell has just finished writing "Animal Farm." He is delighted with the result and decides to write a diary entry.

You, writing as Orwell, are going to complete that entry.

So I want you to explain what inspired you and what compelled you to start.

So think about all of those quotes that we've looked at from Orwell.

What does he see the purpose of his writing as being? What is he against? What is he for? What has he lived through? And I'd like you to write that diary entry, and I'd like you to include the keywords which are Russian Revolution, fairy tale, allegory, dictator, authoritarian, and power.

There are also some sentence starters for you to complete.

So, let's get writing as Orwell.

Pause the video, and I look forward to hearing those completed diary entries.

Good luck! Well done, everyone.

I saw some excellent writing as Orwell.

So I'm now just going to share a completed diary entry with you.

You may have something different, which is absolutely fine.

You may wish to use some of the ideas in here to complete your own diary entry, but let's just read through to share some ideas.

"Dear Diary, I've done it! Animal Farm is finished! I was inspired by the events of the Russian Revolution.

I hoped to create an allegory based on the events to really emphasise how I feel about the whole thing and get my perspective across.

I felt compelled to write because I am fed up with the influence of power-hungry dictators, their awful authoritarian regimes and the destruction they bring.

I chose to write a fairy story in the hope that my message about power gets out to everyone." We have reached the second half of our lesson.

We have thought about Orwell's life and his choices and how he thinks about his own work, and we've thought about how they've influenced him.

We're now going to look specifically at political systems or a few political systems and how these influenced "Animal Farm" and how these will help our understanding of that novel.

So let's delve into this next part of the lesson.

Moving on to political systems and "Animal Farm," we're first going to look at the ideals of capitalism and Marxism.

So first of all, we're going to read some simple descriptions of both of these ideas.

So capitalism.

Capitalism and ownership.

So individuals or private companies own and control resources in capitalism.

So this idea of profit, so the main goal of capitalism is to make a profit.

Business owners aim to earn more money than they spend, and they can keep the profits for themselves.

And finally, this idea of competition.

So in capitalism, competition is really encouraged among businesses.

So now let's look at the description of Marxism and see if we can think about where there are differences.

So in Marxism, the ownership, it's all about collective ownership.

So whereas capitalism it's that individual or private ownership, in Marxism, it's about collective ownership of resource and productions, and the government or community controls business.

In Marxism, it's all about redistribution.

So whereas capitalism's main goal is profit, in Marxism, it's all about wealth being shared equally among all members of society.

So the government ensures that everyone gets a fair share.

And then finally, one of the major things that Marxism is all about is equality.

And because of that, no competition, they don't really encourage competition like capitalism, because everything is owned by the government, and it aims for economic and social equality.

What I would like you to do now is just pause the video, you may want to reread the descriptions, and discuss, who or what has the power in each of these different systems? Well done.

That was a really tricky thing to work out and I heard lots of you doing so well.

So in capitalism, the power lies with individuals or private companies, and again, business owners.

So that's who has the power and who kind of controls the system.

In Marxism, you can see here I've picked out the government or community, and again, members of society or government are where the power lies and who makes the decisions.

So now thinking about that, I would like you to discuss, what are the potential advantages and disadvantages of each of these systems? So pause the video and discuss those advantages and disadvantages, and we'll come back and share our thoughts.

Excellent.

Well done, everyone.

Again, this is a really tricky topic, so you're doing excellently.

So let's just gather our thoughts.

So what are the advantages of capitalism? So the advantages of capitalism is that it encourages people to work hard because they can make money.

Another advantage is that it leads to efficient use of resources and the production of goods and services people want.

On the other hand, in Marxism, the advantages are that it aims to reduce wealth and power disparities, making things more equal for everyone, and it allows for collective control over resources and power.

Now let's just focus on the disadvantages.

So in capitalism, the disadvantages is that it can lead to gaps between the rich and the poor, giving a lot of power to the wealthy.

Sometimes profit is prioritised over social and environmental concerns.

And in Marxism, those disadvantages are the following, that it can reduce individual motivation.

So that is a criticism of Marxism.

So it can reduce that individual motivation to work hard because there's less personal gain, and it may lead to powerful government that controls people's lives, which some may find restrictive.

And you will notice when you begin to read "Animal Farm" that capitalism and Marxism are apparent in this novel, and Orwell's feelings towards both of them.

Okay, so thinking back to these ideas, in Marxism, which two of the following hold power? Excellent, well done.

It is A and B, governments and members of society.

C, business owners, would belong to capitalism.

Political ideologies or political systems are positioned on a spectrum and referred to as left or right wing depending on the values they hold, like this line is showing.

Now, capitalist ideas and values tend to underpin most political systems, so you can see here they're kind of leaning into the left and going right the way to the right, whereas Marxism underpins the left and far left wing systems. So you can see that there underneath.

Then we have the political systems plotted on this line.

So on the very far left we have communism, then socialism, liberalism, and then we move into the right wing, which is conservatism and libertarianism.

And fascism finally at the very far right.

So in "Animal Farm," Orwell is mostly concerned with socialism and communism.

So we're looking at the left wing of the political spectrum, and he is concerned with how these ideas and values can become corrupted.

So we know that Orwell is a democratic socialist and he believes in equality.

However, what he doesn't like is how these ideas and values are corrupted and used for personal gain and power.

So looking at this political spectrum, which political ideology is missing? Well done to everyone who noticed that it was communism missing on that far left part of the spectrum.

So delving a bit deeper into political systems, both socialism and communism do not support capitalism because they believe it is unfair on working classes.

However, it is important to note there are some differences.

So socialists work within a system that still has some private ownership and individual rights, so it still has a few of the ideas that we see in capitalism, while communists aim for a fully collective, classless, and stateless society.

So they are the very extreme end of the political spectrum.

Although Orwell was a socialist, he was very critical of communism.

Why do you think this might be? So the reason that Orwell was critical of communism is that he believed, and historically this had been seen, that communism led to totalitarian regimes, or it leads to totalitarian regimes, as he had witnessed the Spanish Civil War and the Russian Revolution.

So he had lived through these events and seen what communism can do.

Orwell believed that the ideals of communism were utopian and would only ever be corrupted due to the inevitability of hierarchy and power.

So for him, the idea of total equality was utopian.

It could never really happen or work.

So he wrote "Animal Farm" as a cautionary tale and to expose the flaws in communism.

So true or false, Orwell believed that communism was best for society.

well done, everyone.

Yeah, false.

Now let's think about why.

Excellent.

Absolutely, it's because he viewed communism as too idealistic and easily corruptible.

Through his experiences of the Russian Revolution and the Spanish Civil War, for him, communism was always idealistic.

Yes, he believed in a sense of equality, but not this extreme version that ended in corruptible power.

Well done, everyone! You have worked really hard grappling with those tricky ideas.

So now let's finish with our final task.

So I'm going to give you nine possible reasons as to why Orwell wrote "Animal Farm." So with those nine possible reasons, I would like you to decide what you think is the most important reason and what you think is the least important reason as to why he wrote "Animal Farm." Once you have decided that, I would like you then to arrange them into a diamond, as we can see in the picture, with what you consider the most important at the top and what you consider the least important at the bottom.

So here are the nine reasons.

As we read through them, start to think about what you consider the most important reason for Orwell writing his book and what you consider the least and where you might put some of those middle reasons.

So one, did he write his book to expose the flaws in communism as utopian ideals? Is it to show that power corrupts, perhaps to explore the potential hazards of leadership? Was it to entertain and inform? Did he write it to mock governments? Is it to galvanise a reader into political action? Did he write it to expose corruption and tyranny? Perhaps it was to write a fairy tale about animals? Or was it to show the inevitability of hierarchy? So pause the video and I look forward to seeing how you have ordered these.

Well done, everyone.

That was a hard task and we have done a lot of hard thinking today, so I really appreciate your hard work and I'm so impressed with what you have put forward.

So I'm going to show you a completed diamond.

So have a look.

Do you agree with this order or do you have some different decisions? Remember, this is all about you using the information that we have gathered so far in this lesson.

So if you have something different, that's absolutely fine, as long as you can justify your reasons.

Here is the completed diamond.

So at the top I have put to show that power corrupts, followed by to show the inevitability of hierarchy and to galvanise a reader into political action.

Because thinking back to those quotes that we looked at at the start of the lesson and thinking about Orwell's own life, I think he was very much about exposing power structures and to really show the reader what life was like for different social classes and under different political regimes.

Then in the middle, I've got to expose the flaws in communism, to explore the potential hazards of leadership, and to expose corruptions and tyranny.

Now, I've put these in the middle, but actually these are still really important reasons as to why Orwell may have written "Animal Farm." And at the bottom here I put to entertain and inform, to mock governments, and to write a fairy tale about animals.

So yeah, actually, "Animal Farm" can be entertaining and part of it is quite informative, but I'm not sure that that's the most important reason as to why Orwell wrote this novel.

And that to write a fairy tale about animals, we know that actually Orwell was using this style to create an allegory, that this novel isn't just simply a fairy tale.

It's more than that.

It's about his political message, it's about challenging things, and all of those things above.

Phew, we made it! Well done, everyone.

That was a tricky lesson today, and you have done exceptionally well grappling with all of those ideas.

So let's just go through everything that we have looked at in this lesson.

So we know that Orwell was influenced by his varied life experiences.

We know he was against authoritarian regimes and viewed his writing as a way to criticise the abuse of power.

We now know that "Animal Farm" is an allegory for the Russian Revolution.

We know that Orwell was a democratic socialist and against the utopian ideals of communism, which he saw as easily corruptible and flawed, and we know "Animal Farm" explores themes of power and hierarchy.

Thank you so much for today, everyone.

I really hope you will join me for another lesson, and I will look forward to seeing you then.

Bye-bye!.