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GCSE · English Literature

GE.T-AnimalFarm Literature: Animal Farm (George Orwell)

AQA 8702 · Calculators not allowed · about 150 minutes

Total Marks

Name: _______________________________ Date: ____ / ____ / ______

Answer ALL questions. Show all your working.

List four facts we learn about Old Major and the speech he gives to the animals at the start of the novel.

(Total for Question 1 is 4 marks)

Identify two of the original Seven Commandments established after the rebellion that are later altered by the pigs as the novel progresses.

(Total for Question 2 is 4 marks)

Explain how Orwell presents Boxer's character in the early part of the novel, before the Battle of the Cowshed.

(Total for Question 3 is 6 marks)

Explain how Orwell uses the character of Squealer to influence the other animals in the period before Snowball is driven from the farm.

(Total for Question 4 is 6 marks)

Explain how Orwell presents ideas about propaganda and the control of information through the changing of the Seven Commandments.

(Total for Question 5 is 8 marks)

Explain how Orwell presents Napoleon as an unsympathetic character.

(Total for Question 6 is 8 marks)

Analyse how Orwell uses structural techniques, such as repeated events and the contrast between the beginning and end of the novel, to build meaning across the story as a whole.

(Total for Question 7 is 8 marks)

Analyse how Orwell presents the change in Boxer's fortunes across the course of the novel.

(Total for Question 8 is 10 marks)

Analyse how Orwell presents the relationship between the pigs and the other animals as it changes across the novel.

(Total for Question 9 is 10 marks)

Write about how Orwell presents the theme of power and corruption in the novel.

(Total for Question 10 is 12 marks)

Write about the differences Orwell presents between the pigs and the other animals of the farm.

(Total for Question 11 is 12 marks)

Write about how Orwell uses the character of Squealer to explore the theme of language and manipulation, and comment on why Orwell chose to write Animal Farm as an allegory of the Russian Revolution rather than a direct historical account.

(Total for Question 12 is 15 marks)

Write about how Orwell presents ideas about class and inequality among the animals, and comment on the significance of the different animal species he chooses to represent different social groups.

(Total for Question 13 is 15 marks)

Write about the narrative significance of the final scene, in which the animals outside the farmhouse window can no longer tell the pigs from the human farmers, and comment on why this ending would have felt especially powerful to readers in 1945.

(Total for Question 14 is 15 marks)

'Animal Farm shows that revolutions fail because power always corrupts those who hold it.'

Using this statement as a starting point, write about how far you agree, referring to the novel as a whole.

(Total for Question 15 is 20 marks)

Starting with the animals' expulsion of Mr Jones from the farm, write about how Orwell presents ideas about power across the novel as a whole, and evaluate how far a modern reader might interpret the novel's warning differently from a reader in 1945.

In your response you should discuss:
- how Orwell presents power in this moment and across the novel
- the methods Orwell uses to build his argument
- how far a modern reader's response might differ from a 1945 reader's response

(Total for Question 16 is 30 marks)

Mark scheme · GE.T-AnimalFarm Literature: Animal Farm (George Orwell)

Question 1

B1 he is an old, prize-winning boar (oe)
B1 he shares a dream of a future without human masters
B1 he teaches the animals a song about a future free from human rule
B1 any other valid fact, e.g. he dies only a few days after giving the speech / he warns the animals about the vices of Man / his speech inspires the animals to plan a rebellion
Answer: Any four of: he is an old, respected boar; he describes a dream of animals living free of human control; he teaches the animals a song celebrating that future; he warns them against adopting human habits and vices; he dies shortly afterwards; his ideas directly inspire the later rebellion.

Question 2

B1 one valid commandment identified as originally agreed (e.g. no animal shall sleep in a bed)
B1 an accurate note of how it is later changed (e.g. altered to forbid beds only with sheets, allowing the pigs to keep sleeping in the farmhouse)
B1 a second, different valid commandment identified as originally agreed (e.g. no animal shall drink alcohol, or no animal shall kill another animal)
B1 an accurate note of how the second commandment is later changed (e.g. drinking to excess is forbidden rather than drinking itself, or killing is forbidden only without cause)
Answer: Any two of: the ban on beds is quietly amended to ban only beds with sheets; the ban on alcohol is amended to ban drinking to excess; the ban on killing another animal is amended to ban killing without cause; the commandments are eventually reduced to a single altered rule favouring the pigs.

Question 3

Level 3 (5-6): Clear, relevant explanation: identifies specific details of Boxer's early presentation (his great physical strength, his personal habit of resolving to work harder, his limited ability to learn the alphabet, his unquestioning trust in the pigs) and explains a clear effect, supported by reference to the text.
Level 2 (3-4): Some explanation: identifies a relevant detail about Boxer's early character with a generally appropriate comment, with some reference to the text.
Level 1 (1-2): Simple, limited explanation: makes a simple or general comment about Boxer with little development or textual reference.
Indicative content:
- Boxer is introduced as enormously strong, immediately becoming indispensable to the physical work of running the farm
- his habit of privately resolving to work harder whenever a problem arises presents him as devoted and hardworking, but also as someone who responds to difficulty with effort rather than questioning
- his slow progress with the alphabet, compared with the pigs' quick literacy, marks him out as good hearted but easy to mislead by those who can read and write more fluently
- his instinctive trust in the pigs' leadership, without demanding explanation, foreshadows how easily his loyalty will later be exploited

Question 4

Level 3 (5-6): Clear, relevant explanation: analyses how Squealer's persuasive rhetoric, use of rhetorical questions, and appeal to fear of Mr Jones's return are used to control the other animals, with clear reference to the text.
Level 2 (3-4): Some explanation: identifies a relevant method Squealer uses with a generally appropriate comment, with some textual reference.
Level 1 (1-2): Simple, limited explanation: makes a simple or general comment on Squealer with little development.
Indicative content:
- Squealer's gift for persuasive, fast talking is repeatedly used to reframe decisions that benefit the pigs as decisions made for the good of every animal
- his use of rhetorical questions, asking the other animals whether they would prefer the return of Mr Jones, exploits the animals' greatest shared fear to silence disagreement
- he exploits the other animals' limited education and poor memories, confidently asserting facts that contradict what some of the animals dimly remember
- his skill lies in never using direct threats, instead making his manipulation sound like reasonable explanation, which makes him harder for the animals to resist or challenge

Question 5

Level 4 (7-8): Clear, well-supported explanation: analyses how the repeated, secretive alteration of the commandments demonstrates control over historical record and truth, with well-chosen textual reference and clear understanding of context.
Level 3 (5-6): Clear explanation: explains how the changing commandments reflect propaganda and control of information, with relevant textual reference and some understanding of context.
Level 2 (3-4): Some explanation: identifies a relevant point about the changing commandments with some textual reference.
Level 1 (1-2): Simple, limited explanation: makes a simple or general comment with little development.
Indicative content:
- the commandments are always altered at night and always in the pigs' favour, showing that those with power over the farm's records can rewrite the past to suit the present
- the animals' inability to check the wording for themselves, because most cannot read well, means the written law can be changed without effective challenge
- Squealer's explanations after each change train the animals to distrust their own memories rather than the pigs' honesty, a key technique of controlling a population through information rather than force alone
- Orwell allegorises the Soviet state's rewriting of official history and doctored photographs under Stalin, where inconvenient facts and people were removed from the record to preserve the regime's version of events
- by the novel's end the commandments are reduced to a single altered slogan, showing how gradual, incremental changes can eventually erase an original set of principles entirely

Question 6

Level 4 (7-8): Clear, well-supported explanation: analyses specific methods (his use of the guard dogs, the expulsion of Snowball, the executions, his growing personal privilege) with well-chosen textual reference.
Level 3 (5-6): Clear explanation: explains at least two relevant methods with relevant textual reference.
Level 2 (3-4): Some explanation: identifies one relevant method with some textual reference.
Level 1 (1-2): Simple, limited explanation: makes a simple or general comment with little development.
Indicative content:
- Napoleon secretly rears a litter of puppies into a private force of guard dogs, presenting him as someone who builds hidden, personal power rather than open, collective leadership
- his use of these dogs to drive Snowball off the farm, followed by his rewriting of Snowball's role in the Battle of the Cowshed, shows a willingness to eliminate rivals and falsify history to secure his own position
- the forced confessions and executions of animals accused of conspiring with Snowball present him as ruthless and willing to use terror to maintain control
- his gradual accumulation of personal privileges, better food, alcohol, and eventually walking on two legs and trading with neighbouring farms, shows a leader who has abandoned the principles he once claimed to champion

Question 7

Level 4 (7-8): Convincing, well-supported analysis: analyses more than one structural technique (repetition of key events, the cyclical framing, the final scene) and their combined effect on meaning, with precise reference and subject terminology.
Level 3 (5-6): Clear analysis: explains how at least one significant structural technique creates meaning, with relevant reference.
Level 2 (3-4): Some analysis: identifies a relevant structural technique with a generally appropriate comment.
Level 1 (1-2): Simple, limited analysis: makes a simple or general comment on structure with little development.
Indicative content:
- the repeated pattern of battles (the Battle of the Cowshed, then the Battle of the Windmill) mirrors real historical cycles of conflict and shows the farm never truly achieving lasting peace under the pigs' rule
- the repeated destruction and rebuilding of the windmill structurally reinforces the theme of continual sacrifice by the ordinary animals for goals that chiefly benefit the pigs
- the novel's cyclical structure, opening with the animals' rebellion against a single tyrannical master and closing with the pigs behaving exactly like that master, structurally argues that the rebellion has achieved nothing lasting
- the final scene, in which the animals outside the farmhouse window can no longer distinguish pig from human, functions as the structural culmination of every earlier small compromise and betrayal shown across the novel

Question 8

Level 4 (9-10): Convincing, well-structured analysis: tracks Boxer's presentation from his early strength and devotion through to his injury and removal, with judicious textual reference and confident subject terminology.
Level 3 (6-8): Clear analysis: explains at least two stages of Boxer's development with relevant textual reference.
Level 2 (3-5): Some analysis: identifies a relevant stage of Boxer's development with some textual reference.
Level 1 (1-2): Simple, limited analysis: makes a simple, undeveloped point about Boxer with little textual reference.
Indicative content:
- Boxer is presented early on as the farm's most valuable worker, his strength and loyalty directly enabling the rebellion's early successes and the building of the windmill
- as the pigs' demands increase, Boxer's response is always to work harder rather than to question the fairness of what is being asked of him, showing loyalty hardening into self-destructive exploitation
- his collapse from overwork, immediately followed by the pigs' arrangement to have him taken away in a van clearly marked as belonging to a horse slaughterer, exposes the pigs' willingness to discard even their most devoted supporter once he is no longer useful
- Squealer's false explanation of Boxer's fate to the other animals afterwards shows that even his death is exploited and covered up to protect the pigs' authority

Question 9

Level 4 (9-10): Convincing, well-structured analysis: tracks the relationship from equal, collective leadership through growing privilege to full domination, with judicious textual reference and confident terminology.
Level 3 (6-8): Clear analysis: explains at least two stages of the relationship with relevant textual reference.
Level 2 (3-5): Some analysis: identifies a relevant point about the relationship with some textual reference.
Level 1 (1-2): Simple, limited analysis: makes a simple, undeveloped point with little textual reference.
Indicative content:
- immediately after the rebellion, the pigs are presented as natural, accepted organisers because of their intelligence, and the other animals willingly defer to them out of gratitude and practicality
- the pigs' early claim to the milk and windfall apples, justified by Squealer as necessary for their brainwork, marks the first small step from equal leadership towards special privilege
- as the novel progresses, open debate (such as the disagreements between Snowball and Napoleon) disappears entirely, replaced by one-way announcements from the pigs that the other animals are expected to simply accept
- by the novel's end the physical separation is total, with the pigs living in the farmhouse, walking on two legs and socialising with human farmers, while the other animals remain outside, working and undernourished, showing the relationship has inverted the original promise of equality

Question 10

Level 4 (10-12): Convincing, well-structured response: sustained analysis of how power and corruption are presented through several characters/methods across the whole novel, with judicious quotation and confident subject terminology.
Level 3 (7-9): Clear response: explains how power and corruption are presented through at least two characters/methods, with relevant quotation.
Level 2 (4-6): Some response: identifies relevant moments relating to power and corruption with some supporting quotation.
Level 1 (1-3): Simple, limited response: makes a simple, undeveloped point about power and corruption with little or no quotation.
Indicative content:
- the pigs' small early privileges (the milk, the apples, the best of the harvest) establish a pattern in which each new act of self interest is presented by Squealer as necessary rather than corrupt, allowing corruption to grow gradually rather than all at once
- Napoleon's use of the guard dogs to remove Snowball, then to enforce forced confessions and executions, shows physical force replacing persuasion once the pigs' authority is secure enough to no longer need to justify itself
- the repeated alteration of the Seven Commandments shows corruption extending from behaviour into language and law itself, so that the very rules meant to prevent tyranny are used to legitimise it
- the final image of the pigs walking on two legs and becoming indistinguishable from the human farmers they once overthrew presents corruption as total and complete, with power having remade the pigs into the very thing the rebellion was fought against
- the novel allegorises the trajectory of the Russian Revolution, in which an uprising against inequality produced, under Stalin, a new and equally oppressive ruling class

Question 11

Level 4 (10-12): Convincing, well-structured response: sustained analysis of the differences between the pigs and the other animals through several characters/methods, with judicious quotation and confident subject terminology.
Level 3 (7-9): Clear response: explains the differences through at least two characters/methods, with relevant quotation.
Level 2 (4-6): Some response: identifies relevant moments relating to the differences with some supporting quotation.
Level 1 (1-3): Simple, limited response: makes a simple, undeveloped point with little or no quotation.
Indicative content:
- the pigs' superior intelligence and literacy, established from early in the novel, gives them practical control over information and decision making that the other animals cannot independently verify
- Boxer and Clover's hardworking, trusting natures contrast sharply with the pigs' growing self interest, presenting the ordinary animals as loyal to the farm's original ideals even as the pigs abandon them
- Benjamin the donkey's cynical, largely silent awareness of what is happening contrasts with the other animals' willingness to believe Squealer's explanations, suggesting some animals see the truth but feel powerless to change it
- the sheep's mindless repetition of simple slogans, easily redirected by the pigs whenever debate becomes inconvenient, presents a contrast between animals who think for themselves and those who can be used as an unthinking tool of control
- by the novel's end, physical differences (the pigs walking upright, wearing clothes, drinking in the farmhouse) make literal the deeper differences in privilege and power that have grown between the two groups

Question 12

Level 4 (12-15): Convincing, critical response: sustained, perceptive analysis of Squealer's function across the whole novel with judicious quotation and confident terminology; contextual point about allegory integrated fully into the argument.
Level 3 (8-11): Clear, relevant response: explains Squealer's role through several methods with relevant quotation; makes a clear, appropriate contextual point.
Level 2 (4-7): Some, generic response: identifies relevant moments relating to Squealer with some quotation; makes a generic or partly relevant contextual comment.
Level 1 (1-3): Simple, limited response: makes a simple, undeveloped point with little or no quotation; little or no contextual comment.
Indicative content:
- Squealer's fluent, persuasive speech is used repeatedly to reframe each new pig privilege as a necessary sacrifice made for the good of the whole farm, showing language used to disguise self interest as service
- his repeated appeal to the animals' fear of Mr Jones's return functions as a rhetorical trick that closes down debate by presenting any criticism of the pigs as a dangerous step back towards the old tyranny
- his role in altering the Seven Commandments and the animals' shared memory of events shows language being used not only to persuade in the moment but to actually rewrite an agreed historical record
- allegory: writing the novel as a fable about farm animals, rather than a direct account of Soviet history, allowed Orwell to expose the mechanisms of propaganda and betrayal in a form that was accessible, memorable and could avoid the direct censorship or political sensitivity a factual account might have faced
- allegory: the simplicity of the animal fable form mirrors the very simplicity used by Squealer and the regime he represents, so the reader experiences, at a smaller scale, how easily a persuasive, simplified story can be used to obscure a much more complicated and troubling truth

Question 13

Level 4 (12-15): Convincing, critical response: sustained, perceptive analysis of class and inequality across several characters and methods, with judicious quotation and confident terminology; contextual point about the choice of species integrated fully.
Level 3 (8-11): Clear, relevant response: explains how class and inequality are presented through at least two characters/methods, with relevant quotation and a clear contextual point.
Level 2 (4-7): Some, generic response: identifies relevant moments relating to class and inequality with some quotation; makes a generic or partly relevant contextual comment.
Level 1 (1-3): Simple, limited response: makes a simple, undeveloped point with little or no quotation; little or no contextual comment.
Indicative content:
- the growing gap in food, comfort and labour between the pigs and the other animals presents inequality as something that returns in a new form even after the original human owner and his unequal system are removed
- the sheep's repeated, simple chanting represents an easily led, uneducated section of the population, useful to those in power precisely because they do not question what they repeat
- the choice of pigs, widely regarded as intelligent farm animals, to represent the new ruling class allows Orwell to show a takeover justified by genuine ability that is then abused, rather than a takeover based purely on brute force
- Boxer the carthorse's raw strength and unquestioning labour represents the industrial working class, whose immense contribution to production is shown to be exploited rather than fairly rewarded
- the choice of specific animal species allows Orwell to represent broad social and political groups (the intelligentsia, the working class, the easily influenced masses, the old ruling class represented by the humans) in a compact, immediately recognisable form that does not require readers to know detailed Soviet history to follow the argument

Question 14

Level 4 (12-15): Convincing, critical response: sustained, perceptive analysis of the closing scene's narrative and symbolic significance, with judicious quotation and confident terminology; contextual point about 1945 readers integrated fully.
Level 3 (8-11): Clear, relevant response: explains the significance of the closing scene through at least two methods, with relevant quotation and a clear contextual point.
Level 2 (4-7): Some, generic response: identifies relevant features of the ending with some quotation; makes a generic or partly relevant contextual comment.
Level 1 (1-3): Simple, limited response: makes a simple, undeveloped point with little or no quotation; little or no contextual comment.
Indicative content:
- the final scene widens the narrative's focus from the specific fate of one farm to a general statement about how revolutions can end up reproducing the very oppression they set out to destroy
- the animals' inability to distinguish pig from human, watching through a window from outside, positions the reader alongside the excluded, ordinary animals looking in on a betrayal they can see but not prevent
- the visual, physical confusion of pig and human at the end gives literal, symbolic form to an idea developed gradually across the whole novel, that the new rulers have become indistinguishable from the old
- readers in 1945 were living through the final stages of the Second World War and increasingly urgent revelations about Stalin's Soviet Union, a wartime ally whose true nature was only then becoming widely known in Britain, making the ending's warning about betrayed revolutions feel immediate rather than historical
- the novel's initial difficulty finding a publisher, partly because of wartime alliance with the Soviet Union, adds further context to why its clear, damning final image would have felt especially bold and topical on publication

Question 15

Level 4 (16-20): Compelling, critical response: sustained, sophisticated engagement with the statement across the whole novel; judicious, precisely selected quotation including embedded quotation; perceptive analysis of language, form and structure with consistently precise subject terminology; contextual understanding woven fully into the argument.
Level 3 (11-15): Clear, well-structured response: sustained, clear engagement with the statement; well-chosen quotation; explains effects of language and structure with accurate subject terminology; relevant context clearly shown.
Level 2 (6-10): Some, generic response: attempts to engage with the statement with some relevant quotation; comments on language/structure with limited subject terminology; some awareness of context.
Level 1 (1-5): Simple, limited response: simple or narrative response with limited textual reference; simple or no comment on language/structure; little or no awareness of context.
Indicative content:
- agree: Napoleon's steady accumulation of privilege, from the milk and apples through to the guard dogs and executions, shows corruption growing in direct proportion to how secure his power becomes, supporting the statement closely
- agree: the repeated pattern of small, justified compromises (the changed commandments, the broken promises about the windmill's benefits) shows corruption as an almost inevitable, gradual process once one group gains unchecked authority over information as well as force
- agree: the final image of the pigs becoming indistinguishable from the human farmers strongly endorses the statement's claim, since the very group that led the anti-human rebellion ends the novel behaving exactly like the tyranny it replaced
- qualify: the novel could be read as showing not that power inevitably corrupts everyone, but that corruption depends on specific conditions, such as Squealer's control of language and the other animals' limited education, suggesting the statement understates how much the outcome depends on circumstance rather than being simply automatic
- qualify: Snowball's more idealistic, if flawed, leadership before his expulsion, and Benjamin's untainted but passive cynicism, suggest the novel presents individual variation in response to power rather than a single universal law that all power corrupts equally
- context: Orwell's allegory of the Russian Revolution and Stalin's Soviet Union grounds the statement in a specific historical argument about how a revolution promising equality can be betrayed by its own leadership, giving the novel's warning real historical weight beyond a general or abstract claim about power

Question 16

Level 4 (25-30): Compelling, critical evaluation: sustained, sophisticated evaluation of power across the whole novel; judicious, precisely selected references including embedded quotation; perceptive analysis of language, form and structure with consistently precise subject terminology; contextual understanding of 1945 versus modern reception woven seamlessly into the argument.
Level 3 (17-24): Critical, exploratory evaluation: exploratory, critical response with a clear line of argument sustained across the novel; judicious range of references; analyses effects of language, form and structure with precise subject terminology; contextual factors integrated fully where relevant.
Level 2 (9-16): Detailed, well-structured evaluation: consistently clear, detailed evaluation of power; well-chosen range of references; explains effects of language, form and structure with subject terminology used accurately; understanding of relevant context clearly shown.
Level 1 (1-8): Simple or clear evaluation: simple or clear response with some relevant reference; some comment on language/structure with limited or accurate use of subject terminology; some or little awareness of context.
Indicative content:
- the animals' initial expulsion of Mr Jones is presented as a hopeful, collective act of liberation, driven by shared grievance and Old Major's vision, establishing power in the hands of the whole community at the novel's outset
- this collective ownership of power is quickly narrowed as the pigs assume organisational control, justified by their intelligence, showing power beginning to concentrate almost immediately after the old tyranny is removed
- Napoleon's use of the guard dogs to expel Snowball marks a decisive shift from persuasion to force, after which power is maintained increasingly through fear and violence rather than consent
- Squealer's manipulation of language and the repeated alteration of the Seven Commandments show power being secured not only through force but through control of truth and historical memory, a more insidious method that the other animals struggle to resist
- methods: Orwell's simple, fable-like narrative voice, describing atrocities in the same measured tone as everyday farm events, creates an unsettling contrast that highlights the normalisation of abuse of power without needing explicit authorial comment
- methods: the novel's cyclical structure, ending with a scene that visually and thematically echoes its beginning, structurally reinforces the argument that unchecked power tends to reproduce the tyranny it replaces
- evaluation: a reader in 1945, encountering the novel as revelations about Stalin's Soviet Union were only beginning to circulate widely in Britain, was likely to experience the ending as an urgent, topical political warning about a specific and recent betrayal
- evaluation: a modern reader, with fuller historical knowledge of Stalinism already established, may instead read the novel more as a timeless fable about power in general, applying its warning to a wider range of political and institutional contexts rather than one specific historical betrayal
- evaluation, counter-view: despite this shift in emphasis, ongoing modern concerns about propaganda, misinformation and the concentration of power in institutions arguably keep Orwell's core warning as directly resonant for contemporary readers as it was for its original 1945 audience, even if the specific historical trigger is now more distant

Literature: Animal Farm (George Orwell) - Worksheets, Questions and Revision