Lesson video

Hello, and welcome to lesson 20 of "Animal Farm." We are going to be examining Napoleon's leadership in this lesson.

In our previous lesson, you'll remember that we saw Napoleon as a cruel tyrant and dictator carrying out executions.

And in this lesson we will still see him as both of those things.

But this time we will also look at how he makes himself stand out as the leader who is more important than all of the other animals on the farm.

When you're ready, make sure you have somewhere quiet or somewhere you can focus and grab yourself something to write with and something to write on and then we'll get started.

Okay, so here is your second opportunity to get yourself settled and make sure you have everything you need.

Pause the video if you need to, and then press play when you're ready to go.

If you're already ready, then we will get started with looking at Napoleon's leadership.

So we'll begin today with a recap of what we already know before moving on to addressing the issue of the changing commandments.

So how the seven original commandments are being changed.

And then we'll look at some new vocabulary, before analysing an extract from the story together and finishing off with the all-important exit quiz.

So to begin with, what happens on the farm which leaves the animals shocked and measurable? There are two things in that question.

What happens on the farm which leaves the animals shocked and measurable.

So there's more than one correct answer.

Is it that Napoleon murders lots of animals? Is it that some animals confess to supporting Snowball? Is it that Napoleon orders the dogs to kill any animals who confess? Or is it that Napoleon takes the eggs from the hens? Pause the video, select the correct answer and then press play when you're ready.

And the correct answers are number two and number three, the animals are left feeling shocked when some animals confess to supporting Snowball and they're left feeling miserable as well as shocked when Napoleon orders the dogs to kill any animals who confess.

Option four did happen, he did try to take the eggs from the hens but that's not what leaves the animal shocked and miserable.

And in option one, technically Napoleon ordered the dogs to do the executions.

Napoleon did not physically execute anyone himself and that's really important.

Here's a reminder of what is happening and what has happened before.

Previously, the animals were confused when the commandment they thought they remembered had changed.

And if you remember we spoke about it being dramatic irony because as readers of the story, we know that they have been changed but the characters in the story, the animals do not know that.

After the executions, it happens again.

"A few days later, when the terror caused "by the executions had died down, "some of the animals remembered or thought they remembered "that the Sixth Commandment decreed, "'no animal shall kill any other animal.

' "And though no one cared to mention it "in the hearing of the pigs or the dogs, "it was felt that the killings "which had taken place did not square with this.

"Clover asked Benjamin "to read her the Sixth Commandment.

"And when Benjamin, as usual, "said that he refused to meddle "in such matters, she fetched Muriel.

"Muriel read the commandment for her.

"It ran, 'no animal shall kill "any other animal without cause.

'" We can see then that the original commandment has had two things added on the end, without cause.

So the pigs have added something extra to excuse Napoleon's behaviour.

And so it doesn't look like Napoleon has broken a commandment.

No animal shall kill any other animal becomes, no animal shall kill any other animal without cause, meaning without a good reason.

Here we have an activity where you need to fill in the gaps that you can see in the writing on the screen in front of you.

I have given you the first letter for each of the gaps and I've also given you each of the words at the bottom of the screen.

I'm very confident that you can do this.

The only thing you need to do is take your time and think about it carefully.

You have all of the information you need either in here or in your notes.

A really good idea to help you with this is when you've completed one of them and you've used one of the words at the bottom, cross it out so you know you don't need to use this again.

Pause the video here, try your absolute best and then press play when you would like to check your answers, good luck So, here are the answers.

Every time you have got one right, give yourself a big tick.

Orwell uses dramatic irony when the Sixth Commandment changes.

As readers, we know that the commandment has been changed but the animals are confused about what they can remember.

Orwell does this to show how Napoleon and Squealer are manipulating the animals to control them.

Hopefully, you guys managed to get all of those right, if you did, that's incredible and you should be really, really proud of yourselves.

You've included some new vocabulary in there as well as really understanding what's going on in the story.

If you got a couple of them mixed up or you couldn't quite work them out, then do not worry, you can always read it now and fix your work and read it out to yourself just to make sure you understand what's going on there.

Now we're going to learn a new piece of vocabulary, and our new word is narcissist.

I love saying this word, it's a really fun word to say, repeat it after me, narcissist.

Good, narcissist, so a narcissist is a person who has an excessive love for or interest in themselves.

So someone who loves themselves or is far too interested in themselves.

Really interesting thing that you can look up if you'd like to is the etymology of this word.

So where does this word come from? It's from Ancient Greek.

So do have a look, ask people around you or use the internet or dictionary.

Narcissist, have a look where it comes from, it's very interesting.

Here are some examples.

The president was a narcissist.

So the president was someone who had a very high opinion of himself.

Narcissists believe everything is all about them.

So a narcissist will believe that anything going on and anything around them is all centred on something to do with them.

Which of the following sentences is a correct use of the word narcissist.

My brother never lets me share his food, he's such a narcissist.

My teacher a narcissist because she doesn't let us talk in class.

My sister say she is the most important member of the family, she's such a narcissist.

He is a narcissist because he is always telling people what to do.

Take your time, read through the options and then press play when you're ready to find out your answers.

And the correct answer is number three.

My sister says that she is the most important member of the family, she's such a narcissist.

This is correct because narcissism or a narcissist, is someone who thinks that they are the best thing ever, that they are the most important and that they can do no wrong.

So option three is correct.

Let's read an extract from "Animal Farm" now.

"All orders were now issued "through Squealer or one of the other pigs.

"Napoleon himself was not seen in public "as often as once in a fortnight.

"When he did appear, he was attended "not only by his retinue of dogs, "but by a black cockerel who marched in front of him "and acted as a kind of trumpeter, "letting out a loud cock-a-doodle-doo, "before Napoleon spoke.

"Even in the farm house, "it was said, Napoleon inhabited separate apartments "from the others.

"He took his meals alone with two dogs to wait upon him "and always ate from the Crown Derby dinner service "which had been in the glass cupboard in the drawing-room." Already some of you might be picking up on who in this story is a narcissist.

Someone who thinks they are far more important than everyone else.

And it's Napoleon.

So how does Orwell present Napoleon as a narcissist in this extract? I've given you a quotation from the extract that I think will really help you answer this question.

Even in the farmhouse it was said, Napoleon inhabited separate apartment from the others.

He took his meals alone and had two dogs to wait on him.

So there's a few things you can talk about there.

I've given you a sentence starter to help you out, Orwell presents Napoleon as a narcissist by? If you don't want to use that you don't have to, but it might give you a nice headstart.

So pause the video here, have a go answering that question using that quotation and then press play when you're ready for some feedback.

So, here is an example of what you could have written.

Orwell presents Napoleon as a narcissist by describing how Napoleon keeps himself separate and has other animals to wait upon him.

This suggests he thinks he is more important than everyone else.

Your answer is unlikely to be exactly the same as mine.

That would be amazing if we could read each other's minds and we said the exact same thing.

However, as long as your answer includes something about how that quotation in green tells us that Napoleon thinks he's more important, then your answer will be great.

So check your answer, does it tell us how the quotation shows that Napoleon thinks he's more important? If your answer does do that, then give it a big tick because you have definitely got that right, well done.

Let's read the next part.

"Napoleon was now never spoken off simply as Napoleon.

"He was always referred to informal style "as our leader, Comrade Napoleon, "and this pigs like to invent for him such titles as, "Father of All Animals, Terror of Mankind, "Protector of the Sheep-Fold, "Ducklings' Friend and the like.

"In his speeches, Squealer would talk "with the tears rolling down his cheeks "of Napoleon's wisdom, the goodness of his heart "and the deep love he bore to all animals everywhere, "even and especially the unhappy animals who still lived "in ignorance and slavery on other farms. "It had become usual to give Napoleon "the credit for every successful achievement "and every stroke of good fortune." So again, we're understanding how Napoleon is being shown as the most important person or pig on the farm.

So how is Napoleon presented in this extract? I've given you two quotations you can use, the fact that he was always referred to formerly as our leader, Comrade Napoleon and also the fact that it had become usual to give Napoleon credit for every successful achievement.

So anything positive that happened in the farm would be seen as thankful to Napoleon.

So Napoleon was supposed to be responsible for everything that was successful on the farm.

Take your time, Napoleon is presented as, is your sentence starter, try your best and then press play when you're ready to have some feedback on your answer, good luck.

So, here is a model answer.

So this is just an option of what you might've written.

Napoleon is presented as a narcissist because he expects animals to call him our leader and give him credit for every successful achievement.

Thus suggesting that Napoleon is responsible for all the good things that happen on the farm.

So hopefully most of you said, that Napoleon was presented as a narcissist because Napoleon that's what we're talking about, that's our new piece of vocabulary and Napoleon is presented as a narcissist because of all of the things he's doing that make him some more important.

So as long as your answer has something about that in it, then that's absolutely brilliant and you need a big tick again, well done.

And that's our lesson complete.

The last two paragraphs that you've written are really really good summaries to understand what kind of character Napoleon is at this point in the story.

We now only have four lessons left so we're getting to the end and we're going to find out what happens to the animals on animal farm.

Thank you for all of your brilliant work today, you should be really proud of yourselves and I'm looking forward to working again with you soon.

Have a good day.