Lesson 21: Animal Farm, Chapter VII, Part 2

Remind students that in the previous lesson, Snowball was used as a scapegoat for many of the problems facing Animal Farm.

Turn and Talk

Instruct students to take out their homework from the previous lesson, which was the following: As you finish reading Chapter VII, take notes on the following prompt in your Journal: What feelings come up for the animals throughout the chapter? Why do they still go along with Napoleon in the end?

Have students use a turn and talk discussion to discuss Chapter VII with a partner.

Say these Directions: Turn and talk with a partner about the following question.

• Ask: What feelings come up for the animals throughout the end of this chapter?

  • The animals feel dread and fear. When Napoleon calls them together, he and the dogs “sent shivers down all the animals’ spines.” (p. 82) They seemed “to know in advance that some terrible thing was about to happen.” (p. 82) After the executions, they felt shocked by “the treachery of the animals” and “the cruel retribution” the animals received. (p. 85)

Ask volunteers for one to two responses.

Connection to Today’s Learning

• Say: Yesterday, we focused on how Snowball became a scapegoat and how Orwell uses dramatic irony to create a sense of foreboding. Today, we will analyze one of the most disturbing moments in the novel—the confessions and executions—and the aftermath of that scene.

Cloze Vocabulary

Target Words: abolished, tumult

Introduce Activity

Display or project each sentence and the word bank. Explain that students will complete each sentence, considering their knowledge of the vocabulary and the context of the sentence.

Complete Sentences

Ask students to work in partnerships to complete each sentence.

Word Bank: abolished, tumult, retribution, categorically, countenance, treachery

1. The principal _____ Saturday detention, so students no longer had to come to school on their day off.

2. A great _____ broke out in the cafeteria when someone yelled "Food fight!" and hundreds of students began shouting and jumping on tables.

3. I could tell from my teacher’s disappointed __________ that I had given the wrong solution to the equation.

4. My brother __________ dislikes bitter green vegetables; he wouldn’t eat broccoli if you paid him.

5. When a trusted friend screenshots a private conversation and posts it online, that is one of the worst forms of _________. It’s understandable that a person in that situation might want to seek __________ against that so-called friend.

Answer Key: 1. abolished, 2. tumult, 3. countenance, 4. categorically, 5. treachery, retribution.

Review Responses

Review responses as a whole group and discuss why each word best completes the sentence.

• Why does this word fit?

  • Abolish fits because it is a verb, and the sentence talks about ending something.

  • Tumult fits because it is a noun, and chaotic things are happening in the sentence.

  • Countenance fits because it is a noun, and you look at someone’s face to read their expression.

  • Categorically fits because it’s an adverb that modifies the verb dislikes, and the sentence mentions a category of food.

  • Treachery and retribution are both nouns, so either one could fit in these two blanks. Treachery comes first because it’s about a violation of trust, and retribution is the noun that comes second because it’s about revenge.

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 identifying the correct words helped you to understand the word.

Connection to Today’s Learning

• Say: Understanding these words will help us understand the text more deeply as we annotate today.

Part A: Analyzing Events and Their Impact (RL.8.3) (20 minutes)

Students will close-read particular incidents from the ending of Chapter VII to summarize the event and understand how each event propels action and contributes to the development of a central idea.

Jigsaw Reading

Divide students into small groups and assign each group a particular scene from Chapter VII to analyze:

• pp. 82–84, beginning with “Napoleon stood sternly . . . to confess.”

• pp. 84–85, beginning with “The three hens . . . earlier in the mornings.”

• pp. 86–87, beginning with “The animals huddled about Clover . . . to express them.”

• pp. 87–89, beginning with “At last, feeling this to be . . .” through the end of the chapter.

Say these Directions: Work with your small groups to reread your assigned section from Chapter VII. Your group’s task will be to provide a summary of two to three sentences explaining exactly what happens in the scene. Then, you will discuss why the scene is important, how it impacts the story, what it demonstrates about the characters, and what it adds to the development of a central idea.

Each group will then share this summary of the assigned scene with the rest of the class.

Allow groups 15 minutes to discuss and summarize their assigned reading. Provide each group with the following guiding questions as needed:

• Why were the dogs coming after Boxer? Does Boxer understand what is happening? What does Napoleon learn from this incident?

  • Napoleon has instructed the dogs to attack—as the text says, “three of them flung themselves upon Boxer” (p. 83). Boxer clearly doesn’t realize that he has been targeted by Napoleon. Napoleon learns that Boxer will protect himself but that he trusts Napoleon blindly, as he looks at “Napoleon to know whether he should crush the dog to death or let it go” (p. 83).

• What motivates the animals to confess, and what does Napoleon’s response demonstrate about how the revolution has changed?

  • The animals confess because they are terrified of the dogs and believe they will be killed if they do not admit guilt. Napoleon immediately has them executed, showing that the confessions are not about justice but about controlling the animals through fear.

• What emotions spread through the farm after the executions? How does Clover’s reflection after the executions compare to Old Major’s “picture of the future” for the farm? (p. 86)

  • Fear, guilt, and shock spread across the farm, as the animals are left “shaken and miserable” (p. 84). The animals no longer trust each other because of their “treachery” or feel the freedom to question Napoleon because of his “retribution” (p. 85). These emotions show that the revolution has turned into a system controlled by terror. Clover cannot express her ideas, but she feels deeply that this is not the world she hoped the animals would build after the “overthrow of the human race” (p. 86). She can understand that the revolution has gone horribly wrong but doesn’t have the capacity to effect change

• What does the abolishment of “The Beasts of England” demonstrate about life on the farm post the “Rebellion” (p. 88)?

  • The banishment of the song shows that Napoleon fears any kind of resistance and wants to eliminate any source of solidarity among the animals. As Squealer explains, the “Rebellion” is now complete, and the “traitors” have been stopped (p. 88). Napoleon does not want the animals to look toward the future because he has usurped control and wants to keep them afraid, alone, and suspicious of each other so he can maintain control

Once groups have finished the task, reconvene the class and have each group share its summary and analysis. If time permits, host a question-and-answer period after the presentations.

Part B Identifying Central Ideas in the Novel’s Turning Point (RL.8.2) (10 minutes)

Students will synthesize their understanding of the events and characters in Chapter VII by determining central ideas.

Group Accountability Share

Display the following questions and read them with the class. Then transition students back into their small groups to engage in a Group Accountability Share discussion.

Say these Directions: Discuss the following questions with your group. Be prepared to agree on a response that you can share with the larger class. Additionally, find a compelling quote or idea from Chapter VII that supports your answer.

• From what you have read up to this point, what central idea do you think Orwell develops most strongly? How does Chapter VII bring that central idea to the forefront?

  • From the moment the rebellion begins, Orwell develops the central idea that revolution is fraught. He critiques the revolution by showing the slow decline of its ideals. Setting up the Seven Commandments provides a touchstone for the reader to clearly see how things have gone wrong. The ideals of equality and justice are destroyed, even from the very beginning, when the pigs first take the “milk” and “apples” in Chapter III. Napoleon and his dogs use intimidation throughout to get the animals not to question his ultimate leadership. The executions break the most sacred Commandment as animals kill animals for the first time. In the aftermath, Squealer declares that the “better society” has now been established (p. 88). This declaration, along with Clover’s reflections, shows that the “better society” set forth by Old Major is very different from the one Napoleon and Squealer have established and is not aligned with the original ideals of the revolution.

Lead a whole-class discussion in which one member of each group shares some of the group’s thinking.

Quick Write

Transition to the Quick Write, where students should connect specific events from Chapter VII to the revolution’s original ideals, such as equality, justice, and protection from human cruelty. Remind students to use one clear example from the text. The goal is to check understanding of character actions and themes in this chapter before students move into the following writing lesson.

Have students reflect on the following prompt in writing:

• In two to three sentences, explain how the confessions and executions show the ultimate betrayal of the revolution’s ideals.

  • The executions break perhaps the most important commandment: No animal shall kill another animal. The ideal was for a society marked by equality without fear or threat from humans. Instead, the pigs have assumed control and are now killing animals that confessed not out of honesty but out of fear of “retribution” (p. 85). Perhaps they have created a society that is worse than one run by humans.

Provide students with the writing prompt that they will respond to in the following lesson: What is one moment in Chapters VI or VII that shows the revolution has betrayed its original ideals? What does that moment reveal about how the revolution has changed from its beginning? Instruct students to review their annotations and Journal notes to begin identifying text evidence in response to this prompt.

• Prepare to write a response to the following prompt: What is one moment in Chapters VI or VII that shows the revolution has betrayed its original ideals? What does that moment reveal about how the revolution has changed from its beginning? Review your annotation and Journal notes to begin identifying text evidence in response to this prompt.