Animal Farm Notes

IronyIrony results when there is a disparitybetween what an audience wouldexpect and what really happens.Orwell uses a particular type of irony –dramatic irony. He relies on thedifference between what the animalsunderstand and what we, theaudience, can conclude about thesituation at Animal Farm.We know just what the animals know,but we can see so much more of itssignificance than they can. Theconclusions we reach that the animalsnever quite get to – that the pigs aredecadent, corrupt, and immoral – areall the more powerful because wearrive at them ourselves, without thenarrator pointing these things outdirectly.Snowball below the commandments.Napoleon overindulging himself.