Satire Mini-Unit

Animal Farm : Fable, Allegory, and Satire

An allegory is a work of fiction that has:

• clear meaning on the literal level

but also has:

• parallel meanings, or stories, on one or more other levels

Following are a few examples of allegory:

• Animal Farm (parallel story topics: Communist Russia, totalitarian leadership)

• Lord of the Flies (parallel story topic: the workings and reality of human civilization)

• The Matrix (parallel story topic: our own heavily commercialized, media-drive society)

• The Crucible (parallel story topic: the Red Scare of the U.S. in the 1950’s)

• Aesop’s Fables (parallel stories: there is one or more for each story)

A fable is a type of allegory that:

• is usually very short

• features animals, plants, and other non-human entities

• gives human qualities to those non-human entities

• tells a story that illustrates a moral lesson

Satire is the usually humorous ridicule of some vice, shortcoming, or imperfection.

Following are a few examples of satire:

· some works of Mark Twain

· some works of George Orwell

· Catch-22

· Dr. Strangelove

· The Colbert Report

· Doonesbury cartoons

· many episodes of The Simpsons

· many episodes of South Park

· most articles in The Onion

THEREFORE...

Animal Farm is a fable because it:

1. features animals

2. gives human qualities to animals

3. tells a story that illustrates a moral lesson (totalitarian societies are bad and don’t work)

(It’s not as short as most fables—but it is a very short novel.)

Animal Farm is an allegory because it has:

1. a literal story about animals

2. a metaphorical history of the Soviet Union

3. and a metaphorical story about tyrannical political leaders

Animal Farm is a satire because it:

1. ridicules the imperfections of Communist Russia

2. ridicules the vices and imperfections of Communist Russian leaders

3. ridicules totalitarian societies and leaders

UNIT PLAN

1. Introduction to Satire & Notes

2. Read and discuss "Some of Us Had Been Threatening Our Friend Colby". Add to Satire Chart.

3. View "Introduction to 'A Modest Proposal'". Read and discuss "A Modest Proposal". Complete Questions. Add to Satire Chart.

4. Complete Stations Activities ("Editorial for Stations," Goodnight Moon video, Goodnight iPad video, "Valentines Day", and "Climate Change") and finish Satire Chart.

5. Write your own Satire Project (Outline, Rubric)

Goodnight Moon / Goodnight iPad movies