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Hello everybody.
Welcome to today's lesson.
My name is Ms. Barnsley and it's so good to see you today.
Today we're taking a deeper dive into our text, "Animal Farm", and we're gonna be looking at the theme of deception.
Let's get started.
Right, let's look at our outcome for today's lesson.
So by the end of the lesson, you're gonna be able to explain how the theme of deception is presented on "Animal Farm".
As ever we have some keywords that we're gonna keep an eye out for in today's lesson.
There are five today.
They are euphemism, jargon, hyperbole, subversion, and obfuscation.
The definitions of each of these words are about to appear on screen.
Do take a moment to read through each of them carefully, pausing the video if you need to.
And of course you are welcome to make a note and write them down if you wish.
Let's have a look at these definitions.
Okay, let's have a look at today's lesson outline.
So in our lesson, the theme of deception in "Animal Farm", we're gonna cover two learning cycles.
At first we're gonna look at the deception of "Animal Farm", look at the text and some of the characters in a bit more detail.
And then we're gonna move on to writing about the deception.
So let's dive straight in by looking at the text.
So let's start with a discussion then.
Who do you think is the most deceptive character in "Animal Farm" and why? Who do you trust the least? Pause the video, have a discussion.
If you've got a partner, brilliant, you should discuss with them.
Otherwise, if you're working by yourself, don't worry.
Just take some time to think through this, maybe making a couple of notes.
Okay, time for you to pause the video, have a think, have a discuss, and then press play when you are ready to continue.
Oh, I heard some fantastic discussions there, people really going back and forth and some real disagreement I heard.
Well done to everyone who was using references of the text to back up and justify their perspectives.
That's really great to see.
Okay, let's think of some of the things and have a look at some things you may have said.
So some of you might have said Napoleon.
Definitely, he deceives the animals into thinking their lives will be better.
He creates a completely totalitarian state through his deception.
Others though, I thought really interesting.
Some of you said Snowball who maybe doesn't seem like the most deceptive, but people argued that he was really deceptive because he appears to be the most dedicated to the idea of equality and improvement.
But he's actually no better than the other pigs.
We see him take the apples, he accepts the military medals.
So he's just as bad as the other pigs.
But he's presenting himself as being more behind the idea of equality.
So well done if you argued Snowball.
Some of you I heard mentioned Squealer 'cause he uses propaganda, he tells blatant lies and he uses language and covers up the truth and lies to the other animals.
And some of you mentioned Moses.
You didn't mention one of the pigs, you went for another character, Moses.
'Cause you talked about how he really exploits the hard work of the animals.
He deceives them into thinking that there is something better for them if they work really hard in life.
So particularly Sugarcandy Mountain.
And of course, Moses is also friends with the humans.
And so you might have mentioned one of those four characters, but you may have even mentioned others, but really well done.
And like I said, super well done if you were using evidence from the text to support your viewpoint.
Okay, let's check how we are getting on so far in today's lesson.
True or false, Moses could be considered one of the most deceptive characters on the farm.
Is that true or false? Pause the video, have a think.
Press play when you are ready to continue.
Yes, well done.
That is true.
Let's see if we can justify that.
Is it A, he lies about the success of the farm using inflated statistics and increasing rations? Or is it B, he exploits the animal's labour and makes them think that it is hard work that will get them into Sugarcandy Mountain.
Pause the video, have a think and press play when you are ready for the answer.
Yes, well done if you said B.
Of course he exploits the animal's labour, making them think if they work really hard, they will make their way to Sugarcandy Mountain.
Well done if you said B.
Okay, we're gonna now look at some key extracts from "Animal Farm" and think about how they explore methods of deception on the farm.
So first of all, let's just remind ourselves what the definitions of the keywords are because they're gonna be really important as we analyse these extracts.
So, euphemism, hyperbole, jargon, subversion and obfuscation.
Do you wanna just pause your video and have a little bit of discussion or just if you're working by yourself, think through can you remember what the definitions of these words mean? They're gonna be important in this next section of the lesson.
Pause the video, have a think and press play when you're ready to continue.
Well done and don't worry if you were struggling with some of those.
Well done if you rewind the video and just thought, actually I'm gonna go and read over them again, that's absolutely fine.
Let's just quickly remind ourselves what they all mean then.
So a euphemism is a word or phrase that's used to replace a negative, unpleasant, or offensive word.
So, if there's a word there that we don't want to see or gloss over, we might use a euphemism to replace that to make whatever we're saying sound a little bit more palatable, a little bit easier to listen to.
Hyperbole is a type of exaggeration used to emphasise a point or idea.
Jargon is when we use words by specific professions or groups of people that can be difficult to understand.
So for an example, there's lots of medical jargon.
If you went into the hospital, you overheard doctors speaking to each other, you're probably not gonna understand every single word they're saying.
'Cause a lot of their terminology, a lot of their jargon is very specific to the medical field.
Subversion means undermining or contradicting expectations, flipping them on their heads.
So we might think of when we see characters subverted in the way we expect them to behave, but anything really can be subverted.
An obfuscation, that is the act of making something unclear or confusing.
And we might be looking at how the pigs deliberately make things confusing for the other animals.
Well done if you remembered all those definitions.
Okay, so we are gonna read through some extracts and think about which different techniques or what we see happening in each of them.
Let's start with this one, an extract which includes Squealer.
So Squealer told them that the pigs had to expend enormous labours every day upon mysterious things called files, reports, minutes, and memoranda.
These were large sheets of paper which had been closely covered with writing.
And as soon as they were so covered, they were burnt in the furnace.
This was of the highest importance to the welfare of the farm, Squealer said.
But still, neither pigs nor dogs produced any food by their own labour and there were very many of them and their appetites were always good.
So here Squealer is justifying why the pigs and the dogs get more food than the others.
But I want you to discuss what method of deception is Squealer using here and how does this deceive the animals? Pause the video, discuss with a partner or think through by yourself and press play when you are ready to continue.
Fantastic discussions there and well done those of you who were actually picking out words and phrases from the text, again to help support your arguments.
Some great ideas.
I just want to shine a spotlight on something that I heard, which said Squealer is using jargon.
So those technical terms, like files and minutes and memoranda to obfuscate the animal's understanding of the pig's role.
So he's trying to make their understanding of what the pigs do really confusing so they can't picture or understand what they're doing.
Interesting he actually uses the language of offices, which is very specifically language of human workspaces to exaggerate the importance of the pig's own role.
He's basically trying to make the pigs sound really important so to really justify why they get more food, but also confuse the animals so they don't really understand what the pigs' role is on the farm, just that they're very important.
Okay, let's look at this next extract.
In any case, he had no difficulty in proving to the other animals that they were not in reality short of food, whatever the appearances might be.
For the time being, certainly had been found necessary to make a readjustment of rations.
Squealer always spoke of it as a readjustment and never a reduction.
But in comparison with the days of Jones, the improvement was enormous.
So again, here we see Squealer using language as a tool of deception.
In this case, he's trying to, he's speaking to the animals about what they're starting to see as a lack of food under the pig's rule.
So let's have a discussion then.
What language feature is Squealer using here? And again, think about how does it deceive the animals further? Pause the video, have a discussion or have a think and press play when you're ready to continue.
Great ideas there.
Well done.
Let's have a look at something that you may have said.
So Squealer is really cleverly using a euphemism here to conceal the truth about the animal's rations.
It deceives the animals into believing a more positive narrative around their shortage of food.
So, rather than saying a reduction, which is a really negative word, it means there's gonna be less of it.
Readjustment just means there's gonna be a change.
So this is a euphemism.
He's replacing the truth, the reality.
This negative idea that there's gonna be less, the reduction, and use this word readjustment.
Readjustment meaning change.
And change can be a really positive thing.
Now interestingly, all well stated that political language has to consist largely of euphemism.
So if you're ever listening to political leaders really think critically about the words that they're choosing.
And question, is that word actually a euphemism? Is it replacing something more negative deliberately to try and potentially obfuscate, to try and hide actually some negative truth and negative reality? And that's certainly what Squealer is doing.
The negative reality that there is just not enough food for the animals.
Our next extract, the general feeling on the farm was well expressed in a poem entitled, "Comrade Napoleon", which was composed by Minimus and which ran as follows: Friend of fatherless! Fountain of happiness! Lord of the swill-bucket! Oh, how my soul is on fire when I gaze at thy calm and commanding eye, like the sun in the sky, Comrade Napoleon! So how do Napoleon and Minimus deceive in this extract? Pause, discuss, think, and press play when you are ready to continue.
Really great ideas here.
This feels like a different deception to what we've just seen from Squealer.
So Napoleon uses the poetry of Minimus and the propaganda of Squealer.
Both of these are tools that he uses to create this cult of personality.
He's trying to create this persona for himself that the other animals don't even want to question 'cause he seems like such an impressive leader.
He does this really, he's being deceptive.
And this is deception because he's really hiding the truth about who he is.
He's a tyrant, okay? And he's trying to hide this from the other animals.
So what Minimus is doing is using hyperbole, exaggeration here to elevate the perception of Napoleon.
Really make us think that he's a leader who should be admired and adored.
Okay, let's look at our final extract then.
"All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others." Okay, a really, really famous quote.
We know this comes from the end of novella.
It's one that we probably use all the time.
But I want us to think about how is this an example of deceptive language? Okay, discuss what are the pigs doing with language here? See if you can use one of our keywords from the beginning of today's lesson.
Pause the video, think, discuss, and press play when you're ready to continue.
Some fantastic ideas.
And it's great to hear people talking about this quote, which is commonly used, potentially sometimes overused in a much deeper level, looking a lot deeper than just beyond what it's telling us, but really thinking sort of some of the strategies that the pigs are using.
So fantastic, really great to hear.
So you might have said that pigs are subverting the meaning of the words.
They're flipping them on their heads.
It is literally impossible for someone to be more equal, okay? Equality means the same or equal means the same.
So you can't be more the same.
Yet the pigs are rewriting the commandment, they're flipping the understanding, subverting our understanding of what equal means.
And the pigs continue to subvert language and the ideology behind the rebellion.
So the idea of animalism, that when we think about it under all majors in its purest form, what it was meant to mean, actually they subvert it, they flip it on its head and use it for their own gain so they can keep control.
So well done if you use that keyword subverting when talking about this quotation.
Right, another opportunity now for us to stop and think about how we're getting on.
So, what method of deception is being used in the quote, "Squealer always spoke of it as a readjustment, never as a reduction." Okay, hyperbole, euphemism, jargon or statistics.
Pause the video, have a think and press play when you are ready to continue.
Okay, well done if you said euphemism.
And remember, euphemism is replacing that negative word reduction with an idea or an image that's slightly more positive, in this case, readjustment or change.
Okay, we have thought about the pigs as characters who definitely deceive others.
Let's have a think about Moses.
Moses was a character that was brought up at the beginning of the lesson.
So I want you to think about the role of Moses that he plays on the farm.
And I want you to start thinking about what do you think that tells us about Orwell's view on religion? Remember, Moses is supposed to be an allegory for the church, for religion.
And what do you think Orwell's views might be when we think about how he presents Moses? So pause the video, just think to yourself for a couple of minutes.
And once you've got your ideas, press play and we'll see if they align with what our Oak pupils have said.
Okay, let's have a look.
See if your thoughts align with some of the ideas of the Oak pupils.
So John says, well, "Arguably, Orwell was very cynical, and this is reflected in "Animal Farm" when he describes the lies put out by Moses, the tame raven." So, accusing Moses of lying suggests that, and if Moses represents the church or faith, then he's, you know, this suggests that Orwell doesn't believe all of the messages that the church may be giving or putting out there.
So, it gives this sense that Orwell is very cynical.
Alex says, well, "Like Marx, who describes religion is the opium of the people," Opium being a drug that people can't kind of give up.
He says, "Orwell believed that religion stopped people recognising the reality of their oppression and exploitation." He's basically saying here that religion becomes an obsession for people, that they don't actually recognise the reality of the world that they're living in.
So this is very much a, Marx was critical of religion and I think Orwell is reflecting that.
So this is, these are Orwell's own thoughts being expressed through in his text.
Finally, Jacob says, "Orwell believed that the belief in religion could easily be replaced by the faith in a totalitarian leader." So it was very easy to shift from believing in a religion to following the teachings and the guidance of a really charismatic leader.
And he saw there was quite a clear link, like the first can often lead into the second.
"He argued that religious faith played into the hands of dictators.
And we can see that because the pigs allow Moses to stay on the farm." Ultimately they see Moses as a benefit to them.
Having him on the farm is a benefit.
So let's have a think about Moses and think about how these quotes, or what these quotes tell us about Moses and the theme of deception.
So we're gonna look at them as they go.
We're gonna track Moses' journey throughout the novella.
So start with how he's described Mr. Jones as a special pet.
We then know him talking about Sugarcandy Mountain, how it was seven days a week and there were lumps of sugar and it was just a perfect place.
We know that the pigs had an even harder struggle to counteract the lies put about them by Moses.
So all while acknowledging it was a lie, and at first the pigs are struggling against those lies that Moses is telling the pigs, the other animals, because obviously Sugarcandy Mountain doesn't really exist.
And in the middle of this, so the pigs get rid of Moses, but he appears back on the farm and he's been gone for several years.
And after that, even though the pigs said that Moses was lying, they allowed him to stay and they treated him almost like the humans did.
They gave him some of their beer.
So really interesting that even though the pigs and Moses don't align completely in their view, the pigs do allow him to stay.
So thinking about Moses' journey, like what do you think this, you know, how is he linked to the theme of deception? How, what link can you make between Moses and deception? Pause the video, discuss with your partner if you have one.
Or just think by yourself if you are working independently.
Hmm, I heard some really lovely ideas there.
Let's share some of these.
So, first of all, we know Moses is established very early on as a deceptive and untrustworthy character.
But we also know he's good with language.
We then learn that about Sugarcandy Mountain, which is an allusion to heaven.
It presents this utopian life that animals will get after they die.
And I guess we can argue here that Orwell is saying that he believed religion was a type of deception, okay? He didn't necessarily believe it.
He doesn't, he didn't believe in what the church or religion was saying would happen to you after you died potentially.
So initially Moses is problematic for the pigs because he's presenting an even better version of a life that the pigs can't even provide.
He's also showing that the pigs might be deceptive themselves.
Now, we never find out where Moses has been.
Orwell hints that the rebellion didn't serve Moses.
So he left basically, he couldn't see any benefit of staying on the farm because you know, he, like I said, he was the special pet of Mr. Jones.
Maybe he left to go and spend time with the humans.
Again, there's this kind of hint at deception here.
But finally, it becomes really interesting at the end because as the conditions on the farm deteriorates, so as life on the farm gets worse, the pigs actually allow Moses to stay.
His story that there's that perfect afterlife for people who work hard or animals who work hard, it actually aligns with the pig's vision.
You know, the pigs can see a benefit from this.
If the animals think, oh I must work hard, otherwise I'll never get to Sugarcandy Mountain, then actually it benefits the pigs to allow Moses to stay and continue to spread this message.
So again, these levels of deception end up kind of intertwining Moses with the pigs.
Well done if you said any of those things.
True or false, then.
The pigs don't allow Moses on the farm after the rebellion.
Is that true or false? Pause the video, have a think and press play when you're ready to continue.
That is false.
Let's justify our answers.
They tolerate him because his utopian vision of an afterlife as a reward for hard work motivates the animals.
Or is it they allow him to stay but he has to work just as hard as the other animals? Pause the video, have a think and press play when you're ready to continue.
Yes, that was of course A, okay? His vision of a utopian afterlife is a real good motivator for the animals.
Work hard and you will be rewarded in the afterlife and that benefits the pigs.
Okay, time for our first task.
We're gonna put all of the learning that we've done in the first half, lots of learning has happened in this first learning cycle and we're now gonna put it all together and summarise our understanding in this grid.
So you've got characters down the left in the left hand column.
In the central column you're gonna think about what method do they use to deceive the other animals.
And then you're gonna find an example from the text.
I am gonna give you a little bit of a helping hand by populating parts of my table.
So I've given you some methods of deception and I've given you some examples.
What I want you to do now is fill in the rest of the table.
Pause the video.
If you need to, scroll back in the video and watch some of those extract clips again.
They may be helpful.
And press play when you are ready to hear some responses.
Alright, welcome back, some excellent work there.
On the screen you can see a completed table.
So you can see the different methods of deception that each of the characters use.
But you can also see some examples.
And all of these examples or most of these examples are coming from the extracts we looked at earlier.
But well done if you found other extracts from the text.
That is fantastic too.
If you need to pause the video for a moment, you may wish to, pause the video and using a pen, add anything to your table that you can see on the screen that you've not currently included.
Okay, pause the video, make any final adjustments to your table and press play when you are ready to continue.
Okay, now it's time for us to write about deception.
So if, let's start with the discussion, if you were writing an essay on deception in "Animal Farm", what key plot points or events from the text would you want to refer to? And let's use work phrases like initially, furthermore, however, and finally, when we start thinking about what they might be.
Okay, pause the video, have a discussion and press play when you are ready to continue.
I heard some brilliant ideas and what was great is not everyone was agreeing and that's gonna make people's essays so much more interesting if we're not all using the exact same plot points.
Here are some of my examples that I'm gonna share with you.
So initially I might talk about how the pigs first deceive the animals with the milk and apples and that's often considered the turning point in the novella.
Okay we also know this deception continues with Squealer and how he justifies the actions of the pigs.
And he threatens the animals with rhetorical questions, particularly that very famous one, "You do not want Jones back?" Moving onto the ultimate deception, which is the betrayal of Boxer, selling him to the knacker's yard.
Squealer uses the euphemism he had died in a hospital.
The hospital replacing the glue factory really emphasises just how easy it's for the pigs to lie to the animals.
And finally we finish with the complete subversion of the commandments that some animals are more equal than others.
And that is really the moment when we realise that this is a fully totalitarian state and this has all been achieved through the pig's deception.
Now you might have noticed that these discourse markers that I gave you or challenged you to use in the discussion are really useful to help us logically organise our points.
They're also a really good way to contextualise our quotations.
Let's have a think about what that might mean.
So before we do that, let's have a check for understanding and think, check what we're all understanding what we've done so far.
Which of these is not a discourse marker then that will help you organise your ideas logically and contextualise quotations.
Is it finally, revealing, furthermore or however? Pause your video, have a think and press play when you're ready to continue.
Well done if you said revealing.
So Sam and Andeep are gonna have a think about this idea of contextualising quotes.
'Cause Sam's struggling a bit.
They say, look, Andeep, I need your help.
I haven't got a clue what it means.
Can you help me? And Andeep said, absolutely.
It sounds complicated, but actually all it means is that you are able to give a brief plot description to show where the quote is from.
Let me find an example from my last essay.
So Andeep wrote, later, when he defends "Animal Farm" from Jones's counter attack, Snowball accepts a military decoration, a brass medal to honour him as Animal Hero, First Class.
Okay, there in green, in the tealy colour is the example of contextualization.
We could've just said Snowball accepts a military decoration.
But that little bit of extra information gives us a bit of context about kind of why and when Snowball does this.
So Sam says, ah, I see.
Like this.
When Snowball berates Molly for wanting to keep her luxuries, he is seemingly presented as the most dedicated leader.
So, we could just say Snowball is presented as a dedicated leader, but we're actually giving a little bit of context.
Exactly, another tip for contextualising quotes is to use time conjunctions.
Words like initially, later on, and finally.
It's also great at helping us, a great way to track the character and how a character, it changes or is presented over the course of the novella.
So, initially Snowball is established as a different type of leader to Napoleon.
He is more vicious and quicker in speech.
See how easy it is? Using 'initially' signals that this is from the start of the novella.
So our time conjunctions say to the reader, this, you know, whereabouts in the novella, the section that we're discussing is from.
It also shows that this is actually one of the first descriptions that we get of Snowball, and gives context to Sam's quotes.
Okay, let's check we have understood all about contextualising quotations.
True or false, contextualising a quote means retelling the whole plot? Pause your video, have a think and press play when you're ready to continue.
That is false.
Let's justify that.
Contextualising a quote means giving a brief description of where it appears in the novella.
Contextualising a quote means giving isolated historical facts to explain your quote.
Pause the video, have a think and press play when you're ready to continue.
Yes, well done if you said A.
It's all about giving a very brief description about where that quote is from in the novella.
Okay, over to our final task then of today's lesson.
You are gonna write a paragraph to answer the question, how does Orwell explore the theme of deception in "Animal Farm"? I want you to use your notes, quotes, and any of the keywords from task A.
I want you to make sure you use discourse markers to organise your ideas logically.
I want you to contextualise your quotes using time conjunctions and brief descriptions of the plot.
And I want you to make sure you use a range of quotations to support your evidence.
I've got some sentence starters that you may wish to use.
You don't have to use these, but they will be on screen should you wish to use them.
Okay, it's time for you now to pause the video.
Give yourself plenty of time to work through this and press play when you are ready to continue.
Over to you, good luck.
Fantastic work there everybody.
I was so pleased to see people rereading their work before they finished, checking through for spelling, punctuation, and grammar.
That is a fantastic habit to get into.
So well done if that was you.
Okay, I want to share, I want to finish this lesson by sharing an example paragraph with you, an example response with you.
And you can look through it and you can compare this to yours and say, did I do similar things? Did I do things differently? Just a really nice opportunity for you to see some great writing.
So when Moses is first introduced in "Animal Farm", Orwell explores the theme of deception through the character's arrival with tales of Sugarcandy Mountain.
Moses uses religious language to describe Sugarcandy Mountain, painting it as a utopian paradise for the animals.
His use of religious imagery serves as a form of escapism and provides false hope to the animals.
The use of religious language is continued through Moses' persistent preaching about Sugarcandy Mountain.
He consistently employs hyperbole and embellishments to exaggerate the rewards awaiting for animals in the afterlife, creating a deceptive narrative.
Orwell suggests that Moses's role on the farm is to distract and pacify the animals, revealing how deception in the form of religious fantasies can be used as a tool for social control.
Through his exploration, Orwell emphasises the theme of deception, not only in political leaders like Napoleon, but also in the guise of religious figures, like Moses in "Animal Farm".
Brilliant response.
I hope you could see there how I was using ideas from across the text.
I was, but particularly how I was using discourse markers to link between them.
Great job.
If you want to pause the video, reread and compare that to your own and make any changes, then you can.
And press play when you're ready to continue.
Okay, that's it.
We've reached the end of today's lesson.
Fantastic work everyone.
I've been so pleased with the effort you've put in today.
Let's do a very quick summary of the key learning that we've covered and just check that we have got all of that understood and we feel confident with it.
So first of all, we know that deception is a really key theme in "Animal Farm".
We know there's many different ways of methods of deception, but we see that pigs using euphemism, jargon, hyperbole, subversion, obfuscation.
Orwell was very cynical about religion and he used the character of Moses to explore that cynicism.
And finally, discourse markers, time conjunctions can help contextualise quotes and present our ideas logically.
If there's any of that that you haven't understood, please feel free to watch parts of the video again before you move on to the next lesson.
Thank you so much for joining me today.
I'm wishing you a wonderful rest of your day, whatever you choose to do, and I hope to see you all soon.
Goodbye.