Lesson video

Hello, and welcome back to our lessons on "Animal Farm".

We are now on lesson three.

So we've learned loads about George Orwell and what he wrote, as well as why he wrote.

And in this lesson, we're going to be looking at something called allegory.

Now, if you've never heard of that word before, please don't worry, not a lot of people have.

And we'll start off by exploring the word before we then go on to look at the Russian Revolution and "Animal Farm" as an allegory.

Now, before we get started, it's really important that you are able to concentrate for the lesson.

So take your time and find somewhere comfortable, preferably somewhere quiet.

But if that's not possible, then just somewhere that you know you'll be able to focus for the lesson is fine.

And then when you're ready, we will get started.

Now you found yourself a quiet space or somewhere you can concentrate, you just need to make sure you've got something to write with and something to write on.

And as soon as you've got those things ready, we can get started with the lesson.

Here is our plan for the lesson.

We'll start off with a recap as always.

It's very important that when we learn new things, we have old things that we already know that we can hook the new things onto.

So that helps us learn.

And that's why we'll start off with the recap before we continue learning new things.

We're then going to have a look at what an allegory is.

Now, I know the word might be something you've never heard before, and that's fine.

So we're going to have a look at what an allegory is and then we're going to go through some examples of allegories, and that will give us a really good opportunity to truly understand what is an allegory.

So we will go through that slowly and we'll take our time, make sure we really understand it.

And then we get onto a super-duper interesting part of the Russian Revolution and "Animal Farm".

So, super interesting.

I'm really excited for us to learn about it today.

And then you'll finish off with the quiz which is where you get to reflect on everything you've learned and prepare for the next lesson together.

So here's our recap question.

You are going to answer the question, how did Orwell's life influence his writing? You have three options.

First pink box, Orwell had experienced colonisation in India and the inequality in society caused by leaders abusing their power.

Second box, Orwell had been very poor in his life and bullied by others.

And the third box, Orwell had been a policeman and wanted to make sure everyone followed the law.

So you can take your time now, pause the video here, read through those options independently.

And then when you've made a decision, press play and we'll have a look at the answers together.

Okay, so if you had chosen box number one, Orwell had experienced colonisation in India, you will be 100% correct.

So please give yourselves a big pat on the back.

Orwell's life influenced his writing because he had experienced colonisation, inequality.

He had seen leaders around the world abuse their power and treat ordinary people badly.

And all of these experiences influenced his own writing.

If you chose box number two, yes, you remembered that he was poor, so well done for that.

However, that wasn't really a huge influence on his writing.

He wasn't so much focused on himself as the effect on the entire world and society in general.

And then finally, Orwell had been a policeman and wanted to make sure everyone followed the law.

Yes, he had been a policeman, however, his writing wasn't about the law and right and wrong.

It was about the inequality and the abuse of power.

So number one was the correct answer.

Now we have this wonderful new word, allegory.

So repeat it after me.

Allegory.

Let's do that once more.

Allegory.

Okay, I think you guys have got it.

Allegory is a noun and an allegory is a story, poem or picture that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning.

So it doesn't have to be a piece of writing, it can be a picture.

And when it's writing, it can be a story or a poem.

And an allegory is something that when we look deeper into it and we think about it some more, we can actually see that there's a hidden meaning inside that story, poem or picture.

And the hidden meaning that we can find is usually a political hidden meaning, so a message about politics, or a moral one, so a message about how people should and shouldn't behave.

So here's some examples of allegory in a sentence.

Number one, "Animal Farm" is perhaps the best political allegory ever written.

So that's super high praise, the best political allegory.

And we get to study it, which is really cool.

Number two, a fable or parable can be called a short allegory.

So a fable or a parable, you may have studied these in school.

They are stories with little messages in with a moral attached to them, with a message about how you should behave.

So they are a allegories, but they're usually a lot shorter, so they get called a fable or a parable.

And then number three, an allegory has a hidden meaning to be discovered.

So it's a really nice way to think about it that the hidden meaning has been put there by the creator of the story or the poem or the picture and it's just waiting to be discovered and we get to do that.

So an allegory is a story, poem or picture that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning.

Now let's see if you remember that.

What is an allegory? I would like you to select either option A or B or C with the correct answer.

So press pause, have a read through the three different options.

And then when you're ready with the correct answer, press play and we'll have a look at the answers together.

Good luck.

Okay, so hopefully you managed to select option C.

Option C, an allegory can be a story, poem or picture with a hidden meaning.

On the surface, it means one thing but it can also be interpreted as having another meaning or message.

So like we said, you have the surface and then we can go deeper and we get to discover this other meaning or other message.

If you chose option A, yes, an allegory can be a story with a moral but it doesn't necessarily have to have a moral.

So it might have a hidden meaning that's political or it might simply just have a hidden meaning.

It doesn't need to be a moral.

And then option B, an allegory is a story or poem which is written for a political purpose.

Again, sometimes can be political, but not always.

And if you remember, an allegory can also be a picture, it doesn't have to be a piece of writing.

So option C is correct.

So as promised, here is an example of an allegory.

It's very difficult to understand them properly without seeing a real one.

So we are going to look at the story of "The Hare and the Tortoise".

Now, some of you might have heard this before, in fact, I'm sure a lot of you have, but it might be quite interesting for you to now hear it, now you understand what an allegory is.

So I will read it through as you follow along.

If you would prefer to read it for yourselves, just skip past me reading it out loud and you can read it for yourself and then we'll move on together on the next slide.

So, "The Hare and the Tortoise".

A hare was making fun of a tortoise one day for being so slow.

The tortoise challenged the hare to a race.

The hare found this very funny and agreed immediately.

The hare was out of sight very quickly.

To try and make the tortoise feel silly for challenging him, the hare decided to rest and have a nap in the middle of the race.

The tortoise was slow and steady and eventually passed the hare taking a nap.

When the hare eventually woke up, he could not catch up and the tortoise won.

So what do we think the hidden message in the allegory is there? On the surface, we have a story about a hare and a tortoise having a race.

That is the surface message of the story.

However, what do you think might be the hidden message? What might we be being told or warned or informed about using that story? As you can see on the screen in front of you, I have given you a few words broken up with forward slashes.

Now I want you to take the words and create a sentence, making sure those words are included.

I've done the first one for you.

So in number one, you can see I gave you the words hare, represents, laziness and arrogance.

And I created a sentence which is as follows: the hare in the story represents laziness and arrogance and how they can affect you negatively.

So my argument with that, number one, is that the hare in the story is a hare on the surface, but actually the hidden message from the hare is that if you are lazy and you're arrogant, then actually you might end up losing out and it's not a good thing to be.

So I would like you now to have a go at writing two more sentences using the selection of words I've given you for number two and for number three.

On number two, you can see a word at the end there, perseverance.

If you already know what that means, press pause, start writing your sentences and press play when you're ready.

If you do not know what perseverance means, just hold on 'cause I'm about to tell you.

So perseverance means sticking with something.

If you persevere with something, you keep going even if it's really difficult.

And perseverance is a really positive skill to have.

If you are able to keep going and keep sticking with something even though it's difficult, you have perseverance.

So now you know what the words mean, pause the video, have a go at writing a sentence for questions two and three, and then press play when you're ready to have a look at some answers.

Good luck.

All right, here we go.

Let's have a look at what answers people have found.

Now, if your answers do not match mine exactly, please don't think that means yours are incorrect.

That is not necessarily the case.

As long as you have included the words that I've given you and what you have written is kind of the same thing as what we're talking about, then you are absolutely fine.

So please don't worry if they're not exactly the same.

For number two, a possible answer would be the tortoise represents hard work and perseverance and how these qualities will pay off in the end.

So on the surface, we have a tortoise who's really, really slow but ends up winning the race anyway.

And then the deeper, the hidden meaning, the allegory of it is that the tortoise is showing us, it's giving us the message that if you work really hard and persevere, it will pay off in the end and you will win in the end.

So that's our allegory.

And then finally for number three, the race in the story represents life itself.

The story is literally, so on the surface, literally, about a race, but the hidden message suggests life is about hard work and perseverance.

So again, you can see the allegory, that the race in the story, yep, okay, on the surface it's just a race, but when we discover more and we find out more about that hidden message, it's telling us that that race is real life.

And if you work hard and you persevere at real life, then you will win at the end just like the tortoise did.

So if you managed to get both of those correct, you should give yourself a massive round of applause, a pat on the back, a huge smile, because that's really impressive work, well done.

And if you didn't quite manage it, please do feel free to rewind the video and read the story again.

Now that you've got these answers, it might help you to just read the story once more and give yourself time to think about it.

So it's up to you, we can either move on together or if you need to, just rewind and have another go.

So we're moving on to "Animal Farm".

"Animal Farm" is an allegory.

That is a fact that you need to know.

"Animal Farm" is an allegory.

So repeat after me, "Animal Farm" is an allegory.

Bit louder.

"Animal Farm" is an allegory.

Okay, brilliant.

So the literal meaning, so the surface meaning, the first thing we notice, the literal meaning is the story of a group of animals on a farm.

Simple as that.

It's called "Animal Farm" and we read about lots of animals who live on a farm.

But it also has a deeper meaning.

And this deeper meaning that we're going to discover is about a group of Russians from the start of the 20th century.

So we're going back in time a little bit and we're starting to think about a different part of the world, a different time as well.

And we're going to transport ourselves back to the early 20th century in Russia.

And before we do that, we need to learn another new word.

And the new word is rebellion.

So repeat that after me nice and loud, rebellion.

Good.

It's a really fun word to say, so say it as much as you want, rebellion.

Now, a rebellion, that's a noun and a rebellion is the act of resisting authority or control.

So what that means is if you actively resist or fight against authority and control, so you will not allow someone to tell you what to do or control you.

Number one, the poor people rose up in rebellion.

Number two, the rebellion happened after years of violence and control.

So this has happened in a few places where there has been a totalitarian government and they've been controlling people with violence and then a group of people get together and they start a rebellion.

They resist, they fight back against that control and that authority.

And then number three, the society started a rebellion because they were not free.

So again, that would be an example of a totalitarian society deciding no, we've had enough, we want our liberty, so we are going to start a rebellion.

So, the Russian Revolution.

In 19th century Russia, there was a ruler called Tsar Nicholas II.

Now, he was like a king.

They didn't have the word king in Russia, so they called him a Tsar.

Tsar Nicholas II, and he was in charge of Russia.

Russian people began to protest against this system.

So they didn't like this because he had too much control.

So society was really unequal at the time.

Tsar Nicholas II would decide what happened and there was a very, very big divide between the people with lots and the people with nothing.

And the Russian people who began to protest against this called themselves Communists.

So just say that out loud for me, Communists.

Okay, good.

And the Communists believed that everyone should work the same amount and then get the same amount of money and food.

So they believed in making everything equal.

If everyone works the same amount, then everyone should get the same money and the same food.

So in 1917, it's an important date you'll need to remember, so you might want to note that down.

In 1917 there was a rebellion against the Tsar.

So the Communists started a rebellion against the Tsar.

And the Communists gained control in 1918.

And the two people in charge were someone called Stalin and someone called Trotsky.

So we had Tsar Nicholas II, unequal society, Communists getting together and saying, we're not taking this anymore.

And in 1917, there was a rebellion.

1918, Stalin and Trotsky gained control and they were now in charge of Russia.

However, Stalin and Trotsky disagreed with how the country should be run.

So even though they had managed to rebel against the Tsar and take over Russia, these two Communists, Stalin and Trotsky, now disagreed with how the country should be ran.

They had different ideas and different opinions.

So the outcome of the Russian Revolution then was that the Russian people were not treated any better under Communist rule.

So even though there had been a rebellion, Tsar Nicholas II had been defeated and we had Stalin and Trotsky in power, the Communist rule which told them that they should all be equal, did not treat these Russian people any better.

They still weren't allowed to choose who was in charge of them and they still weren't allowed to speak their own mind.

So how do you think Orwell would have felt about this? Knowing what we know about Orwell and his opinions on liberty and colonisation and inequality in society, how do you think he would have felt about the Communists gaining power but then not actually changing anything and not actually allowing ordinary people in society to be able to make decisions or speak their minds? Now, I've put three ideas on the screen for you.

So totalitarianism, inequality and liberty.

These are some words to help you think of an answer.

So I want you to think about the question, how do you think Orwell would have felt about this, but then I would like you to use those words on the screen to help you form an answer.

So pause the video here, take some time to think and then just write down your initial thoughts.

So the first thoughts that come to your head with this question, write down your answer.

And then when you're ready, press play.

Okay, here is a little bit more support if you would like it.

So whatever your answer is at the moment and I'm sure it's brilliant, we are now going to expand on that and improve it and upgrade your answer.

So there's a couple of pictures on the screen.

Orwell would have been, and those pictures are showing someone punching through something.

Now, if you punch through something, hopefully you don't do it, but if someone does do it or feels the need to do it, they're probably feeling frustrated, yeah? Frustrated or angry.

And then you can see the picture of the man with his head in his hands.

Again, frustrated, angry, maybe even really sad.

When people are really sad, they can sometimes do things like punching, okay? So all of these emotions, sadness, anger, frustration, I think that's how Orwell would have felt.

And then we need to think about why he felt like it.

So why would he have felt frustrated and angry and sad? Think about what we've spoken about with him growing up India and seeing people under British rule, living amongst homeless people and seeing how differently people are treated.

So now you've got all of that information, as well as the words from the previous screen, I want you to have another go at either rewriting your answer or improving and upgrading your answer.

If you're really struggling with this, there are a couple of sentences on the screen in front of you and you can use those to help you form your answer.

So pause the video again here, and then when you're ready, press play and we'll have a look at some answers together.

Good luck.

Okay, how did you do? I'd love to see some of your answers but unfortunately that's not possible.

So what we will do instead is give you some possible answers.

If you have something similar to this, then wonderful.

You can give them giant ticks on your paper.

If you're not quite sure about it, maybe ask someone who you think might be able to help you and see what they think.

Share it with a friend, see what they've written down.

But for now, let's have a look at the possible answers.

So number one, he would have been angry at the totalitarian Communists.

So even though they were Communists and they believed in everyone sharing and being equal, actually they were still totalitarian because they told the people what to do.

They didn't let people choose, and he would have been angry about that.

He would have been sympathetic towards Russian people who had no liberty even after a rebellion.

So instead of thinking about how he felt towards the Communists, you might have taken time and thought, hmm, how would Orwell have felt about the Russian people? And he would definitely have been sympathetic.

He would have felt concerned for them because they'd had a rebellion but they still didn't have liberty.

And then finally, he would have been frustrated at the Communists because their ideas were good but in reality, there was still inequality in society.

So just imagine, these Communists were saying all of this amazing stuff, yes, everyone should be equal and share and George Orwell would have loved that.

He would have said, yes, great idea.

And then they gained control and society is unequal still.

So for George Orwell, he has seen people act on his belief that he agrees with but then the outcome is really disappointing.

So that's how Orwell would have felt about this.

But as I say, if you've got something slightly different, don't worry, see how closely you've got to these answers.

And if you want to note any of these answers down, just pause the video here and then press play when you want to carry on.

So let's just recap, why is "Animal Farm" an allegory? Option A, "Animal Farm" is an allegory because it has a moral.

Option B, "Animal Farm" is an allegory because it represents the events and people involved in the Russian Revolution of 1917.

Or option C, "Animal Farm" is an allegory because it has animals included in the story.

Take your time.

If you want to have a look through your notes to help you, that's fine.

But pause the video, choose your answer carefully and then press play when you're ready to go.

Okay, how did you do? Hopefully most of you opted for option B.

It's an allegory because it represents the events and people involved in the Russian Revolution of 1917.

So if you went for option A, although there is a warning to "Animal Farm" from George Orwell, it's not necessarily a moral, okay? And there's a lot more to it.

It's not as simple as the fact that the story has a moral.

And if you chose option C, yes, it has animals, but that's not a requirement for an allegory.

So that wouldn't quite be correct.

Hopefully you all went for option B anyway, in which case, a huge well done.

That's our lesson complete for today.

Thank you so much for all of your hard work.

If your parent or carer would like to share any of your work on social media, the tags and the Twitter handle is on the screen for you now.

Alternatively, you can share it with friends, family, teachers.

We love to see work that people are doing outside of school.

Have a lovely day, and I'm looking forward to seeing you for our next lesson.

Well done.