"Animal Farm" (Teach Yourself Revision Guides) (2025)

description

Since its publication in 1946, George Orwell's fable of a workers' revolution gone wrong has rivaled Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea as the Shortest Serious Novel It's OK to Write a Book Report About. (The latter is three pages longer and less fun to read.) Fueled by Orwell's intense disillusionment with Soviet Communism, Animal Farm is a nearly perfect piece of writing, both an engaging story and an allegory that actually works. When the downtrodden beasts of Manor Farm oust their drunken human master and take over management of the land, all are awash in collectivist zeal. Everyone willingly works overtime, productivity soars, and for one brief, glorious season, every belly is full. The animals' Seven Commandment credo is painted in big white letters on the barn. All animals are equal. No animal shall drink alcohol, wear clothes, sleep in a bed, or kill a fellow four-footed creature. Those that go upon four legs or wings are friends and the two-legged are, by definition, the enemy. Too soon, however, the pigs, who have styled themselves leaders by virtue of their intelligence, succumb to the temptations of privilege and power. "We pigs are brainworkers. The whole management and organisation of the farm depend on us. Day and night, we are watching over your welfare. It is for your sake that we drink that milk and eat those apples." While this swinish brotherhood sells out the revolution, cynically editing the Seven Commandments to excuse their violence and greed, the common animals are once again left hungry and exhausted, no better off than in the days when humans ran the farm. Satire Animal Farm may be, but it's a stony reader who remains unmoved when the stalwart workhorse, Boxer, having given his all to his comrades, is sold to the glue factory to buy booze for the pigs. Orwell's view of Communism is bleak indeed, but given the history of the Russian people since 1917, his pessimism has an air of prophecy. --Joyce Thompson

Alternative title

A guide to Animal farm

Alternative author

McGregor, Iona; Buzan, Tony

Alternative author

Iona MacGregor

Alternative publisher

Hodder Children's Books

Alternative publisher

Hodder Arnold H&S

Alternative publisher

Hodder Education

Alternative publisher

Teach Yourself

Alternative edition

Teach yourself literature guides, London, 2000

Alternative edition

United Kingdom and Ireland, United Kingdom

Alternative edition

January 7, 1998

metadata comments

obscured text on back cover.

metadata comments

Teach Yourself Revision Guides

metadata comments

Includes index.

Alternative description

This English literature revision guide for GCSE English students discusses George Orwell's "Animal Farm". It features "mind maps" which summarize the entire work, icons, symbols, diagrams, cartoons and storyboards. This guide is exclusive to WHSmith until further notice.

Alternative description

x, 85 pages : 20 cm
Background, characters, themes, language, style and structure of the play
Includes index

date open sourced

2023-06-28

External downloads

• Option #1: Borrow from the Internet Archive
• Option #2: Bulk torrent downloads (experts only)

  collection “ia” → torrent “annas-archive-ia-lcpdf-g.tar.torrent” →file“annas-archive-ia-lcpdf-g.tar”(extract) →file“guidetoanimalfar0000mcgr.pdf”

All download options have the same file, and should be safe to use. That said, always be cautious when downloading files from the internet, especially from sites external to Anna’s Archive. For example, be sure to keep your devices updated.