Plot and Action
Plot summary: What happens in Animal Farm?
Revision focus: Make sure you know the key events, Chapter 1: Major’s vision, Chapters 2 and 3: Revolution, Chapters 4 and 5: Napoleon seizes power, Chapters 6 and 7: Working like slaves, Chapters 8 and 9: Boxer is betrayed, Chapter 10: Full circle?Chapter 1: Major’s vision
Summary, Why is this chapter important?, Key context: Major and Marx, Key theme: Equality, Aiming high: How Orwell establishes his characters, Key quotation: Major’s rules, Exam focus: Writing about equalityChapter 2: Revolution
Summary, Why is this chapter important?, Aiming high: Orwell’s foreshadowing of later events, Key language: A new society, Top tip: Writing about the revolution, Key setting: The farmhouse, Top tip: Writing about the Seven Commandments, Key language: ‘Comrade’Chapter 3: Utopia?
Summary, Why is this chapter important?, Key theme: Unity and conflict, Key characters: Clever pigs?, Key theme: The importance of education, Exam focus: Writing about effectsChapter 4: The battle of the cowshed
Summary, Why is this chapter important?, Key character: Snowball – A great leader?, Aiming high: Animal Farm as allegory, Key characters: Portrayal of the humans, Exam focus: An emerging hierarchy?Chapter 5: Napoleon seizes power
Summary, Why is this chapter important?, Key character: Napoleon, Key theme: How democracy is undermined, Exam focus: Propaganda in Animal FarmChapter 6: Working like slaves
Summary, Why is this chapter important?, Key character: Snowball as scapegoat, Key theme: The language of power, Revision focus: At a loss for words, Aiming high: Orwell’s use of irony, Key quotation: Orwell’s use of languageChapter 7: Terror
Summary, Why is this chapter important?, Key theme: Language and power, Key theme: Tyranny and terror, Top tip: Writing about Napoleon, Aiming high: Writing about Orwell’s use of languageChapter 8: The Battle of the Windmill
Summary, Why is this chapter important?, Key language: Orwell’s ironic narrator, Key theme: Exploitation, Aiming high: Doublethink, Top tip: Writing about The Battle of the Windmill, Revision focus: Dictators and powerChapter 9: Boxer is betrayed
Summary, Why is this chapter important?, Key theme: Propaganda, Key structure: Back to the future?, Key character: Boxer, Aiming high: Writing about Boxer’s deathCharacters
Snowball
Snowball’s role in the text, Snowball’s importance to the text as a whole, Exam focus: Writing about Snowball, Top tip: Writing about SnowballNapoleon
Napoleon’s role in the text, Napoleon’s importance to the text as a whole, Exam focus: Writing about Napoleon, Top tip: Writing about NapoleonSquealer
Squealer’s role in the text, Squealer’s importance to the text as a whole, Exam focus: Writing about Squealer, Aiming high: Writing about SquealerBoxer
Boxer’s role in the text, Boxer’s importance to the text as a whole, Exam focus: Writing about Boxer, Aiming high: Boxer, our hero?Themes, Contexts and Settings
Themes
Power corrupts, Equality, Aiming high: Major and equality, How do dictators rise to power?, Key quotation: Creating a climate of fear, Education and learning, Revision focus: What is the point of education?, Language and power, Aiming high: Political language, Propaganda, Revision focus: Simplifying languageForm, Structure and Language
Progress Booster
Planning your answer
Plan quickly and efficiently, Stage 1: Generate ideas quickly, Stage 2: Jot down useful quotations (or key events), Stage 3: Plan for paragraphs