Animal Farm Unit

This week we begin our Animal Farm Unit. During this unit we will be learning about a very interesting literary device known as allegory. An allegory is a special kind of story that teaches a lesson by example in a story where the characters, events, and settings represent or symbolize actual people, events, and places in real life.

Animal Farm is one of the greatest allegories of all time. It was written at a time when the world was fighting against tyranny in Asia and Europe. The UK, where the author, George Orwell, is from, was fighting Hitler with the help of the Soviet Union. Ironically, the Soviet Union had a government not unlike Nazi Germany. Both were totalitarian in nature involved in unprecedented violence against their own people. Orwell sought to show the horrors of these political systems and how they damage their people. Animal Farm is very well written. It is told as a fair tale, but its characters are very human in nature.

During this unit we will not only explore what allegory is, we will also learn about Russian history and communism to help provide background for students to better understand the allegory of Animal Farm. At the end of the unit students will be writing their own allegories.

You can find the unit calendar here. Many of the assignments and tasks are actually already posted here on a curriculum website I created this year. Feel free to use both resources as you need. I'm looking forward to another great semester.