Lesson 1

Lesson Goals

Texts

Core

• • Animal Farm, George Orwell, Signet Classics, 2004

• • Excerpts from “Why I Write,” George Orwell, The Orwell Foundation, 1946
  • “What Is Totalitarianism? Definition and Examples,” Robert Longley, ThoughtCo, 2022

Materials

Tools

• Animal Farm: 20th Century Europe K-W-L Chart

• Forming Evidence-Based Claims Tool

• Animal Farm: Reading Schedule

• Animal Farm: Totalitarianism K-W-L Chart

Reference Guides

• Questioning Reference Guide

Question Sets

• Animal Farm: Section 2 Question Set

Editable Google Docs

• Forming Evidence-Based Claims Tool

• Animal Farm: Section 2 Question Set

Activity 1: Write – Discuss

Using a k-w-l chart, we will consider what we may already know about totalitarianism and authoritarianism and what questions we might have about the meaning of these two concepts.

Step 1

Consider what you currently know about two terms that are sometimes associated with governments that attempt to control their citizens:

• totalitarianism

• authoritarianism

Use the provided Totalitarianism K-W-L Chart to set up a research frame for these two related political concepts, using these questions:

Before reading:

1. What do you already know (or think you know) about totalitarianism and authoritarianism?

2. What do you want to know about these two concepts? What questions do you have?

During and after reading:

3. What have you learned about totalitarianism and authoritarianism?

4. In what ways might these two concepts be related to your reading of Animal Farm and your interpretation of its allegorical meaning?

Step 2

On your own, write down your initial responses to the first two questions about what you already know and what you want to know in their respective columns.

With a discussion partner, compare your responses to the two questions. Discuss similarities and differences in your initial thinking. Consider adding information or questions from your partner to your own K-W-L chart.

Activity 2: Read – Discuss

We will read parts of the article “What Is Totalitarianism? Definition And Examples” to examine definitions and information about totalitarianism, and we will record key ideas in our k-w-l charts.

Step 1

As a class, set up a class Totalitarianism K-W-L Chart. Share and record things you have written down in response to the first question:

1. What do you already know (or think you know) about totalitarianism and authoritarianism?

With your responses to the first question as a reference point, now share and record questions you have already generated in response to the second question:

2. What do you want to know about these two concepts? What questions do you have?

Step 2

As directed by your teacher, access the article from ThoughtCo titled “What is Totalitarianism? Definition and Examples”

Start your study of the information in the article by looking at the graphic illustration that it begins with.

As a class, discuss these questions:

1. What is visually depicted in the illustration? What images are used?

2. What might be the symbolic meaning of the images in the illustration?

3. In what ways does the illustration symbolically comment on what its title suggests: “totalitarianism’s control of the press”?

4. Why might a totalitarian government want or need to “control the press”?

Step 3

As a class, read the introductory paragraph, noting the key things you learn about totalitarianism.

Discuss these key elements of totalitarianism, thinking of any examples you are aware of from history or the contemporary world.

On your Totalitarianism K-W-L Chart, record these key elements under the following question:

3. What have you learned about totalitarianism and authoritarianism?

As assigned by your teacher, work with a partner to read and paraphrase one of the four bullets that present “Key Takeaways.”

In the order of the list of takeaways, share and discuss your paraphrases of the key ideas.

Add the additional information you gain to your chart.

Step 4

On your own, read the paragraph under the heading “Totalitarianism Definition,” paying attention to new information you gain about totalitarianism. Add notes to your chart under the following question:

4. What have you learned about totalitarianism and authoritarianism?

As a class, identify questions you have recorded on the class KWL Chart that you may have already found answers for.

Activity 3: Read – Discuss – Write

We will consider the similarities and differences between totalitarian and authoritarian governments. We will discuss how these two concepts relate to the societal and political development of Animal Farm.

Step 1

As a class, read the section titled “Totalitarianism vs. Authoritarianism.” Before reading, note that these two terms are often used synonymously.

Add what you learn about how authoritarianism differs from totalitarianism to your K-W-L chart under the question:

3. What have you learned about totalitarianism and authoritarianism?

Step 2

Now as a class, consider the fourth question from your Totalitarianism K-W-L Chart:

4. In what ways might the two concepts of totalitarianism and authoritarianism be related to your reading of Animal Farm and your interpretation of its allegorical meaning?

Think about the phases of development for the society and government of Animal Farm and discuss what the characteristics of each phase seem to be in terms of “control of the citizens.”

Step 3

As a class, review the list of Animal Farm’s phases, and discuss these questions:

1. Immediately after the rebellion, how would you characterize the vision and governance of Animal Farm?

2. At what point does the governance of Animal Farm become more authoritarian?

3. At what point does the governance of Animal Farm move from authoritarianism to totalitarianism?

4. At the end of the story, how would you characterize the governance of Animal Farm and Napoleon’s control of its “citizens” (the other animals)?

5. In what ways might Animal Farm be seen as an allegory about what happens when governance moves from democratic vision, to authoritarian influence, and finally to totalitarian control?

In your Learning Log, write your own response to the final question about the allegorical meaning of Animal Farm.

Activity 4: Discuss – Read – Write

We will consider and develop a claim in response to the following question: what was Orwell’s motive and purpose in writing Animal Farm? we will read excerpts from Orwell’s essay “Why I Write.”

Step 1

To this point, you have read and analyzed Animal Farm somewhat separately from what its author might have intended in writing the book.

Now consider these questions:

1. What was Orwell’s motive and purpose in writing Animal Farm?

2. How might his reasons for writing the book have been political and connected to the rise of authoritarian and totalitarian governments?

Step 2

In 1946, one year after publishing Animal Farm, George Orwell wrote an essay titled “Why I Write.”

Access and read an excerpt from this essay.

Read the first (topic) sentence of the excerpt from Orwell’s essay and record an initial interpretation of its central idea.

3. What does Orwell say about the “motives for writing”?

Step 3

With a reading partner, read through the next four excerpted paragraphs of the essay, numbered (i) through (iv).

4. How does Orwell characterize the “four great motives for writing”?

Focusing on what Orwell lists as “Political purpose” (iv), read the next three paragraphs, using a Forming Evidence-Based Claims Tool to record and analyze key ideas in response to these questions:

5. What does Orwell say about his view of political writing, totalitarianism, and his political purpose for Animal Farm?

6. In Animal Farm, what might be Orwell’s “sense of injustice” and the “lie I want to expose”?

With your partner, develop a claim about what you now see as Orwell’s “motive” and purpose in writing Animal Farm.

Step 4

As a class, share and compare the claims you have developed after closely reading excerpts from Orwell’s essay “Why I Write.”

Discuss how learning about Orwell’s belief in a “political purpose” for writing has caused you to reconsider the meaning of Animal Farm, and in particular what the message behind its allegory might be.

Activity 5: Read – Discuss – Write

We will discuss an additional quotation from Orwell in which his purpose for writing is further revealed, and we will make a k-w-l chart on 20th-century european history to further understand the context in which Orwell wrote Animal Farm.

Step 1

In an unpublished preface to an edition of Animal Farm, Orwell explains the context in which he wrote the novel. He references events that he experienced in the Spanish Civil War, what he observed happening in Nazi Germany, and the emergence of the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin—all of which happened in the years leading to his writing of the book in 1943.

These experiences, Orwell says:

"taught me how easily totalitarian propaganda can control the opinion of enlightened people in democratic countries."

In light of this quotation, consider this question:

1. Which historical events in Europe leading up to the 1945 publication of Animal Farm taught Orwell about the dangerous influence of totalitarian propaganda?

In a class discussion, brainstorm what you think happened in European history between 1900 and 1945 that might have influenced Orwell’s thinking and writing.

Step 2

Locate a second chart, 20th Century Europe K-W-L Chart, this one focused on European history from 1900 to 1945:

Before reading:

1. What do you already know (or think you know) about European history between 1900 and 1945?

2. What questions do you have about that history and how it might have influenced Orwell’s thinking and writing?

During and after reading:

3. What have you learned about European history between 1900 and 1945?

4. In what ways might that history be related to your reading of Animal Farm and your interpretation of its allegorical meaning?

Using the questions for “Before reading,” note what you already know in the “”What do I know?” column.

Write down questions and observations about impacts on Orwell’s thinking in the “What do I want to know?” column.

After further reading and viewing videos, you will begin to note what you have learned in the third column.

Activity 6: Read – Write

For homework, we will do additional reading from the article “What Is Totalitarianism?” in preparations for the next lesson’s focus on the historical context in which Orwell wrote Animal Farm.

Step 1

Return to the ThoughtCo article “What is Totalitarianism?”

For homework, read through the following sections of the article. Be sure to read each section’s subsections as well.

• “Characteristics of Totalitarianism”

• “History”

As you read through the “Characteristics of Totalitarianism” section, note what you learn about state ideology, control of media, control of economy, and a system of terror in your first Totalitarianism K-W-L Chart.

Think about how each of these characteristics relates to Animal Farm.

Step 2

Read the following three “Modern Examples of Totalitarianism” that are explained: the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin, Italy under Benito Mussolini, and Germany Under Adolph Hitler.

As you learn about these examples and their history in the twentieth century, note important details in your 20th Century Europe K-W-L Chart under the following questions:

3. What have you learned about European history between 1900 and 1945?

4. In what ways might that history be related to your reading of Animal Farm and your interpretation of its allegorical meaning?