Animal Farm - Sample exam question
In your exam, you may be asked a question about the whole text or about an extract from the text as well as the whole text. Either way, these are the analysis skills you will need to use.
The format of the exam (OCR)
In the OCR exam on Animal Farm, which is part of Paper 2: exploring modern and literary heritage texts, you will be presented with a question in two parts and with two extracts.
Part (a) will ask you to compare an extract from Animal Farm with an extract from another modern ‘unseen’ text.
Part (b) will ask you to answer a linked question on Animal Farm only. You can use the extract to help you.
In this guide, we will focus on writing about Animal Farm using an extract. Near the end of the guide, you can find further support on how to compare texts and how to write about ‘unseen’ extracts.
The question
Starting with this extract, how does Orwell use the character of Old Major to highlight ideas about inequality in Animal Farm?
Write about:
- how Orwell presents Old Major in this extract
- how Orwell uses the character of Old Major to present ideas about inequality in the novel as whole
The extract
"Comrades, you have heard already about the strange dream that I had last night. But I will come to the dream later. I have something else to say first. I do not think, comrades, that I shall be with you for many months longer, and before I die, I feel it my duty to pass on to you such wisdom as I have acquired. I have had a long life, I have had much time for thought as I lay alone in my stall, and I think I may say that I understand the nature of life on this earth as well as any animal now living. It is about this that I wish to speak to you.
Now, comrades, what is the nature of this life of ours? Let us face it: our lives are miserable, laborious, and short. We are born, we are given just so much food as will keep the breath in our bodies, and those of us who are capable of it are forced to work to the last atom of our strength; and the very instant that our usefulness has come to an end we are slaughtered with hideous cruelty. No animal in England knows the meaning of happiness or leisure after he is a year old. No animal in England is free. The life of an animal is misery and slavery: that is the plain truth.
But is this simply part of the order of nature? Is it because this land of ours is so poor that it cannot afford a decent life to those who dwell upon it? No, comrades, a thousand times no!"
Old Major, chapter one
Before you go onto the next page, make some notes about what you could talk about.
Hints
- Think about the key words in the essay question (Old Major, ideas, inequality).
- Think about the extract - what ideas about inequality are presented here? Highlight some key points.
- Think about the rest of the novel.