Fairy Tales, Fables, and Animal Farm

Fairy Tales• Also known as a fairy

story—written to entertain audience

• A story of adventure involving fantastic forces and beings

• Snow White is an example

• Some call Animal Farm a fairy story, but it is much more than that

Fables• One of the oldest literary forms—

much older than fairy tales, novels, or short stories

• A brief story that teaches a moral or lesson

• Stories usually have animal characters with human qualities

• Aesop is the most famous fable writer of all time

• He was born in about 620 B.C. and wrote over 600 fables

• For example--“The Tortoise and the Hare”; “The Boy Who Cried Wolf”

• Animal Farm is an example of a fable because it teaches a moral and has animals with human traits

Satire

• Writing that ridicules (or makes fun of) human weakness in order to bring about reform or change

• George Orwell intended Animal Farm to be true satire

• Why? He wanted to expose the murderous truth about Russia’s soviet system so it would change

Symbolism

• Something that represents something else

• For example, a heart symbolizes love

• This novel is full of symbols: Animals symbolize humans from Russian/American history, even the flag and song mentioned in the story symbolize something

Irony• A contrast between what we

expect and what really happens

• Dramatic irony is found throughout this novel—the reader knows what characters in the story don’t know

• This may frustrate you as you read

• Just remember many Russians had no idea what horrible deeds their government/ leaders were doing to them

Allegory• A story that has multiple

levels of meaning and many symbols

• The song “American Pie” is an allegory

• On the surface this novel is about animals on a farm

• On another level, however, these animals represent real people or ideas

• Level One

• Level Two

• Level Three