JN 2009

George Orwell - Animal Farm – Worksheet 1 – Chapters 1& 2

Section A – Language notes
1) Match the following words with their definitions:
barn – boar - calf, pl. calves – foal – harvest – hoof – mane – mare – orchard – paddock - to hatch - to slaughter

___________ - a female horse

___________ - a large building on a farm where animals or crops are kept

___________ - a male pig

___________ - a small field where horses are kept and allowed to grass

___________ - a young cow

___________ - a young horse

___________ - an area of land where fruit trees are grown

___________ - the activity of collecting crops

___________ - the hard part on the bottom of the feet of animals such as horses

___________ - the long thick hair that grows along the top of a horse's neck

___________ - to break in order to allow a young animal to come out

___________ - to kill animals, usually for their meat

2) In chapter 2, find as many words as you can which suggest violence or rebellion.

Section B – Comprehension and discussion questions – Answer the following questions while referring to the
text and providing examples from the text to support your ideas.
1) Why do you think Orwell included the subheading “A Fairy Story”? In what way does the story resemble a fairy
tale? In what way is it different? Consider the fact that the story was published in 1945.

2) What is your impression of Mr Jones? How is he characterised in the text? What problems does he have?

3) What is the importance of the song “Beasts of England”?

4) Which animals resume Major’s talk about rebellion? How long did it take them after Major’s death?

5) What were the first things animals did after getting rid of Mr. Jones? Why did they do it? What do the
things symbolise?

6) What are “the lies put about by Moses”, the raven? Do you find him a suspicious character?

7) What do the Seven Commandments reflect? Are the commandments difficult to keep to?

8) How do you think the animals should rule the farm? What animals should have the leading position? Why?
 JN 2009

Section C – Analysis of Major’s speech

1) What does Major appeal to while speaking to animals? What does he mean by addressing them as “Comrades”,

2) What does Major say about the relationship between animals and man? What does he say about animal life?

3) What do you think makes Major’s speech effective?

4) Analyse Major’s speech from the point of view of rhetoric1. There are several rhetorical tools – can you find
examples of them in Major’s speech?
 repetitions

 contrasts

 examples

 rhetorical questions (the speaker asking without expecting an answer)

5) In rhetoric, there are three modes of appeal – ethos, logos and pathos.
a) Ethos (refers to establishing the speaker’s character) – How does Major strike a positive note with the receivers of
his speech, i.e. the other animals?
 By suggesting that he is competent / experienced / famous / an expert / an acknowledged authority?
 By referring to parallel situations?

b) Pathos (refers to influencing the feelings of the audience) - How does Major create feelings in the audience?
 By compassion / concern / anger / patriotism? How are these feelings evoked?
 By using specific examples?
 By creating images of the enemy?

c) Logos (refers to using facts) – How does Major convince the audience that the information given can be relied on?

Compare the analysis from questions 4 and 5 with the list from question no. 3.2

Section D – Focus for next chapters

 Chapter 3 – Are the animals happy at getting rid of Mr. Jones? If so, why? If not, why not?
 Chapter 4 – What has Mr. Jones been doing since the beginning of the story?
 Chapter 5 – Think about the changing relationships between the pigs, Napoleon, Snowball and Squealer. What
has changed? Do you sympathise with any of these animals?

In the second chapter there is a list of commandments that the animals all agree to obey when they create Animal
Farm. But as time passes, some of these commandments get broken, or at least twisted a little. It’s not always
obvious to the animals when this happens as the pigs are clever at deceiving others and they try to persuade them
that they haven’t broken the original commandments at all.
As you read through the book, look out for places where this happens. Make a note of the changes by filling in the
following chart:3
Chapter Which commandment Who broke it? What was the reason What happened to cause
no. was broken? – no. How was it broken? offered? the change?

1
the study of the ways of using language effectively
2
CLAUSEN, Brigitte Prytz. Politics in a Global World. Århus: Systime, 2008, pp. 161-162.
3
KEITH, Lois; SIMONS, Michael; STEPHENS, John. Animal Farm. London: English & Media Centre, 1995, p. 15.