Literature: Animal Farm (George Orwell)
Animal Farm is George Orwell's 1945 political allegory, a GCSE English Literature modern prose set text in which farm animals overthrow their farmer only to fall under the tyranny of the pigs, particularly Napoleon, satirising the Russian Revolution and the rise of Stalinism. Exam questions give a printed extract and ask how Orwell presents a character or theme in that extract and across the whole novel, testing knowledge of the text, analysis of his language, structure and fable form, and understanding of its political and historical context.
Before you start
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Method
- Read the printed extract closely, annotating Orwell's use of animal characters, dialogue and narrative voice before planning your answer.
- Identify two or three techniques with a clear, explainable effect, such as symbolism, irony or the fable form, rather than simply listing quotations.
- Move outward from the extract to the whole novel, choosing moments that develop or contrast with what the extract shows, such as an earlier or later stage of Napoleon's rise to power.
- Link analysis to the novel's allegory of the Russian Revolution and Stalinism, such as the Seven Commandments or the figure of Squealer, where it genuinely deepens the point.
- Use precise subject terminology, such as allegory, satire, anthropomorphism and dramatic irony, accurately rather than for decoration.
- Plan a clear structure, with an introduction stating your line of argument, points moving through the extract then the novel, and a brief conclusion, before you start writing.
Worked example
Late in the novel, the other animals watch through the farmhouse window and 'looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.' Explain how this line presents the theme of corruption.
- Identify the technique: the repeated, circling syntax 'from pig to man, and from man to pig' mimics the animals' own confused, repeated looking, slowing the sentence down at the moment of realisation.
- Note the final clause 'impossible to say which was which': the pigs and the humans they once rebelled against have become visually and morally indistinguishable.
- Explain the effect: this collapses the very distinction the revolution was fought to create, showing that power has corrupted the pigs as completely as it corrupted Farmer Jones.
- Link to the wider novel: this final image completes a pattern begun when the pigs first moved into the farmhouse and altered the Seven Commandments, each change chipping away at the original ideals of Animalism.
- Link to context: Orwell is satirising how the Soviet leadership, who overthrew the Tsar in the name of equality, came to resemble the old ruling class it replaced.
- Final answer: the line presents corruption as total and cyclical, using confused, mirroring syntax and a final admission of indistinguishability to show that the pigs' revolution has ended exactly where it began.
Practice questions
Type your answer and press Check to be marked straight away, or reveal the answer and mark yourself.
Q1Which pig first proposes the rebellion in his speech at the start of the novel?Show answer
Answer: Old Major.
Q2Name the two pigs who compete for leadership after the rebellion, before one is driven out.Show answer
Answer: Napoleon and Snowball.
Q3Identify the technique in the altered commandment 'All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.'Show answer
Answer: Paradox/irony - the phrase contradicts itself, exposing the pigs' hypocrisy.
Q4What happens to Boxer the horse after he collapses from overwork?Show answer
Answer: He is sold to a knacker (horse slaughterer), though the pigs claim he was sent to a vet.
Q5True or false: the windmill is built successfully on the first attempt.Show answer
Answer: False - it is destroyed, first blamed on a storm and then on Snowball as a scapegoat, and has to be rebuilt.
Q6Give one piece of evidence that Squealer manipulates the other animals with language.Show answer
Answer: He repeatedly reassures them with phrases like 'Napoleon is always right' and revises the commandments while insisting nothing has changed.
Exam-style questions
Written in the style of a English exam paper, with a full mark scheme.
State four ways the pigs set themselves apart from the other animals as the novel progresses.
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Tick each line you got. Your score builds from the marks on the scheme.
Nothing ticked yet - 4 available
Explain how Orwell presents the corruption of the pigs in the line from the worked example above: 'looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.'
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Tick each line you got. Your score builds from the marks on the scheme.
Nothing ticked yet - 6 available
'Squealer is more dangerous to the other animals than Napoleon.' To what extent do you agree?
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Tick each line you got. Your score builds from the marks on the scheme.
Nothing ticked yet - 5 available
See real English past-paper questions, with official mark schemes →
Free printable worksheet
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