DEPARTAMENTO DE LINGÜÍSTICA

LENGUA INGLESA NIVEL PRE INTERMEDIO I – 2020

Study Guide
Animal Farm by George Orwell

1. Before reading
a. Extensive reading objectives embedded in Animal Farm

1. To understand and describe how language, structure and form contribute to the writers’
presentation of ideas, themes and settings.
2. To respond to book critically and imaginatively; to select and evaluate relevant textual detail to
illustrate and support interpretations.

b. About the book

Animal Farm is an allegorical novel by George Orwell, first published in England in 1945. The book deals
with the story of a group of farm animals who rebel against their human farmer, hoping to create a
society where the animals can be equal, free, and happy. Ultimately, however, the rebellion is betrayed,
and the farm ends up in a state as bad as it was before, under the dictatorship of a pig named Napoleon.
According to Orwell, the fable reflects events leading up to the Russian Revolution of 1917 and then on
into the Stalinist era of the Soviet Union. Orwell, a democratic socialist, was a critic of Joseph Stalin and
hostile to Moscow-directed Stalinism, an attitude that was critically shaped by his experiences during
the Spanish Civil War. The Soviet Union had become a brutal dictatorship built upon a cult of personality
and enforced by a reign of terror. Orwell once described Animal Farm as a satirical tale against Stalin.

c. About the author of the book.

George Orwell (1903-1950) is the pen name of Eric Blair, a British writer best known for his novels
Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four, which are both about political systems in which ordinary people
have no power, and are completely controlled by the government. Orwell, through both of these novels,
has had a great influence on the way people think about and write about politics, and political systems
like those portrayed in the books are sometimes called Orwellian. George Orwell also fought on the
Republican side in the Spanish Civil War.

d. Reading tips

1. You will find it useful to keep a list of all the character names and relationships as you read.
2. Always scan the text for specific pieces of information (names, dates, etc.) and skim it to identify
author’s purpose/intent and main ideas.
3. Dedicate yourself to engaging in a combination of both guided and relaxed reading practice for
at least 2 to 3 hours a week. Guided practice will involve structure and focused attention, like
learning new vocabulary words and testing yourself on them, while relaxed practice will involve
merely letting yourself read and enjoy reading without pressure for at least one to two hours a
week.
4. Improve your vocabulary by, for instance, making flashcards. Use the new words in other
contexts, incorporate them into your lexicon. At the same time, reflect on the role vocabulary
bears in the book and how the author conveys ideas and images through it.
5. Test your comprehension by summarizing every chapter you read in your own words, or every
portion of text that you found a bit more difficult to follow. The latter is particularly useful for
improving your reading comprehension.
6. When struggling with an excerpt, reading those problematic passages aloud can often help
dodge the comprehension block and help you to form a visual of what the text is trying to
convey.
7. Re-read (or skim) previous sections of the book to refresh your memory so that you can better
understand and interpret later sections of the book.
8. Whenever you encounter a confusing knot in the book, skim or read upcoming sections of it.
This can help you lower your reading anxiety by knowing that explanations are upcoming. Thus,
you may feel more confident by reading them ahead of time.
9. Discuss the book with a partner, classmate, or study group you have formed. Trying to teach or
discuss what a passage says or means with your peers can be extremely beneficial. If you have a
classmate who hasn't read the book or some chapters yet, explain it to them in your own words
and discuss where you feel your comprehension is lacking.

2. While reading

a. Book characters
For each character, to the extent possible:
 List the relationship of each character to at least two other characters
 Describe their personality
 Mention their strengths and weaknesses
 Describe how they changed/did not change over time

Character Character Description

Name

2
Napoleon

Snowball

Boxer

Squealer

Old Major

Clover

Moses

Mollie

Benjamin

Muriel

Mr. Jones
Mr. Frederick

Mr.

3
 Pilkington

Mr.
Whymper

Jessie and
Bluebell
Minimus

b. Setting.
The time and location in which a story takes place is known as the setting. Are there any explicit
references in the story to the time when the story takes place? Why do you think the author
chooses a farm for the story to take place?

c. Important concepts / themes

A theme is a concept or idea that the author is trying to convey through the characters and events of
the story. It is rarely stated and must be inferred by the reader. The goal while you read the book is to
identify such themes in order to elaborate on them.
Don't confuse theme with the story's plot or moral. The plot is simply what happens in the story and
the order of the story's events, and the moral is the lesson that the writer wants the main character
(and by extension, you) to learn from the story.

You will be presented with THREE main themes from the book. For each theme, collect THREE details
from the book (such as: specific plot points, symbols, or quotes) that the author uses to explore that
theme. You will be working on the table featured below.

Next, use the evidence you have collected to write a Theme Description that explains the role of the
theme in the book. Your theme description should be 1-2 paragraphs. Here are some questions to
consider as you write each theme description:

1. How do the ideas or actions of the main characters reflect different aspects of the theme?
2. Does the theme develop or change over the course of The Hound of the Baskervilles? If so, how?
3. If your evidence includes symbols, explain how the author uses those symbols to explore the
theme.
4. If your evidence includes specific quotes from the text, explain how those quotes provide
examples of how the theme applies to Frankenstein.

Having the previous structure and procedures in mind, be prepared to identify ONE more theme of your
own, which capture what you think of as an important element in this book. Then, come up with
evidence from the text (specific examples, scenes, or direct quotes) to support these themes, or big
ideas, in the novel. Describe them using the analysis and description chart.

Theme 1: Class struggle

4
Evidence
1. 2. 3.

Theme description

Theme 2: Equality and inequality

Evidence
1. 2. 3.

Theme description

Theme 3: Power, control and corruption

Evidence
1. 2. 3.

5
Theme description

3. After reading
a. Story sequencing
i. Choose THREE events to report and organize them in chronological order. Decide a title
for each episode. Write about each using at least 30 words.

b. General impression
i. What adjectives would you use to describe this book?
ii. How did you come away feeling, after reading this book?
iii. Would you recommend this book? Why? Why not?

c. Test preparation
i. Types of questions in the test
1. Multiple choice
2. Short answer section with specific questions as to the book’s plot and characters
3. Theme discussion and analysis

ii. What is expected from students

Evidence of reading and understanding of the book.

Writing section:
a. Clear thesis statement relating to main theme to be discussed.
b. Evidence from the text, woven into student’s sentences so that quotes/paraphrase and analysis
coexist in a sentence.
c. Use of transitional words and phrases to build argument; clear relationships between
paragraphs.
d. Grammar, punctuation, and spelling checked and corrected. Sentence variety according to the
level.