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Animal Farm Character Analysis

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Animal Farm Character Analysis

Use the self-contained story brief and evidence cards below. The evidence cards are paraphrases of events in Animal Farm, not quotations. Support your interpretations with details from the cards. For the final response, you may also use your copy of the novel if it is available.

Story brief and evidence cards

Animal Farm is a political allegory set on a farm. After the animals drive out their human owner, they try to build a fair society. The pigs take leadership, but Napoleon gradually gathers control. Squealer uses persuasive explanations to defend the pigs’ decisions. Snowball, another pig leader, is driven away. Boxer, a powerful and loyal horse, works tirelessly and trusts the leadership. Benjamin, a skeptical donkey, notices troubling changes but rarely acts. By the end, the pigs have become difficult to distinguish from the humans they once opposed. Evidence cards (events paraphrased): A. Boxer responds to setbacks by promising to work harder and by trusting that Napoleon knows best. B. Squealer tells the animals that changes to their rules and living conditions are necessary, using confident explanations that make them doubt their own memories. C. Napoleon uses trained dogs to chase Snowball away, then blames Snowball for later problems. D. The pigs gradually claim privileges, while the other animals continue working and receive little benefit. E. When Boxer is injured and can no longer work, the leadership sends him away instead of caring for him; afterward, Squealer gives the animals an explanation designed to quiet their suspicions. F. The ending shows the pigs socializing with humans, while the other animals watch and struggle to tell the groups apart.

Part 1 · Read characters closely

Choose the strongest answer unless a question asks you to explain.

1.Which character’s repeated response most clearly shows how loyalty can become a weakness? Use the character’s name and evidence card A in your explanation.

2.Which pair of evidence cards most strongly shows that the leadership uses both force and persuasion to keep control?

A and D
B and C
C and E
D and F

3.In card B, what is Squealer’s main function in the story?

To preserve the animals’ memories of the original rules
To make the leadership’s decisions sound acceptable and discourage doubt
To organize the animals’ work fairly
To challenge Napoleon’s use of power

4.Match each character to the best description based on the story brief and evidence cards.

Napoleon
Squealer
Boxer
Benjamin

Works hard and trusts the leadership
Uses force and takes increasing control
Notices troubling changes but rarely acts
Uses persuasive explanations to defend the leadership

5.True or false: Card E suggests that Boxer’s usefulness to the leadership affects how he is treated.

TrueFalse

6.Complete the idea: Squealer’s explanations are ironic because he claims to protect the animals’ interests, yet his explanations often help protect .

Part 2 · Build an interpretation

Use details from the evidence cards to explain how character choices shape the story’s message.

7.Compare Boxer and Benjamin. What does each character recognize or fail to recognize about life on the farm? Support your comparison with details from the story brief or evidence cards.

8.Which central theme is most strongly supported by cards D and E? Explain how each card supports your choice.

9.The ending in card F echoes the story’s beginning, when the animals hoped to replace human rule with a fair society. What does this contrast reveal about Napoleon’s development?

10.Write a short character-analysis paragraph answering this question: How does one character’s behavior help reveal a central theme of Animal Farm? Name the character, make a clear claim, use details from at least two evidence cards, and explain how those details support the theme.