Lesson video

Hello and welcome back to the "Animal Farm" lessons.

We are now on lesson 14, the power struggle, and we are going to be exploring the struggle between Napoleon and Snowball.

Up until now, they've both been leaders on the farm, and then in our last lesson we had the Battle of the Cowshed where Snowball turned out to be a hero and led them all to victory.

Well now we have Napoleon and Snowball both sharing their ideas for what they think would be best for the future of Animal Farm, but their ideas are very different and the animals have a clear preference for who they think they agree with the most, so let's see how that turns out.

Please find a quiet place to concentrate where you can take part in the lesson, and if you can, grab a pen or something to write with, something to write on, and then let's get started.

Here is your second opportunity to make sure you have everything you need so pause the video here if necessary to get yourself settled, but if you're already ready to go then let's get started.

We'll begin our lesson with a recap of what we know so far, and the recap will be helpful to get us to understand where the rest of the lesson is going to go today.

And then we'll move on to discuss the allegory and how "Animal Farm" represents the events and the characters of the Russian Revolution, before moving on to look at some extracts and then make some comparisons between Snowball and Napoleon and then we'll complete the lesson by writing about those differences that we've spoken about in the extracts.

And finally, you'll have your exit quiz to complete where you will get to reflect on everything that you've learned in today's lesson.

So, here is our recap.

What happens at the Battle of the Cowshed? Option one, Snowball is killed.

Option two, the farmers are killed.

Option three, Snowball and Boxer become heroes.

And option four, the animals fought off the humans and kept the farm.

There may be more than one correct answer here, so pause the video, take your time, select the answers that you think are correct, and then press play when you're ready.

So, how did you do? Option three and option four are both correct.

At the Battle of the Cowshed, Snowball and Boxer both become heroes and they're given an award, and also the animals successfully fought off the humans and kept Animal Farm as Animal Farm.

Snowball was definitely not killed, and no farmers were killed either.

So, the story so far.

The animals have been living comfortably on the farm.

After the Battle of the Cowshed, the animals feel even safer than they did before, and they start to make plans for the future.

Let's remember that after the Battle of the Cowshed, they were all really excited, and they now feel really confident that Animal Farm is here to stay, and that's why the plans for the future start to come up at this point.

Snowball suggests building an electric windmill.

He thinks this will have a massive positive impact on the farm.

Napoleon, however, disagrees.

So, before we get into the extracts themselves, we need to be very aware of the allegory that is taking place, the allegory that Orwell used when he wrote "Animal Farm".

So in the Russian Revolution, there are two characters that we need to know about.

First of all is Leon Trotsky, and Leon Trotsky was a key figure in the Russian Revolution.

He led the Red Army to victory and he was celebrated for his intelligence and his organisation skills.

So Trotsky, celebrated for intelligence and for his organisation skills.

Some of you out there might already be making links between Trotsky and who represents Trotsky in "Animal Farm" so hold that thought.

Another character we need to know about is Joseph Stalin.

Joseph Stalin was another key figure in Russia during the 20th century.

Stalin became the leader of the communist party and he forced Trotsky to leave Russia, so although they were both communists and they were both leaders, Stalin forced Trotsky to leave Russia.

Stalin was a dictator and he was a tyrant.

He wasn't a nice leader at all.

He was cruel and he had complete power over everyone.

So if those of you who already have an idea about who Trotsky could represent, who do you think Stalin might be represented by in "Animal Farm"? Write down your ideas and let's see if you're correct.

So let's just refresh our memories of what we've just read.

What was Trotsky known for? Was he known for his intelligence, for being a tyrant, for being a dictator, or for his organisation skills? Don't forget we might have more than one correct answer.

So pause the video and then press play when you're ready.

And the two correct answers were his intelligence and his organisation skills, the two things that Trotsky was best known for.

So let's have a look at the two characters that we're talking about in "Animal Farm".

We have Snowball, who wants to educate all of the animals on the farm.

Snowball played an important role in the Battle of the Cowshed, and he's trying to organise the animals and the farm itself.

Napoleon, on the other hand, doesn't really care about educating all of the animals.

Remember, he has the puppies, but that's all.

He only cares about keeping those puppies secluded.

And Napoleon also doesn't really say very much on the farm and he doesn't come up with ideas.

Snowball has loads of ideas about the future, and Napoleon doesn't really say anything about that.

So who do you think represents who? I want you to, if you have this printed out, you can simply draw lines to join who you think represents who.

If you don't have this printed out, then I just want you to write down Snowball and Napoleon, and then next to their names I want you to write down who from the Russian Revolution is represented by their character.

So pause the video, match up the characters with the real people they represent, and then press play when you're ready.

Excellent.

So, Snowball is clearly representing Trotsky from the Russian Revolution, because Snowball is intelligent, he's trying to educate the animals, and he's super organised.

Napoleon, on the other hand, is representing Stalin from the Russian Revolution.

Now, we haven't really seen much about Napoleon in the story yet, but now we know that he represents Stalin, we can make some predictions about what kind of character Napoleon is going to become.

Napoleon and Snowball were in charge and had the most power on the farm.

However, animals could vote on all decisions, so even though Napoleon and Snowball are in charge, there is still opportunity for the animals to vote.

However, the problem is that Napoleon and Snowball could never agree on anything.

They disagree about everything there is to disagree on.

Let's start reading the first part of the extract.

Each had his own following, and there were some violent debates.

At the Meetings Snowball often won over the majority by his brilliant speeches, but Napoleon was better at canvassing support for himself in between times.

He was especially successful with the sheep.

Of late the sheep had taken to bleating, "Four legs good, two legs bad," both in and out of season, and they often interrupted the Meeting with this.

It was noticed that they were especially liable to break into, "Four legs good, two legs bad," at crucial moments in Snowball's speeches.

So this extract is telling us that although both pigs had support from animals, Snowball usually won when they held votes because Snowball made brilliant speeches.

On the other hand, though, Napoleon was excellent at getting support when there were no meetings, and he was also really good at getting support of the sheep.

If you remember, the sheep are animals who really struggle to read and write and who have been called not very intelligent, so Napoleon is more successful with these animals.

True or false, Snowball gets support when giving speeches.

True or false, shout that at the screen for me nice and loud.

And of course you are correct, Snowball gets support when giving speeches.

But Napoleon was better at canvassing support for himself in between times.

Napoleon must be doing something in between meetings to get support.

Why would Napoleon be doing this in private? What might he be doing to get that support? I want you to pause the video here and have a think about what he might be doing to get support and why he needs to do it in private instead of in meetings.

Pause the video, note down some of your thoughts, and then press play when you're ready.

Okay, so what kind of ideas do you have? Some of the things you might have noted down might include that he was putting pressure on animals or that he was manipulating them, maybe doing things that were immoral or not okay.

Because if he were able to get support in meetings, he should be doing that, so the fact that he's doing this in private makes us think that he may be doing it in an unacceptable way or an immoral way.

Another quote that's important for us to look at is that the sheep were especially liable to interrupt Snowball's speeches.

Especially liable means most likely to, so the sheep were mostly likely to start bleating, "Four legs good, two legs bad," at crucial moments in Snowball's speeches.

We know the sheep are unintelligent, so why have they started interrupting speeches at particular times? They must have been taught how to do this, so who do you think has taught the sheep to do this? And I'm very glad that I think most of you are shouting Napoleon at the screen, and you're completely right.

We're not told it's Napoleon, but we can assume that Napoleon has had influence over them, and he has taught them to interrupt Snowball's speeches.

Let's read the next part of the extract.

Snowball had made a close study of some back numbers of the "Farmer and Stockbreeder" which he had found in the farmhouse, and walls full of plans for innovations and improvements.

He talked learnedly about field drains, silage, and basic slag, and had worked out a complicated scheme for all the animals to drop their dung directly in the fields, at a different spot every day, to save the labour of cartage.

Napoleon produced no schemes of his own, but said quietly that Snowball's would come to nothing, and seemed to be biding his time.

But of all their controversies, none was so bitter as the one that took place over the windmill.

So in this extract we find out that Snowball has been studying, and he's come up with all of these amazing ideas to make the farm a better place, but also to create less work for the animals.

So Snowball's taking his time to make sure that he's making the animals' lives better.

Napoleon did not produce any of his own ideas, but he did still say that Snowball's would come to nothing, so although he's not coming up with any answers, he's claiming that Snowball's ideas are a bit rubbish.

And then the final sentence tells us that their biggest disagreement, their toughest disagreement, was over the windmill.

So, true or false, Napoleon had lots of innovative ideas about how to make the farm better.

Shout it out for me, is that true or is it false? Okay, let's have a look.

It is false, it was actually Snowball who was coming up with the innovative ideas.

Napoleon had no ideas of his own, it was Snowball who was coming up with all the brilliant, new, never been seen before ideas.

Napoleon complained and criticised Snowball's plans but did not come up with any of his own.

Is that true or is it false? Shout it out for me.

Okay.

That's true, Napoleon did indeed complain and criticise and go on and on about how awful Snowball's plans were, but actually he didn't have any ideas of his own at all.

So let's talk about the windmill.

Snowball wanted the animals to build an electric windmill, which would reduce their future workload.

Napoleon, however, completely disagreed with this.

So in the plans for the farm, this extract outlines the difference in Snowball and Napoleon's ideas.

Snowball did not deny that to build it would be a difficult business.

But he maintained that it could all be done in a year.

And thereafter, he declared, so much labour would be saved that the animals would only need to work three days a week.

Napoleon, on the other hand, argued that the great need of the moment was to increase food production, and that if they wasted time on the windmill they would all starve to death.

The animals formed themselves into two factions under the slogan, "Vote for Snowball and the three-day week," and, "Vote for Napoleon and the full manger." So we can see that this extract is really useful in outlining the two pigs' plans for the farm.

Snowball wanted to reduce the workload by building the windmill, and so his slogan was, "Vote for Snowball and the three day week," for them to work less.

Napoleon, though, thought that at this moment they needed to increase food production right now, so wasting time on the windmill would mean that everyone starved to death, and so the slogan for Napoleon was to vote for Napoleon and the full manger, meaning full tummies and plenty of food.

So if you have the extract in front of you, I would like you to highlight the parts that I have written in blue.

If you don't have the extract in front of you, you'll need to pause the video and copy down the parts that I have written in blue.

So pause the video here to either highlight or copy down the blue writing, and then press play when you've completed that.

Now your activity is to complete the table on the screen.

We have on column for Snowball and one column for Napoleon, and then we have on the left hand side some guidance for what you need to put in each box.

So what should the animals do? In Snowball's box, what does Snowball think the animals need to do? And in Napoleon's box, what does Napoleon think they should do? What is Snowball's and then Napoleon's opinion of the future? So what are they hoping for, what do they think will happen in the future? And then finally, what are their slogans? If you have the extract, then use the extract to help you fill these boxes in.

If you don't have the extract, I would copy down this table and then rewind the video so you have the extract on the screen to help you fill in the boxes.

Press pause to complete the activity and then press play when you've finished for the answers.

Good luck! And here are the answers for you.

What should the animals do? Snowball thinks that the animals should build the windmill, whereas Napoleon thinks they should concentrate on food production.

Snowball's opinion of the future is a three day working week, that's what he wants to see in the future of Animal Farm, and Napoleon thinks that in the future they will starve to death if they build the windmill.

And then finally, Snowball's slogan is, "Vote for Snowball and and the three day week," and Napoleon's slogan is, "Vote for Napoleon and the full manger." If you were using the extract to help you, I'm sure you managed to get all of those answers, because all of the information is in that extract.

If you need to change any answers or add any information, press pause here to complete your table, but then press play to move forward with us onto the next activity.

So for this extract, we're going to do a similar activity to the previous one.

You will be asked to complete a table which outlines the differences between Snowball and Napoleon, so let's read the extract together first.

Apart from the disputes over the windmill, there was the question of the defence of the farm.

As usual, Snowball and Napoleon were in disagreement.

According to Napoleon, what the animals must do was to procure firearms and train themselves in the use of them.

According to Snowball, they must send out more and more pigeons and stir up rebellion among the animals on the other farms. The one argued that if they could not defend themselves they were bound to be conquered, the other argued that if rebellions happened everywhere they would have no need to defend themselves.

So here we have Napoleon thinking that the animals need to find guns and learn how to use them because he thinks that if they can't defend themselves then they are bound to be beaten at some point, so they need to learn to defend themselves.

Snowball, on the other hand, thinks that they need to start rebellions on other farms, and he argues that if there are enough rebellions on other farms, then they will never need to defend themselves.

So they have very different opinions on defence for the farm.

If you have the extract, please highlight the parts that I have highlighted.

Napoleon's information is in blue and Snowball's information is in green.

If you don't have the extract, pause the video here to write those parts down, because they will help you with the next activity.

Once you've done that, press play, and we'll move forward to have a look at the table.

And here's the table for you.

So we have two questions.

What should the animals do, so what does Snowball think they need to do and what does Napoleon think they need to do, and then what does Snowball say could happen if they don't do it and what does Napoleon say could happen if they don't do it? So pause the video here, use the previous extract to answer these questions and complete the table, and then press play when you're ready for the answers.

And here are the answers for you.

Snowball thinks that the animals should stir up rebellion in neighbouring farms, whereas Napoleon thinks they need to procure firearms and train themselves to use them.

Snowball thinks that if they don't stir up rebellion, they will be forced to defend themselves, and Napoleon thinks that if they don't train themselves in the use of firearms, that they will be beaten or they will be conquered.

So if you need to change your answers or add to your answers you can pause the video to fill in your table, but if you've managed to get some or all of those correct, that's incredible work and you should be really, really proud of that.

So this is the final activity for today's lesson, and it's summarising everything we've spoken about.

We have four sentences and each sentence needs to be completed.

So pause the video here, complete all four sentences using everything we've discussed today, use your notes to help you, and press play to check your answers.

Good luck! And here are some possible answers you may have used.

Napoleon and Snowball are very different to one another because they have very different ideas for the future of Animal Farm.

Number two, in Orwell's allegory, the character of Napoleon represents Stalin.

Number three, in Orwell's allegory, the character of Snowball represents Trotsky.

So for numbers two and three, you need to have that exactly the same as you can see on the screen, because there is only one correct answer.

And number four, although Napoleon and Snowball disagree with one another, they are both leaders on the farm and want to make the decisions.

So that's really important, because this highlights the power struggle.

Although they disagree, they're still both leaders at this point, so at this point in the story both pigs are in charge even though they disagree with one another.

Doesn't sound like a great position to be in, living on a farm where your two leaders disagree on absolutely everything.

So we'll leave Napoleon and Snowball there, having some debates about the windmill and the defence of the farm, and we'll join them again in our next lesson together.

So really big well done for today.

You've completed a lot of work in this lesson, so you should be really proud of that.

If your parent or carer wants to share any of that work, then please do tag us at OakNational and use the hashtag LearnwithOak, because I'm sure there's some pretty incredible exercise books and pieces of paper out there today.

Have a lovely day and I'll see you for our next lesson soon.