Hello and welcome to the lesson.

Thank you for joining me today, I'm Mrs. Butterworth and I will be guiding you through the learning.

And today's lesson is all about Orwell's use of structure and style in Animal Farm, which I find particularly interesting because Orwell is so good at using structure to put forward all of those important messages he wants to convey, plus being able to talk about structure in a novella makes you sound really sophisticated.

So let's get started.

So by the end of the lesson you'll be able to explain why Orwell has made specific choices about structure and style.

But before we delve into the lesson, there are a few key words that we need to ensure we understand to help us with the lesson.

These are for shadowing conventions, genre, subvert and omniscient.

Read the definitions, you may want to pause a video to give yourself time to do this.

See if you can spot any of our keywords throughout the lesson.

So the outline of our lesson is as follows, we're going to start by looking specifically at Orwell's style and genre and really thinking about what this word style means in terms of literature.

We are then going to move on to explore Orwell's use of structure and how he uses this to really convey the messages that he wants to.

So let's start with style and genre.

So we hear this word "style" all the time, don't we? "I like your hairstyle," "they have a great sense of style, and what is your favourite style of music?" So it's a word that we would be familiar with, but what does this word mean in terms of literature? So you may want to pause the video to give yourself time to think and discuss.

What could the word "style" mean when referring to literature? Great! Some really fantastic ideas coming through there, let's share some of those.

So the first idea is that style refers to this idea about how it has been written and the choices that the writer has made.

So we talk about these stylistic choices.

It can also refer to the genre of the writing.

So what category of genre does the writing fit into? And sometimes this won't be one singular genre, it may kind of straddle two or even three genres.

And the narration, so "Whose point of view we are hearing from?" is very much a stylistic choice.

So now we're going to focus more specifically on Animal farm and consider the stylistic choices that Orwell has made.

So in a moment I'm going to show you some questions which I want you to discuss and consider why he has made the choices.

So I'll show you the first question.

You may want to pause the video to discuss your ideas or give yourself time to quietly think about your answers.

Here's the first question.

Great! Let's just gather some ideas before we move on to the next question.

So how has the novella been written and what choices has Orwell made? It's very simplistic and straightforward.

So it's really interesting with Animal Farm that even though it's dealing with lots of complex messages and ideas, it's a pretty straightforward plot and story.

It's satirical, it's also quite detached.

We don't really hear Orwell, Orwell's personal opinion in a really over the top way is quite detached and it just describes what happens on the farm.

And interestingly, if we think about this idea about why has Orwell made this choice and why is it so simplistic and detached? Well, Orwell believes that language should not be abused to gain power, and we see this as a key theme in Animal Farm.

And it's very much reflected in his style.

He doesn't want to use over the top language to alienate people.

He wants everyone to be able to understand the messages he wants to convey.

And he really believed in the simplicity of language to help understand complex matters.

He didn't believe that language should be so simple that it use loses its meaning, but he didn't want to use technical jargon or over the top language to alienate people reading the novella.

He wants it to be accessible to all.

Okay, your second question.

"Who's or what point of view are we hearing?" Again, pause a video so you've got some time to discuss your ideas or just quietly think about your answers.

Excellent! Let's gather together and share those ideas.

So whose point of view? Well, it's an anonymous narrator, isn't it? We get this idea that someone is telling the story but we don't actually know who.

And this is also reflected in Orwell's choice of a third person, omniscient narrator.

Now we've got that key word there, omniscient.

And this means all seeing or God-like view.

And when we have an omniscient narrator, they are able to describe the events from afar and able to comment on all the characters.

It isn't told from a single perspective.

We have a narrator that's able to comment on all the different characters and all of the events that are happening.

And this is interesting when we consider how Orwell is trying to present his point of view.

It is still his point of view and his messages, but he doesn't want this to be overt.

He doesn't want this to appear like he is giving a speech or preaching at people about all of the things he talks about in Animal Farm.

So he uses this anonymous third person omniscient narrator that's a mouthful to really get across his messages, but without being too obvious about it.

And again linking to this, he uses this detached style to remove any obvious bias.

Now it's clear that Orwell does have an intention, he has a clear purpose in this novella, but he doesn't want it to appear too biassed, too strong, too subjective.

He wants it to appear an objective view.

And again, it's devoid of any emotion.

And he does this for several reasons, and one of these is to reflect the attitudes of those in power in totalitarian states.

So there isn't this emotion when the ruthlessness of totalitarian states is being conducted.

Everything is kind of detached and removes any kind of personal feelings.

Okay, and this question, "What genre is the writing?" So again, pause the video you may want to discuss or you may just want to quietly think to yourself.

Great! Excellent! So let's just share those ideas.

So one of the genres or one of the styles that this is written in is a fable.

Now fable, and you might have heard of some of these, probably the most famous is a tortoise and the hare.

And that genre is a short story that usually includes animals and has a moral message.

And we can see this mirrored in Animal Farm.

There is also a sense and it gets described a lot as being dystopian.

Now, it depicts a society under totalitarian rule based on fear and oppression.

So it very much adheres to that definition of dystopia showing how bad power and corruption can really get in society.

It's political writing.

So Orwell constantly referred to the idea that he wanted to make political art.

So this would be considered political writing, even though on the surface it appears like a nice story about animals.

It's very much political writing and really links to Orwell's idea of political art.

And it's written simply like we've already referred to, to get information across.

By writing it in this fable style or this fable genre, he's able to make sure that the messages are really clear and therefore accessible.

And it sits in the genre of a fairytale.

And we will talk more about this in a moment and perhaps this is a more effective way for Orwell to get his political messages across.

Now, Orwell wrote many, many essays, but perhaps in this instance he felt that maybe an essay was far too formal or serious and would alienate people.

Whereas with a fairy tale or a fable and this simple style, he was able to get his message across to many, many more people.

Okay, true or false time.

Animal farm could be considered a fable, true or false? Absolutely that is true, it could be considered a fable.

Now can you justify why? Well done, I had lots of be there being shouted out.

Absolutely because it includes animals and has a moral message.

So we mentioned a moment ago about this idea of the fairy tale and how animal farm perhaps could fit into this genre.

So I want to look at this in a bit more detail.

So I'd like you to discuss what are the conventions of a fairytale? Pause the video so you have time to discuss or quietly think about your answers.

Wow! Some really lively discussions there.

It's great thinking about all of those different fairytale conventions.

I had lots of you talking about the beginning and the ending.

Absolutely! So we get this idea of once upon a time and they all lived happily ever after.

And I'm sure many of you are really familiar with that convention.

This is a bit more of a tricky one, this idea of royalty versus common folk.

So there are lots of fairy tales where we get princes and princesses and then perhaps these people that are not considered royalty.

I'm thinking specifically about Cinderella for example.

You know Cinderella is made to do all the cleaning, she lives in a basement and she wears rags, and then she gets to go to the ball and meet the prince.

So it's very much this idea of royalty versus common folk.

Good versus evil.

We see this a lot in fairytales, and in fairytales we know that good usually triumphs over evil.

And there's usually a challenge to overcome.

So if we think to fare back to all of the fairytales we're familiar with, there is usually something in the way that our heroes need to overcome.

And generally it's a happy ending.

We know that they all live happily ever after, the protagonist usually gets their their prints and is all tied up in a nice resolution.

There's usually a moral message and this links to the idea of good triumphing over evil.

So it has to to give this moral message.

There's also very often specific character types we see.

There's very often clearly defined heroes, villains and a wise friend or creature.

And finally, we very often have human-like animals in there too.

So now we've considered the conventions of a fairy tale.

I want us to think about this specifically in relation to animal farm.

Now interestingly, Orwell's full title for Animal Farm and the original title was Animal Farm, a Fairy Story.

So he's very purposefully linking to this genre and the conventions used.

So what I would like us to do now, is we're going to think about what conventions of a fairytale does Orwell use and which does he choose to subvert? So what ones does he challenge? And we'll then think about why he has done this, so we'll work through this together.

So the first thing we'll look at is the convention.

Well think about an example of this in Animal Farm and how that convention is used or subverted and then we'll look at an explanation.

So we'll start to try and consider why Orwell has used that convention in the way that he has.

Our first convention is human-like animals.

So this is definitely used in animal farm with our walking, talking animals who can even overthrow a farm and run it themselves.

So yes, in this sense Animal Farm does conform to this as the main protagonists of all talking animals.

But why has Orwell done this? Now Orwell uses the animals to satirise controversial political figures.

Like I don't think it's a coincidence that the pigs are you to represent Stalin.

I think there is a purposeful choice there.

And what this does as well is it enables him to get his message across without being overtly political.

He doesn't just want to retell the events of the Russian Revolution, he wants to make it a little bit more objective.

He wants to get these messages through and also to use satire to hold up these historical characters for scrutiny and criticism.

Okay, our next convention, so good versus evil and this idea that good usually triumphs over evil.

Now does Orwell use this in Animal Farm or does he subvert this convention? It's a bit more of a tricky one here because arguably the pigs could be seen as evil in how they manipulate the initial principles of the revolution, how they treat the other animals.

However, by the end of the novella, it is the pigs that are triumphant.

So it isn't in fact this simple version of good overthrowing evil.

So why has it Orwell done this? And perhaps Orwell has done this to really emphasise that inequality between the pigs and the animals and really show the distinction between the good and the evil.

And actually in this case, it isn't necessarily the good that went out.

The characters, those specific character types.

So the hero, the villain, the wise friend or creature.

Do we think Orwell uses this or does he subvert it? Does he challenge it? And again, this is quite a tricky one because it could be argued that some of the characters fulfil these roles.

So I instantly always think of Benjamin as this wise friend, or in this case he's quite cynical as well.

But there isn't really a clear villain or hero because all of the characters have flaws.

They're not all perfect, and all that is perhaps suggesting that in politics and society there are no clear heroes and villains.

I'm thinking of snowball as well.

Maybe he's the lesser evil of the pigs, but he isn't a totally good or heroic character.

And I guess for all while it's quite a cynical viewpoint because what he's suggesting is that all of these characters are flawed and that also they're all are complicit in maintaining hierarchies because we could argue that yes, boxer is a hero, but equally he isn't able to overthrow the pigs or to challenge them.

So is he actually a hero in the traditional sense? And this convention, the beginning and an ending, so are once upon a time and they all lived happily ever after.

Now do we get this in Animal Farm or does Orwell choose to subvert it? And actually the ending really subverts the idea of this resolved happily ever after, because we see the animals' realisation of the pigs' transformation, but we're not sure where this leads.

We're not sure whether perhaps another rebellion ensues whether the pigs carry on and maintain power for hundreds of years.

It's left unresolved and it isn't a nice neat wrapped up, happy ending.

But why has Orwell done this? And I believe that perhaps Orwell is perhaps reflecting real life.

Real life stories aren't always packaged up neatly with happy endings.

And he really wants to demonstrate the ongoing cycles of oppression and power.

And he in this sense, he doesn't offer a solution.

He's just kind of saying, "This is it, this is how life is." That oppression and that cycle of power goes on and on and on and on, which is quite a depressing, cynical message when we think about it.

Now for a question, so which one of the following conventional characters from a fairytale could link to Benjamin? Excellent! Well done to everyone that said be a wise friend or creature.

So yes, in this sense I guess Benjamin could represent that kind of wise or seeing or knowing friend, although he chooses not to be that helpful until it's too late.

So we are onto our first practise task, well done everyone.

So what I would like us to do is in a moment I'm going to give you a list of nine reasons as to why all world chose to write in a simplistic detached style and use the genre of a fairytale.

So we're really going to focus on his intention and his purpose.

So once you've read through the nine reasons, I want you to decide which you think are the most important and which you think are the least important reasons why.

And then I would like you to arrange them into a diamond nine with the most important at the top and then filter them down to the least important at the bottom.

So here are the nine reasons, pause the video so you have enough time to complete the task and I look forward to seeing all of your responses.

Well done everyone, I really enjoyed hearing all the different ways to complete that task.

This isn't a task that has one correct answer, it's about you making a decision and being able to justify your answers, so it's really lovely to see some of you putting different things at the top and some of you putting things at the bottom and justifying why they are there.

So I'm going to give you an example of how, just one way that you could have approached this task.

And like I said, you may have something completely different, which is absolutely fine, but have a look at these answers and decide do you agree with this or disagree and why? Excellent! Well done.

So we are speeding through and we have now reached the second part of our lesson on structure and style.

And now we're going to really zoom in on this idea of structure and how Orwell uses this to forward all of those important messages.

The first thing I want us to think about when we're looking at structure is old major speech and how this comes to be reflected later on in the novella.

So if we think about chapter one, an old major's speech, everything that he says about not doing or how things should be come to foreshadow later events in the novella.

Now we hear this term foreshadow a lot in English and what this is is where in specifically an Animal Farm, all of the things that old major references are then referenced later on in the novella.

So everything that old major says not to do the pigs then actually do.

So it's really interesting when you put these things side by side and see how old major's warning actually becomes a foreshadowing of future events.

So let's look at these.

So our first quote from old major's speech is he says, "How many eggs have you laid in this last year?" "And how many of those eggs ever hatched into chickens?" "The rest have all gone to market to bring in money for Jones and his men." So all old major is really condemning this idea of the eggs being taken away and being sold to humans.

But then by chapter seven, what do we see the pigs doing? So Squealer announced that the hens who had just came into lay again must surrender their eggs.

Napoleon had accepted through whimper a contract for 400 eggs a week.

So when we see those side by side, it's so interesting that all of these points that old major uses in chapter one are they're mirrored later on in the novella.

Let's look at another one.

So Old Major says, "You, Boxer, the very day that those great muscles of yours lose their power, Jones will sell you to the knacker." And lo and behold, in chapter nine, we literally hear the language being reflected.

They are taking boxer to the knackers.

So again, old major speech actually foreshadows what happens in chapter nine, it's the same language.

So whereas old major is warning that this is gonna happen to Boxer if they don't get rid of the humans, later on we actually see the pigs doing the very thing that Old Major was warning against.

And then this one, of course, no animal must ever live in a house or sleep in a bed or wear clothes or drink alcohol or smoke tobacco.

And I'm sure you are all very aware how this looks later in the novella.

So we know that by chapter six, the pig suddenly moved into the farmhouse and we get the changing of the commandment.

No animal should sleep in a bed with sheets and no animal should drink alcohol to excess.

So we really see these events that Old Major says, he speaks out against being reflected later on in the novella.

"And this one and above all, no animal must ever tyrannise over his own kind." And obviously we know that throughout the novella there is this systematic action of tyranny.

And this quote here I think is really telling of that, "They all coward silently in their places seeming to know in advance that terrible thing was about to happen." And I always think this quote is incredibly sad when you imagine these animals cowering and just being so afraid.

So again, this idea that they shouldn't be tyrannised, that is outlined by our Major later on by chapter seven, we actually see them terrified and truly being victims of tyranny in their cowering silently, those poor, poor animals.

So just to put this all together, these specific examples show where the pig subvert, it's that word again, that key word.

The pig subvert or challenge the original principles of the rebellion.

And Old Major speech for shadows everything the pigs will inevitably come to do.

And Orwell is really emphasising the inevitability of hierarchy and corruption.

So when I said at the start that Orwell is exemplary in his use of structure in reflecting his messages, we can really see that here.

Okay, question for you, which quote from Old Major speech best foreshadows this quote from chapter seven? "They all cowered silently in their places." Excellence to everyone that noticed it was B, "no animal must ever tyrannise over his own kind." So we can't talk about structure on Animal Farm without thinking about this.

The Orwell uses a cyclical structure.

It is so important to Animal Farm.

And this cyclical structure means that the end mirrors the beginning.

So what does this look like? So it starts with old major establishing his principles and this way of life for the animals.

It then moves on, we get this rebellion happening and the oppresses, the humans are overthrown.

And then we see this kind of as it's moving through, the principles start to become gradually eroded.

And then finally at the end we're back to this oppression.

The pigs become the most powerful and come to resemble the humans.

So everything they fought against in that initial idea from Old Major that humans were terrible is now mirrored at the end where the pigs are literally becoming like humans.

And it's really interesting when we think about why Orwell does this.

And there is a lack of resolution, and the cyclical structure really emphasises this cycle of oppression and power.

And there's this hint isn't there, that it suggests that it will all just begin again, so perhaps there might be another rebellion and then maybe this will come to go full circle.

And again, it's quite a cynical perspective from Orwell in this sense that things will never get resolved happily.

We're just gonna always move through these cycles of oppression and power.

And it kind of hints at the futility of revolution that this idea that overthrowing your oppressors can never lead to anything good, which is quite a sad perspective to have.

Okay, true or false? Orwell offers a clear resolution at the end of Animal Farm.

Of course that's false, we've mentioned this quite a lot.

He definitely does not offer a clear resolution at the end of Animal Farm.

Now you need to justify your answer.

Excellent! Well done to all of you that notice that it's this idea that the lack of resolution and cyclical structure mirror a cycle of oppression and power.

And that's a really sophisticated way to talk about structure.

So moving on with structure.

In a moment, I'm going to show you some quotes and I want you to think about what links these quotes.

So the first one is, "They rolled in the dew, they cropped mouthfuls of the sweet summer grass." "As winter drew on, Molly became more and more troublesome." "By autumn, the animals were tired but happy." "It was a bitter winter." "Meanwhile, life was hard." "The winter was as cold as the last one had been," and finally, "Years passed, the seasons came and went.

The short animal lives fled by." So pause the video so you can discuss your ideas or think about your ideas quietly.

What links these quotes? Well done.

A lot of you realise that they all refer to seasons or some of you may have said weather.

And there's a really interesting structural feature that Orwell uses, because he uses the seasons throughout the novella to show the passing of time.

And it also interestingly reflects the deterioration of the animals' lives.

So if we look at this downward line here, we start off with the optimism of these mouthfuls of sweet summer grass.

And the animals are running around and they can't believe that they've overthrown their oppressors.

But as it goes on, Orwell uses the weather and the seasons to really reflect the harsh conditions that the animals are in.

So meanwhile, life was hard, the winter was as cold as the last one has been, and the winter starts to appear a lot more and we get this sense of this relentless nature of the animal's labour is particularly poignant when they're rebuilding the windmill.

And we hear about these cold, harsh conditions, which again, really reflects what the animal's lives are now like under the pigs.

And Orwell's really clever at referencing the seasons, the weather to really show these things, the passing of time and how nothing is really changing this kind of relentless cycle of hard work and hardship, and the deterioration of the animals' lives.

Okay, can you fill in the gap of this sentence? So fill in the gap, "As drew on Mollie became more and more troublesome." Is the answer A, B, or C? Yay! Well done to everyone that noticed it was winter.

As winter drew on, Molly became more and more troublesome.

Again, all while using that season to reflect the atmosphere of what is happening in the animal's lives.

Right, we are on our second and final practise task.

Well done for getting this far, just a little bit more work to go.

So how does Orwell use style and structure in Animal Farm? So I want us to think about everything we've thought about in this lesson.

So the conventions of the fairytale, the use of the narrator, the seasons, the foreshadowing, there's plenty there that we've looked at.

I want you to think about all of that and I'd like you to write a short paragraph to answer the question.

So there's some sentence starters to help you, and there's also those key words, so things like genre, convention, subvert, foreshadow and cyclical structure.

Okay, so use those sentence starters, get those key words into your answers, and I really look forward to seeing what you have produced.

So make sure you pause the video so you've got plenty of time to do this task.

Good luck.

Well done everyone, that was quite a difficult task so I really appreciate the effort and the hard work that you put in.

That's great! So I'm gonna give you some examples of how you could have approached this task.

Now don't worry if you have something different, that's absolutely fine.

You may have something even better than what's here.

You may just want to use these responses to perhaps improve your answer or just compare.

So let's read this through.

Orwell adapts the fairytale genre by subverting key conventions.

So I've got three keywords in there.

This is exemplified by the lack of resolution at the end of the novella.

Orwell does not offer the happy ending we would expect from a fairy tale.

Orwell has done this to reflect real life and he suggests that there is always an inevitability of hierarchy and power.

And then my next paragraph, Orwell uses the seasons to show the passing of time and the decline of the animals is living conditions.

An example is where the winter is described as bitter, which parallels the harsh conditions the animals are enduring.

Orwell emphasises how power is corrupted over time.

Well done everyone, we made it, we have reached the end of the lesson and thank you so much for all of your hard work.

I hope you found it as interesting as me.

The way that Orwell uses structure so cleverly to really put forward his messages and to align with his purpose.

I find it really fascinating.

So let's just look at what we have learned today.

So Orwell uses a simple and detached style to get his message across.

Orwell uses and subverts the conventions of a fairytale.

Old Major's speech for shadows, the events of the novella.

Orwell uses the seasons to show the passing of time and the deterioration of the animal's living conditions.

Animal Farm has a cyclical structure and lacks a resolution to reflect the cycle of oppression and the inevitability of hierarchy.

Again, a massive thank you for all of your hard work, this lesson.

I hope you'll join me again soon for another lesson and I will see you then.

Goodbye.