Learning objective: To develop awareness of structure
Structure is a difficult thing to explore, particularly in a class reader where the structure is spread over 200 pages!
Explain to students that ‘exploring structure’ means exploring why the writer has included specific events or information in that text (or part of a text) and why they have sequenced them in that order.
Begin by considering the structure of an individual chapter or section. Boil the ideas, information or events of the chapter down to three or four bullet points. What does each of them contribute to the chapter? Why has the writer sequenced them in this way? What would change if the sequence was changed?
Once you have finished reading the whole text, repeat the activity, boiling the entire plot down into four or five key points, for example:
- the animals rebel against Mr Jones
- the pigs take control
- the pigs distort the commandments: they drink alcohol and sleep in beds
- Boxer is sent to the knackers’
- the pigs start wearing clothes and walking on their hind legs
Ask students: What happens if we swap points 3 and 4. What is the effect? What about swapping points 3 and 5? Why did Orwell not sequence these points in that order?
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