Lesson 28: Animal Farm, Chapter X

Students reflect on their homework question from the previous lesson about the moment in Chapter X that marks the total abandonment of the ideals that inspired the revolution.

Turn and Talk

Instruct students to take out their homework from the previous lesson:

Say these Directions: Turn to a partner to discuss your annotations in response to the question below.

• What moment marks the total abandonment of the ideals that inspired the Rebellion?

  • When Squealer marches out of the house, walking on two legs, “strolling across the yard,” (p. 133) it becomes apparent that the pigs are now completing their transformation into their human counterparts, which goes against the revolution’s first commandment: “Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy” (p. 24) and shows how the revolution has completely abandoned its original purpose and ideals.

Ask one or two students to share an insight with the class.

Connection to Today’s Learning

• Say: In the final chapter of Animal Farm, Orwell shows how the revolution completes its transformation. We will consider the central ideas conveyed by the event’s outcomes and analyze the trajectory of events that led to the complete abandonment of the revolution’s ideals.

Introduce New Words Using Syllables

Target word: frugally, insoluble

Decode

Display frugally on the board. Then underline the single vowels or vowel-consonant combinations.

• Ask: How many vowels are in this word?

  • three

• Say: There are three syllables in this word. Each syllable will have a vowel sound.

• Ask: What are the three syllables in this word?

  • fru-gal-ly

Have students blend the parts together to form the word frugally.

Meaning Focus

• Say: The word frugally means “simple or costing very little.” In Chapter X, the pigs expect the animals to live frugally.

Show the excerpt from the text:

• “The truest happiness, he said, lay in working hard and living frugally.”

Review

• Ask: Now that you understand the meaning of frugally, why is this expectation of the animals being happy with living frugally meaningful?

  • It shows a gap between what the pigs demand and what they allow for themselves. The animals are told to accept less and call it “happiness,” which helps the pigs keep control.

Decode

Write insoluble on the board. Then underline the single vowels or vowel-consonant combinations.

• Ask: How many vowels are in this word?

  • four

• Say: There are four syllables in this word. Each syllable will have a vowel sound.

• Ask: What are the four syllables in this word?

  • in-sol-u-ble

Have students blend the parts together to form the word insoluble.

Meaning Focus

• Say: The word insoluble means “impossible to solve.” In Chapter X, the animals try to figure out if their lives are any better now than they were at the beginning of the revolution, but they can’t remember.

Show the excerpt from the text:

• “The animals found the problem insoluble; in any case, they had little time for speculating on such things now.”

Review

• Ask: Now that you understand the meaning of insoluble, what factors led to the animals not remembering life under Jones?

  • Many animals cannot read well, the pigs control information, and the rules keep changing, so the animals doubt their own memories and accept the pigs’ version of the past.

Tell students that this vocabulary will be further analyzed in this lesson's text analysis work. Allow students to share their work.

• Ask: Explain to a partner how breaking the words into syllables helped you to understand the word.

  • It helped me pronounce the word correctly, and once I could say it, it was easier to connect it to the definition and the sentence in the chapter.

Connection to Today’s Learning

• Say: These words help us understand the last chapter of the story, where the pigs complete the circle from oppressed to oppressor.

Part A: Targeted Close Reading of Chapter X (RL.8.3, RL.8.6) (15 minutes)

Students reread targeted excerpts from Chapter X while discussing the revolution’s complete transformation.

Close Read and Annotation

Say these Directions: Reread the passages below. Annotate the passages as you reread them, looking for evidence of betrayal of revolutionary ideals, the shift in the animals’ point of view, and the “humanization” of the pigs.

• Excerpt A: Begins with the sentence “It was just after the sheep had returned, on a pleasant evening when the animals had finished work and were making their way back to the farm buildings” and ends with the sentence “Four legs good, two legs BETTER! Four legs good, two legs BETTER!” (pp. 132–134).

• Excerpt B: Begins with the sentence “Benjamin felt a nose nuzzling at his shoulder” and ends with the sentence “They worked diligently, hardly raising their faces from the ground, and not knowing whether to be more frightened of the pigs or the human visitors” (pp. 134–135).

• Excerpt C: Begins with the sentence “Like all of Napoleon’s speeches, it was short and to the point” and ends with the sentence “The creatures outside 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. (pp. 139–141).

Give One, Get One

In a Give One, Get One routine, have students exchange ideas using the following text-dependent questions to guide the discussion.

Say these Directions: Use the Give One, Get One routine to discuss the questions below. When you meet with a partner, discuss one of the questions. Write down your partner’s answer. Then change partners and discuss the next question.

• How have the pigs changed since Chapter II? What is the meaning of this change?

  • At first, the pigs present themselves as intelligent animals who care about the animals and equality by creating “Animalism” (p. 16) and establishing the “Seven Commandments” (p. 24). However, they start to take more control and begin to exploit the animals when they take the “milk and apples” (p. 35). Everything changes when Napoleon ousts Snowball, as he takes total control of all decisions, and the other animals begin to take orders from Napoleon and Squealer. In Chapter IX, the reader understands how deep the corruption has gone with the slaughter and selling of Boxer, but the other animals still believe the propaganda. By Chapter X, the pigs quit hiding their corruption because they have usurped control entirely. They embrace the transformation into “man” by standing upright and carrying whips (p. 141). Power and greed have changed the pigs into the very human rulers they initially rebelled against.

• How does Clover’s and the other animals’ point of view shift in Chapter X? What impact does that shift in point of view have on the story’s meaning?

  • Before Chapter X, Orwell maintains dramatic irony—the pigs and the readers know what is really happening, while the animals have little understanding of their own developing exploitation. In Chapter X, hearing “the terrified neighing” of Clover and reading about her understanding of the change of the commandments shifts the feeling of tension to sorrow and disappointment for her and the other animals (p. 132). They now realize that their revolution for equality and justice is truly over, and they are now under the “whips” of the pigs, as they had been previously under Jones (p. 135).

• What emotion does Orwell leave readers with at the end of the novel? How does this ending further support a central idea of the novel?

  • Orwell leaves readers feeling disturbed, heartbroken for the animals, and alarmed by the depth of the corruption of the pigs. The ending suggests the animals are trapped in a cycle of “hunger, hardship, and disappointment,” as Benjamin reflects on p. 130. The ending of the novel supports the central idea of the revolution’s betrayal of its ideals. The revolution was not able to maintain its ideals of equality, freedom, and justice because of the power and greed of authoritarian leaders like Napoleon.

After students have engaged in three rounds of Give One, Get One (one round for each question), have students volunteer to share insights from their partner discussions.

Provide students with a confidence continuum (i.e., 1–5). As needed, model how to demonstrate a level of confidence using the continuum.

Part B: Analyzing the Conclusion of Animal Farm (RL.8.2, RL.8.3, RL.8.6, L.8.5.a) (15 minutes)

Students engage in a discussion about the conclusion of Animal Farm.

• Say: Chapter X presents the culmination of events in the text and drives home Orwell’s critique of revolution and authoritarianism. Let’s consider how Orwell concludes the novel to have the strongest impact on the animals and the reader.

Before students engage in discussion, provide students with the following literary term and definition.

• Say: As you analyze Chapter X, consider the use of verbal irony. Verbal irony is when a speaker or character says one thing but means the opposite. Verbal irony is often used to elicit humor, emphasis, or sarcasm. For example, if it is storming outside and you say to someone, “Wow, we are having lovely weather,” you are using verbal irony because you don’t actually mean that the weather is lovely.

Provide students with the definition of verbal irony:

• Verbal irony is when a speaker or character says one thing but means another.

Tell students that they will be asked about the use of verbal irony in their continued analysis of Chapter X.

Think-Pair-Share

Say these Directions: With your partner, discuss your reaction to Chapter X using the prompt below:

• What moments stood out to you? Why? What central idea do these moments further develop?

  • Chapter X was kind of expected, given the events leading up to it, but it is still horrifying and powerful. Clover’s alarm at the pigs standing on two legs, the pigs carrying whips, and the scope of the pigs’ corruption and trickery add up to powerful support of the central idea that revolutions can be corrupted when someone assumes total power, and those in power must be constantly questioned and challenged.

Divide students into small groups and have the small groups discuss the text-dependent questions below.

Say these Directions: Work with your small group to discuss the questions below:

• Orwell writes that the animals “never lost . . . their sense of honour and privilege in being members of Animal Farm.” What impact does this description have on Napoleon’s announcement “that the name ‘Animal Farm’ had been abolished” and would now be “Manor Farm,” just like before? (pp. 131 and 140)

  • The description of the animals’ pride in their ownership, however false that sense was, makes the change of the name back to “Manor Farm” the ultimate betrayal. One of the only beliefs that kept the animals going was their pride in their animal ownership and the “hope” that life would change for them (p. 131). Placing the description of the animals’ feelings and beliefs right before Napoleon’s announcement makes it clear that Napoleon is ultimately stealing their agency and hope for the revolution’s ideals.

• How is the new commandment: “ALL ANIMALS ARE EQUAL BUT SOME ANIMALS ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS” an example of verbal irony, and what is intended by this new commandment (p. 134)?

  • Verbal irony occurs when someone says something but means the opposite. By changing the original commandments to this one commandment, Napoleon is literally changing the original, foundational ideals of Animalism. Some animals cannot be more equal than others because that is not how equality works. Through this change in the commandments, Napoleon means that the pigs have control, and there is total inequality now.

• At the dinner, Pilkington notes, “The lower animals . . . did more work and received less food than any animals in the county. Indeed, he and his fellow visitors . . . intended to introduce [these practices] on their own farms” (p. 137). What warning is Orwell giving about the outcome of the revolution with Pilkington’s speech?

  • Instead of Animal Farm’s goal being to make every animal equal, it has completely changed to exploiting every animal to the utmost degree. This change, and Pilkington’s declaration of the other farms taking up the same practices, sends a warning that revolutions that end up with authoritarian leaders can make life much worse for workers and citizens.

• Reread the last two paragraphs of the chapter. From whose point of view are the quarrel and the observations described? Why do you think that Orwell ends the book this way?

  • The quarrel and the observations are presented from the animals’ point of view, watching through the farmhouse window and evaluating what is going on with the pigs and the humans. Orwell ends the book this way because the most important perspective in the novel is from those who are exploited and marginalized by authoritarian leaders. It grounds the reader in the disappointment and shock of the animals and highlights their lack of agency in the situation. This serves as a strong warning of what can come of allowing a small group to assume total control.

When small groups finish their discussions, reconvene the class and have a volunteer from each group present the group’s response. If time allows, invite the class to share their ideas in response.

Quick Write

Have students reflect on the following prompt and write a two-to-three-sentence response using the Quick Write routine.

Say these Directions: Write two to three sentences answering the following question:

• How does the ending of Animal Farm answer Essential Question 2: Why do some revolutions end up betraying their own ideals?

  • The ending suggests revolutions can betray ideals when a small group gains control of the rules and information. Throughout the novel, the pigs slowly change the Seven Commandments to suit their own needs. In Chapter X, the pigs paint over the commandments and leave only a slogan that sets them up as “more equal than others.” This erasure of revolutionary ideals shows that betrayal can happen gradually as people stop being able to challenge those in power.

Have two to three students share their answers with the class.

Instruct students to reread a scene in Animal Farm that they believe had the most impact on them. Instruct students to take notes in their Journal on the following prompt: What visuals or imagery did this scene have that made an impact on you? How would you produce it if you were to make a movie of Animal Farm?

Reread a scene in Animal Farm that had the most impact on you. As you reread, write two to three sentences in your Journal, answering the following question:

• What visuals or imagery did this scene have that made an impact on you? How would you produce it if you were to make a movie of Animal Farm?