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What do you know of the setting in Animal Farm?

Animal Farm - Setting

Explore how the setting of Animal Farm shapes power and control. This quiz helps you track locations, symbolism and shifts from hopeful farm to harsh dictatorship.

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Fascinating Fact:

The farmhouse symbolises human privilege, then pig privilege, showing how rulers replace rulers.

In GCSE English Literature, the setting of Animal Farm is not just background. The yard, fields, barn and farmhouse all reflect changing power, from shared revolution to strict, unequal rule.

Key Terms

Setting: The time and place where a story happens, including important locations such as buildings and landscapes.
Symbolism: When places, objects or actions stand for deeper ideas, such as power, class or freedom.
Allegory: A story in which characters and settings represent real historical events or political ideas.

Frequently Asked Questions (click to see answers)

How do I write about setting in Animal Farm for GCSE?

Choose a key place, such as the barn or farmhouse, describe how it is presented, then link its details to themes like power, corruption or inequality in your analysis.

Why is the farmhouse important in Animal Farm?

The farmhouse begins as a symbol of human rule, then becomes the pigs’ home. This shows that the new leaders copy the old rulers, rather than creating a fairer society.

How does the farm change from the beginning to the end?

At first the farm seems hopeful and equal, with shared meetings and work. By the end, rules are broken, buildings feel closed off and the farm looks like any cruel dictatorship.

Try These Related Quizzes

1 .

Where do the animals first meet?

In the farmhouse

In the stable

At the windmill

In the big barn

The location is chosen because it offers a space large enough for the meeting while also being hidden away from Mr Jones

2 .

Which of the following best describes the farmhouse?

Luxurious

Shabby

Plain, but clean

Dark and dismal

The animals are astounded at the luxury in which Mr and Mrs Jones had been living

3 .

"The grass and the bursting hedges were gilded by the level rays of the sun." Which words create an image of a rich and fruitful farm?

Grass, hedges

Grass, gilded

Bursting, gilded

Hedges, sun

The hedge is "bursting" with life and the gilding effect of the sun's rays makes everything in view appear golden

4 .

"Mr Jones, of the Manor Farm, had locked the hen-houses for the night, but was too drunk to remember to shut the pop-holes. With the ring of light from his lantern dancing from side to side he lurched across the yard, kicked off his boots at the back door, drew himself a last glass of beer from the barrel in the scullery, and made his way up to bed, where Mrs Jones was already snoring." Which one of the following is NOT achieved by this opening?

The reader learns that the novella is set on a farm

The reader learns that a revolt is brewing on the farm

The reader learns that the farmer is not especially good at his job

The reader is led to believe the book will be about the farmer and his wife

The very next line introduces a surprising turn to focus on the animals: "As soon as the light in the bedroom went out there was a stirring and a fluttering all through the farm buildings"

5 .

Which of the following best describes the mood of the final chapter when the pigs hold a banquet for their neighbours?

Jolly

Horrifying

Melancholic

Peaceful

The moment when the pigs and the people blend into one another is one of horror and despair

6 .

The novel presents a rural setting that is not always a pastoral utopia, instead acknowledging the harsh annual cycle of farming life. Which of the following lines does NOT present this harsher side of farming life?

"The needs of the windmill must override everything else"

"The earth was like iron"

"How they toiled and sweated to get the hay in! But their efforts were rewarded, for the harvest was an even bigger success than they had hoped"

"The stormy weather was followed by sleet and snow, and then by a hard frost which did not break until well into February"

The building of the windmill represents a focus on industrial production and its needs

7 .

Pinchfield, one of the farms neighbouring Animal Farm, is described as small and well-kept. Which of the following matches the description of Foxwood, the other neighbouring farm?

Large and productive

Small and unproductive

Neglected and old-fashioned

Beautiful, but unproductive

The text describes Foxwood thus: "a large, neglected, old-fashioned farm, much overgrown by woodland, with all its pastures worn out and its hedges in a disgraceful condition"

8 .

Which one of the following is NOT a significant site for the animals' Sunday ritual?

The flagstaff in the farmhouse garden

The big barn

The stump near the flagstaff

The harness-room

After Snowball's banishment, the animals are made to walk reverently past Old Major's skull in its new position on the stump near the flagstaff

9 .

When do the events take place?

Late 18th century

Between 1910 and 1920

Between 1939 and 1944

The time is not specified

The text includes a few details which would tie it to a specific time. One relevant detail is that Mr Jones reads the News of the World, which was published throughout the second half of the 19th century and all of the 20th. Horses draw carts and even the knacker's van, so the farm would fit almost any time in the century preceding its date of publication. Finally, the farmhouse has a lithograph of Queen Victoria on display. Taken together, these details still leave a wide time frame possible and the relatively-unspecified time suits the novella's original designation as a fairy tale

10 .

Animal Farm is set in which country?

Scotland

England

Russia

South Africa

The setting of the novella is an ordinary English farm, although it satirises events in the Soviet Union

You can find more about this topic by visiting BBC Bitesize - Animal Farm

Author: Sheri Smith (PhD English Literature, English Teacher & Quiz Writer)