Animal Farm: Literary Terms

1. Moral bankruptcy: to do the opposite of what one says he/she will, or when a governmental system does the opposite of what that system is supposed to achieve.

2. Allegory: genre in which the characters and events represent something else. Animal Farm is an allegory.

3. Fable: a story, typically with animals as characters, that conveys a moral.

4. Literal meaning: when something is interpreted exactly as it is presented.

5. Symbolic meaning: when something stands for or is a gesture for another thing.

Communism

• An economic/political system in which all the methods of economic production are owned and controlled by the state for the benefit of all people.

• Each person is supposed to work according to his/her ability and receive benefits according to his/her needs.

• Theory: once all elements of capitalism have been abolished, government would become necessary.

Capitalism

• System where the methods of production and distribution are privately owned and managed for profit.

• Exchange of goods and services takes place through a free market system governed by supply and demand.

• The U.S. and most other countries have modified capitalism by imposing rules and regulations on production.

Socialism

• System in which the most important means of production, as well as the means of distribution of goods and services, are owned by the state and managed for the welfare of society as a whole.

• Ex: natural resources, factories, the banking system, and the markets

• Some European countries and the U.S. have adopted some aspects of socialism.