Political context and themes

Propaganda
● Is used by Napoleon to influence the animals into labour
● The character Snowball represents the biased newspaper in Russia at the time,
which helped Stalin (Napoleon) improve his public image
● The use of the political ideology, ‘Marxist-Leninist’

Historic Symbolism
● When Napoleon calls the animals who have ‘crimed’ (whether it is communicating
with Snowball or disagreeing with his opinions), he publicly shames and kills them.
This has connotations to ‘Bloody Sunday’ which happened during the Russian
Revolution and is an act where citizens have killed brutality for having their own
opinions.

Community
● With chants like ‘Agreed!’, it’s impossible to feel a sense of community throughout the
play
● The sense of community is truly shown when Snowball thanks them for their
contribution to the farm.

Corruption
● Caused by Napoleon, suffered by lower-class animals
● Abuse of entitled power
● By the end of the play, the seven commandments turn into one commandment; ‘All
animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others’.
● Towards the end of the play, the animals seem to run out of food and therefore
causing the leading pigs to trade with the humans.

Manipulation
● The use of manipulation is shown during the section where Napoleon accuses
Snowball of committing certain deeds such as mixing weed with the crops, stealing
the hens’ eggs as well as the cows’ milk.

THE HISTORICAL, SOCIAL & POLITICAL CONTEXT

When and where is the playset?

Understanding this will help you to understand the language used and how the characters
relate to each other.

What is the social situation of the characters?

You will HAVE to do some research around these aspects