Allegory in Animal Farm

Allegory in Animal Farm

English 12

Poll

Have you heard of allegory before?

What is Allegory?

• A deeper meaning to a text that is only clear to see/understand with the proper background knowledge

• The story has one meaning when just reading it at the surface level but will have a deeper more significant meaning when readers dig deeper into it

• The underlying meaning is usually religious, political, or some other moral teaching 

The Purpose of Allegories in Writing

The use of allegories help authors get across moral messages, lessons, or even warnings to readers

Multiple Select

Which of the following movies do you think might be allegories?

It's all of them!!

So, I don't want you to be confused so let's clear some thing up

Multiple Select

Which of the following is true regarding allegory and symbolism?

• Allegory is a narrative

• Symbolism is a literary device that adds allegorical meaning to a text

• Symbolism is a literary device

• Allegory is a story/poem which has a deeper meaning, usually a moral or political one

It's all of them; I did it again!

Open Ended

What is the surface level meaning of the story? Just the most basic meaning, not digging deep into the meaning?

Open Ended

Now what is the deeper meaning (allegory) of the story? Think of the lesson that it is trying to get across to audiences.

Allegory in Animal Farm

• On the surface - it is just a story about the animals and what they're doing

• Allegorically - it is about the Russian Revolution. Orwell uses the animals as stand-ins for historical figures. This helps him get across a political message in an interesting and engaging way

Poll

How do you feel about the meaning of allegory now?