SA1 lit paper answers
(a) Referring closely to the above extract, what can we learn about the character of Boxer? Justify your answer by providing evidence from the extract.
- he is extremely hardworking – “After his hoof had healed up, Boxer worked harder than ever”
- he is very loyal and devoted to the farm (even naively/foolishly so) - “Sometimes, the long hours on insufficient food were hard to bear, but Boxer never faltered”. Despite being exhausted, and having no voice left, he still tells himself “‘I will work harder’.”
- Determined to work as hard as he can – “In nothing that he said or did was there any sign that his strength was not what it had been”. He does not wish to appear to be weak, and wants to contribute as much as he can.
- He is very self-motivated – “Sometimes on the slope leading to the top of the quarry, when he braced his muscles against the weight of some vast boulder, it seemed that nothing kept him on his feet except the will to continue”.
- Boxer is very selfless, and he takes it upon himself to gather as much stone as needed to build the windmill for the farm despite his failing health – “Clover and Benjamin warned him to take care of his health, of but Boxer paid no attention. His twelfth birthday was approaching. He did not care what happened so long as a good store of stone was accumulated before he went on pension.”
(b) ‘Indeed, all the animals worked like slaves that year.’
(i) Using your knowledge of what you have covered in Animal Farm so far, describe the kinds of conditions under which the animals worked.
- the winters were harsh, and the animals did not have a lot of food – “They were always cold, and usually hungry as well”, “Starvation seemed to stare them in the face.”
- The food rations of the animals were cut more and more, but the pigs somehow seemed to have enough food and were growing fatter.
- the work was very demanding à e.g. it was a slow, laborious process building the windmill because they had to drag a single boulder up the quarry and let it roll down so that it would break using the force of gravity.
- Boxer especially, started waking up earlier in the morning to do additional work.
- The animals worked under an unfair division of labour, with the pigs only directing and supervising them, while the rest had to engage in heavy physical labour.
- The allocation of food was unfair as well, as the pigs kept all the milk and apples and did not share them with the other animals.
- The hens were forced to sacrifice their eggs to be traded for food items needed for the farm.
- Any animal that plots against or voices displeasure against Napoleon was publicly executed by his dogs à leaves the animals in shock and fear.
(ii) What motivated the animals to work in such conditions?
- Even though they work long hours and do not have much to eat, they believe that what they did was for the benefit of themselves and for those of their kind who would come after them, rather than for humans, who consumed without producing.
- they only have to feed themselves, not humans.
- They are motivated by the idea of a future in which all animals are free from hunger and torture, in which they can work according to their capacity (Old Major’s speech)
- They knew that the outside world, and the humans were watching them, and that they would want the animals to fail. This motivates the animals to work hard so that they would not give the humans a chance to celebrate at their failure.
- many of them cannot remember what life like was under Jones, so they cannot compare and fail to realize that their lives are worse.
- They believe that they were slaves under Jones, but have freedom now.
- they fail to realize that they are being exploited by Napoleon and the pigs now, just as how Jones used to oppress and exploit them – “But doubtless it had been worse in the old days. They were glad to believe so.”
2. Essay Question [25 marks]
‘Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely’. With reference to what you have covered in Animal Farm so far, discuss the theme of power, by referring to Napoleon’s rise to leadership. You should use evidence from the text to support your answer. [25]
Napoleon
- Starts off as a pig competing for leadership position with Snowball
- Says he will take care of the milk à later on the animals discover that the milk has disappeared, hinting that he has taken it.
- Orders all the milk and apples to be for his and the pigs’ consumption à selfish
- He does not work at all, only gives orders à later in the novel, the pigs wake up later than the other animals, thereby contributing less than they already do.
- Becomes so power hungry that he eliminates his rival, Snowball, so that he can have a monopoly of power
- Later in the novel, he does not even consult the animals on decisions (no more debates) à rise of Napoleon as a dictator
- He gets everything his way and goes against many of the commandments for his own selfish reasons à e,g, lives in a house, sleeps in a bed, kills another animal, does not treat all the animals equally, drinks alcohol.
- However, he gets away by
1. Using Squealer to brainwash the animals and control the way they think,
2. Confusing them about what they remember (e.g. that some of the commandments did not exist, but were lies circulated by Snowball, that Napoleon, not Snowball, played a large role in the Battle of the Cowshed)
3. Using the threat of Jones’ return,
4. Using terror/intimidation through his dogs.
- Blames Snowball for the failure of the windmill, and later, for everything that goes wrong/missing in Animal Farm à uses Snowball as a scapegoat to elevate his status, says he was working with Mr Jones right from the start.
- Becomes like a cult personality à seldom appears in public, and when he does, it is with great ceremony
- Becomes more and more human-like à e.g. takes away the hens eggs to be sold instead of letting them hatch, just like Mr Jones used to do.
- He removes all those who speak or go against him (public executions) à e.g. the 4 young pigs who protested when Napoleon stopped the Sunday meetings are killed, and so are the hens who tried to rebel against him taking their eggs.
- Makes himself indispensable by confusing and frightening the animals about what would happen if the were not there. He creates panic and paranoia in the farm à says that Snowball was frequenting the farm, and that some animals were working with him.
- Therefore, he conducts public executions of the animals who are forced to confess to working with Snowball
- Uses Squealer to attribute every success to him à e.g. chasing Frederick and his men from the farm when they destroy the windmill and try to capture the farm (Battle of the Windmill).
- Napoleon creates a new military medal, which he confers upon himself.
- Has a poem written in praise of him, which replaces the ‘Beasts of England’ song à self-glorification.
- Students may bring in the different styles of leadership between Snowball and Napoleon when discussing the theme of power.
Students should be able to discuss how Napoleon gets more power-hungry/corrupt, and specifically highlight some of his actions which show this. They should be able to trace his rise to dictatorship, and how he consolidates and maintains his power.
- he is extremely hardworking – “After his hoof had healed up, Boxer worked harder than ever”
- he is very loyal and devoted to the farm (even naively/foolishly so) - “Sometimes, the long hours on insufficient food were hard to bear, but Boxer never faltered”. Despite being exhausted, and having no voice left, he still tells himself “‘I will work harder’.”
- Determined to work as hard as he can – “In nothing that he said or did was there any sign that his strength was not what it had been”. He does not wish to appear to be weak, and wants to contribute as much as he can.
- He is very self-motivated – “Sometimes on the slope leading to the top of the quarry, when he braced his muscles against the weight of some vast boulder, it seemed that nothing kept him on his feet except the will to continue”.
- Boxer is very selfless, and he takes it upon himself to gather as much stone as needed to build the windmill for the farm despite his failing health – “Clover and Benjamin warned him to take care of his health, of but Boxer paid no attention. His twelfth birthday was approaching. He did not care what happened so long as a good store of stone was accumulated before he went on pension.”
(b) ‘Indeed, all the animals worked like slaves that year.’
(i) Using your knowledge of what you have covered in Animal Farm so far, describe the kinds of conditions under which the animals worked.
- the winters were harsh, and the animals did not have a lot of food – “They were always cold, and usually hungry as well”, “Starvation seemed to stare them in the face.”
- The food rations of the animals were cut more and more, but the pigs somehow seemed to have enough food and were growing fatter.
- the work was very demanding à e.g. it was a slow, laborious process building the windmill because they had to drag a single boulder up the quarry and let it roll down so that it would break using the force of gravity.
- Boxer especially, started waking up earlier in the morning to do additional work.
- The animals worked under an unfair division of labour, with the pigs only directing and supervising them, while the rest had to engage in heavy physical labour.
- The allocation of food was unfair as well, as the pigs kept all the milk and apples and did not share them with the other animals.
- The hens were forced to sacrifice their eggs to be traded for food items needed for the farm.
- Any animal that plots against or voices displeasure against Napoleon was publicly executed by his dogs à leaves the animals in shock and fear.
(ii) What motivated the animals to work in such conditions?
- Even though they work long hours and do not have much to eat, they believe that what they did was for the benefit of themselves and for those of their kind who would come after them, rather than for humans, who consumed without producing.
- they only have to feed themselves, not humans.
- They are motivated by the idea of a future in which all animals are free from hunger and torture, in which they can work according to their capacity (Old Major’s speech)
- They knew that the outside world, and the humans were watching them, and that they would want the animals to fail. This motivates the animals to work hard so that they would not give the humans a chance to celebrate at their failure.
- many of them cannot remember what life like was under Jones, so they cannot compare and fail to realize that their lives are worse.
- They believe that they were slaves under Jones, but have freedom now.
- they fail to realize that they are being exploited by Napoleon and the pigs now, just as how Jones used to oppress and exploit them – “But doubtless it had been worse in the old days. They were glad to believe so.”
2. Essay Question [25 marks]
‘Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely’. With reference to what you have covered in Animal Farm so far, discuss the theme of power, by referring to Napoleon’s rise to leadership. You should use evidence from the text to support your answer. [25]
Napoleon
- Starts off as a pig competing for leadership position with Snowball
- Says he will take care of the milk à later on the animals discover that the milk has disappeared, hinting that he has taken it.
- Orders all the milk and apples to be for his and the pigs’ consumption à selfish
- He does not work at all, only gives orders à later in the novel, the pigs wake up later than the other animals, thereby contributing less than they already do.
- Becomes so power hungry that he eliminates his rival, Snowball, so that he can have a monopoly of power
- Later in the novel, he does not even consult the animals on decisions (no more debates) à rise of Napoleon as a dictator
- He gets everything his way and goes against many of the commandments for his own selfish reasons à e,g, lives in a house, sleeps in a bed, kills another animal, does not treat all the animals equally, drinks alcohol.
- However, he gets away by
1. Using Squealer to brainwash the animals and control the way they think,
2. Confusing them about what they remember (e.g. that some of the commandments did not exist, but were lies circulated by Snowball, that Napoleon, not Snowball, played a large role in the Battle of the Cowshed)
3. Using the threat of Jones’ return,
4. Using terror/intimidation through his dogs.
- Blames Snowball for the failure of the windmill, and later, for everything that goes wrong/missing in Animal Farm à uses Snowball as a scapegoat to elevate his status, says he was working with Mr Jones right from the start.
- Becomes like a cult personality à seldom appears in public, and when he does, it is with great ceremony
- Becomes more and more human-like à e.g. takes away the hens eggs to be sold instead of letting them hatch, just like Mr Jones used to do.
- He removes all those who speak or go against him (public executions) à e.g. the 4 young pigs who protested when Napoleon stopped the Sunday meetings are killed, and so are the hens who tried to rebel against him taking their eggs.
- Makes himself indispensable by confusing and frightening the animals about what would happen if the were not there. He creates panic and paranoia in the farm à says that Snowball was frequenting the farm, and that some animals were working with him.
- Therefore, he conducts public executions of the animals who are forced to confess to working with Snowball
- Uses Squealer to attribute every success to him à e.g. chasing Frederick and his men from the farm when they destroy the windmill and try to capture the farm (Battle of the Windmill).
- Napoleon creates a new military medal, which he confers upon himself.
- Has a poem written in praise of him, which replaces the ‘Beasts of England’ song à self-glorification.
- Students may bring in the different styles of leadership between Snowball and Napoleon when discussing the theme of power.
Students should be able to discuss how Napoleon gets more power-hungry/corrupt, and specifically highlight some of his actions which show this. They should be able to trace his rise to dictatorship, and how he consolidates and maintains his power.
posted by | 10:24 PM
1 Comments:
Thanks for posting the answers for the SA1 paper.Looking forward to next term's lit lessons
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