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Hello and welcome to the lesson.
I'm Mrs. Butterworth and I will be guiding you through the learning today, which is all about Chapter 10, the final chapter of "Animal Farm." This lesson's called Full Circle, which might give you some clues as to how this novella ends.
So shall we get started, and see what the pigs have got up to? By the end of this lesson, you'll be able to explain the events of Chapter 10, and consider Orwell's use of a cyclical structure.
Before we delve into the lesson, there are a few key words to consider that will help your understanding.
These are futile, doctored, idealistic, cyclical structure, and subvert.
So the outline of our lesson, Chapter 10, Full Circle, looks like this.
We'll begin by reading Chapter 10, the final chapter of "Animal Farm" together, before moving on to exploring "Animal Farm's" cyclical structure.
So let's begin by reading Chapter 10.
Before we do any close reading, let's read the first part of the chapter together.
You might want to consider how the farm is now, and what life is like for the animals.
Has it really improved since the rebellion? Okay, let's read.
"Years passed.
The seasons came and went.
The short animal lives fled by.
A time came when there was no one who remembered the old days before the rebellion except Clover, Benjamin, Moses the raven, and a number of the pigs.
Muriel was dead; Bluebell, Jesse and Pincher were dead.
Jones too was dead.
He had died in an inebriates' home in another part of the country.
Snowball was forgotten.
Boxer was forgotten, except by the few who had known him.
Clover was an old stout man now, stiff in the joints, and with a tendency to rheumy eyes.
She was two years past the retiring age, but in fact no animal had ever actually retired.
The talk of setting aside a corner of the pasture for superannuated animals had long since been dropped.
Napoleon was now a mature boar of twenty-four stone.
Squealer was so fat that he could with difficulty see out of his eyes.
Only old Benjamin was much the same as ever, except for being a little grayer about the muzzle, and since Boxer's death, more morose, and taciturn than ever." True or false time.
Many animals had retired since the rebellion.
True or false? Excellent, well done everyone.
Yep, that is false.
Now let's justify your answer.
Excellent, well done.
To everyone that said A.
Yes, this is a quote from the text.
It says that, "All talk of retirement, and pasture for superannuated animals had been dropped by the pigs." So again, we are reminded of all those broken promises that the pigs have made.
So this promise of retirement way back in the start of the novella has also been forgotten.
So let's look in a little bit more depth at the start of this chapter.
So who remains from the original rebellion, and why is this important? So we can see here in the highlighted text that Clover, Benjamin, Moses the raven, and a number of pigs are the only ones left.
Now Orwell does this to show the passage of time, and show how things are since the rebellion.
And the fact that only a few animals remember the old days emphasises the loss of the initial goals, of equality and justice.
So Orwell is really highlighting the futility of revolution.
And it's interesting because the less the animals remember what has happened, the better this is for the pigs.
So this actually works in the pigs' favour.
If there are only a handful of animals that remember the initial ideas, the pigs can keep changing them with less, and less chance of challenge.
In this section, we also have a mention of Jones.
And this interesting word is used.
He's described as an inebriates.
And what this is, it's a word to describe alcoholics.
It's quite an old fashioned word, and one that we don't really use today.
But what's interesting is it confirms Jones's drinking problem.
So way back in Chapter 1 of the novella, Jones's drinking is referred to, to emphasise his irresponsibility as an owner of the farm.
And by this chapter we can see that actually it was the thing that killed him.
And at the end we get this mention of the retirement.
So what is the retirement becoming a symbol for? Yeah, absolutely.
So it symbolises broken promises, and the unfulfilled ideas of the Animalistic revolution.
It reflects the betrayal of trust, and the deviation from the principles of equality and fairness.
And it's, yeah, it's just so sad, isn't it? That we see again that these broken promises continue to happen.
But also that the animals just continue to work without any challenge.
We also get a mention of Boxer in this section.
So it says, "Boxer was forgotten except by the few who had known him." So why is this significant that Boxer is mostly forgotten? And what does this suggest about the revolution? Well, we know that Boxer was an incredibly important figure in the rebellion.
The pigs were really happy for him to be this symbol of hard work, and dedication to their cause.
And it shows as a poignant reminder of how those who were once dedicated to the cause have actually just been forgotten or replaced.
And the farm's leadership has become more oppressive, and corrupt.
And what I think this really shows is how little value the animals' lives hold.
So as time goes on, these important figures that were once so celebrated, and inspirational are just forgotten, and disregarded.
And we get the description of the pigs.
So we get this description that Napoleon is mature, and he's now twenty-four stone, and that Squealer was so fat that he can barely see.
Now what do these descriptions imply about the conditions on the farm? So it's interesting, isn't it? That the older animals are still working, they haven't retired.
And yet here we see these pigs, you know, putting on weight, ageing.
And it suggests that the pigs are living lives of luxury, and excessive indulgence, whilst the other animals continue to face hardship.
So this really emphasises how different, and unequal the lives of the pigs are to the other animals.
Nothing much has changed for those older animals, but the pigs continue to flourish, and grow, literally and metaphorically.
True or false? The start of Chapter 10 suggests the revolution has been a success.
Well done everyone.
Yeah, absolutely, it's false.
Now let's justify your answer.
Yeah, absolutely.
We know that the quote, the "Short animal lives," it reveals that the animals are still not living out their natural lives.
And if we remind ourselves of Chapter 1, Old Major made this remark that because the animals are not respected, and they're required to work incredibly hard, they only have short lives.
And this is referenced again in Chapter 10.
We have reached our first practise task.
Now this will require some reading.
So I would like you to read from, "There were many more creatures.
." to the end of the chapter, "Impossible to say, which was which." As you read, I would like you to pause to answer the following questions.
They are number 1, were the ideals of the windmill ever realised? What do the pigs learn to do? And how does this go against the initial beliefs of Animalism? Napoleon carried a whip in his trotter.
What does the whip symbolise? How is the maxim, "Four legs good, two legs bad," doctored? What is the only commandment left? What is the new name of the farm? And finally, number 7, the novella ends on a violent quarrel, why? Okay, pause the video so you can complete your reading, and the questions, and I look forward to hearing your reactions to the final chapter.
Pause the video now.
Excellent reading.
It is quite a shocking end to the novella, isn't it? And quite sad in a way because there isn't really a resolution.
Orwell's just kind of suggesting that this cycle of oppression will continue indefinitely.
So now let's just feed back on those questions that we have answered.
So number 1, were the ideals of the windmill ever realised? So we know that the windmill was created, but you can probably guess this, it isn't used to improve the animals' quality of life.
It's used to mill corn, which the pigs trade for profit.
So yet again, it is benefiting the pigs over any of the other animals.
Number 2, what do the pigs learn to do? And how does this go against the initial beliefs of Animalism? I'm always shocked by this.
So the pigs learn to walk, and there's this excellent description of Squealer coming out on his two legs.
And we know that in Old Major's initial speech, he states that anything, "Upon two legs is an enemy," and now the pigs are doing just that.
Napoleon, "Carried a whip in his trotter." What does the whip symbolise? So the whip symbolises oppression, power, and control.
And it also shows how the pigs have become like the humans they rebelled against in Chapter 2.
I always remember how initially after the rebellion they burn all the whips, the chains, and all the bits to show their freedom.
And now Napoleon is using one to control the other animals, and becoming just like Jones.
How is the maxim, "Four legs good, two legs bad," doctored? So it has changed to, "Four legs good, two legs better." And then finally at the end of the chapter, what is the only commandment left? So the only commandment is, "All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others." So again, we see the pigs absolutely using these commandments to their own benefit.
So the idea of that added clause, "But some animals are more equal than others." It sounds initially quite positive.
Okay, there's this idea of equality, but it's actually talking about the opposite.
It's actually referring to absolute inequality.
What is the new name of the farm? The new name is The Manor Farm.
So actually we have gone full circle back to Chapter 1 with the initial name of the farm being reinstated.
And the novella ends on a violent quarrel.
Why do we think Orwell has done this? So it shows the growing alliance between the pigs, and the humans, and the corruption of the original principles of Animalism.
But also this quarrel is significant, as it really presents the view, Orwell's view, that the corruptive influence of power will always fail a workable political system.
Because no one can agree.
So there will always be injustice, and there will always be challenge because of that quarrel.
And it questions the idealistic nature of equality, and shows that there will always be inevitable power structures.
Okay, well done everybody.
We have reached the second part of our lesson.
So now we have read Chapter 10.
Let's now think about this cyclical structure in "Animal Farm." What do you notice about the beginning of the novella compared to the end? So this is the start.
So here we have a quote from Old Major's speech in Chapter 1.
"And remember also that in fighting against Man, we must not come to resemble him.
Even when you have conquered him, do not adopt his vices." And then this is the description in Chapter 10.
"Twelve voices were shouting in anger, and they were all alike.
No question now what had happened to the faces of the pigs.
The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which." Okay, pause the video so you can discuss what do you notice about the beginning of the novella compared to the end? Excellent discussions and thinking.
So let's just share some of those ideas.
So I heard some excellent comments about how the ending mirrors the beginning.
So it ends with the animals being oppressed by a cruel leader.
However now it's Napoleon instead of Mr. Jones.
And this is what we call a cyclical structure.
So it refers to that almost circle-like structure of the story.
And what this does is it serves as a really powerful tool to emphasise the corruptions of the pigs, and the ideals of the revolution.
So how those ideas have been completely corrupted.
And we see Orwell commenting on this inevitability of oppression.
So as we have noted, Orwell uses a cyclical structure.
So throughout the novella, the original ideas of the revolution are subverted.
So they are changed, they are turned into something else.
And Old Major's speech actually ends up foreshadowing how the novella will end.
So interestingly, everything that Old Major says not to do in Chapter 1, the pigs are now doing exactly that in Chapter 10.
And Orwell uses the language to mirror this.
He almost pinches things from Old Major's speech, and then subverts them in Chapter 10.
And he has done this to suggest that power, and hierarchies are inevitable, to show that power always corrupts, to suggest that complete equality is idealistic, and to expose the futility of revolution, and how political ideologies can be easily abused.
So let's just check what we understand so far.
So how does George Orwell's use of a cyclical structure in "Animal Farm" contribute to the novella's impact? Well done, everyone that got C.
That was quite a tricky question.
So just a reminder, the reason that the cyclical structure contributes to the novella's impact is because it's a really powerful, narrative tool.
So it's really powerful because it draws parallels between the initial ideas of the rebellion, and the eventual corruption of the pigs.
So Orwell's really clever in using this cyclical structure to show the corruption of the initial ideas of animalism.
We have reached our final practise task.
Well done everyone.
Excellent work so far.
So what I would like you to do now is I would like you to complete the comparison grid using quotes from the beginning and the end of the novella, showing how the ideals of the revolution are subverted.
So let's do one together.
So at the beginning of the novella, the quote here is, "Man is the only creature that consumes without producing." So the quote that I'm using from the end of the novella is as follows, I'm going to use this one.
"Neither pigs nor dogs produced any food by their own labour." So we can see how this directly links to that first quote, emphasising Orwell's use of cyclical structure.
So what I have here is some other quotes for the beginning of the novella.
So you will need to pause the video so that you can find those quotes from the end of the novella to match to those beginning quotes.
Pause the video and we'll feed back in a moment.
Excellent work everyone.
Well done.
I'm really impressed with the effort I have seen today.
So let's just share some of our ideas.
So this quote, "Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy." Absolutely, so you may have something slightly different about the pigs walking, and that's absolutely fine, but the one I picked was, "Four legs good, two legs better." We've got this quote here, "All the animals capered with joy when they saw the whips going up in flames." And yes, absolutely, I'm sure lots of you got this answer about Napoleon carrying that whip.
"He carried a whip in his trotter." And then this final quote from Chapter 1, "All animals are equal." And at the end we get this doctored quote, "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others." So it's interesting, isn't it? When you put those end chapter quotes right beside those Chapter 1 quotes, we can really see this mirroring, this cyclical structure happening, how Orwell is at the end chapter directly referencing the subversion of all the ideas from Chapter 1.
It's very, very clever, and also quite shocking to read at the end.
Well done everyone.
Well done everyone.
We've reached the end of the lesson, so let's just remind ourselves of everything that we have learned.
We know that "Animal Farm" has a cyclical structure.
The novella ends with the pigs being inseparable from the men.
Many of the original ideas have now been forgotten, or completely subverted.
Orwell shows how power and control are always inevitable.
Well done everyone.
Thank you so much for joining me today.
I hope you enjoyed the lesson as much as I did, and reading that shocking end to a brilliant novella.
I really look forward to seeing you again in another lesson soon.
Goodbye.