Themes, Ideas and Messages GapFill

The following quiz relates to Assessment Objectives 1 and 3 (AO1 and AO3).

As Animal Farm is an allegory about the consequences of the Russian Revolution of 1917, a central theme is political   corruptionunificationincompetencedevolution. The narrative reveals how the   anarchicdemocraticautocraticCommunist ideals of Old Major and Snowball are undermined in stages. This begins with the pigs taking the role of   venture capitalistsmanagersspokespersonseducators in creating the principles of   CommunismAnimalismCapitalismCalvinism based upon Old Major's speech and explaining these to the other animals. The pigs' belief that they should run the farm's affairs is the first breach of the principle of   equalitysocietyrelativityindustry that was used to justify Animalism and its Seven Commandments. When Snowball and Napoleon become political rivals, that principle is breached further, and after Snowball is exiled, Napoleon relies on   honestypropagandarabble-rousingbribery to keep the other animals onside. In presenting this process, Orwell addresses the theme of   autocracygeneticshistorysocial class, and the way in which people tend to allow themselves to fall into unequal power relationships, here specifically that of the workers versus the   managersmilitaryintelligentsiaidle rich. The loyalty of the animals to their exploitative masters, the pigs, is demonstrated to be largely due to their lack of   educationbraveryindustrycynicism, and the novella's major theme in this regard is the power of   languageexampleself-confidenceoratory. The pigs are able to manipulate language to serve their revised goals, such as with the constant revision to the commandments and the replacement of the revolutionary anthem 'Beasts of England' with the   sycophanticpatrioticemotiverepetitive song of praise to Napoleon entitled 'Comrade Napoleon'. In justifying the revisions to the commandments, the pigs use the technique of   brainwashinggaslightinghypnosisreverse psychology to convince the likes of Clover and Boxer that any changes are the products of their imagination. Snowball's role as a   mercenarytraitorterroristspy and the lie about Boxer's fate are just two examples of this technique in action, whereby the animals/masses are controlled by being kept ill-informed, and they are methodically stripped of their rights and freedom. The inevitable result of this process, Orwell argues, is a   insulatedtotalitariandisinteresteddysfunctional form of government capable of oppressing the masses and rewriting  instructionscommandmentsruleshistory at will .