Question

then a sheep confessed to having urinated in the drinking pool—urged to do this, so she said, by snowball—and two other sheep confessed to having murdered an old ram, an especially devoted follower of napoleon, by chasing him round and round a bonfire when he was suffering from a cough. they were all slain on the spot. and so the tale of confessions and executions went on, until there was a pile of corpses lying before napoleon’s feet and the air was heavy with the smell of blood, which had been unknown there since the expulsion of jones.
—animal farm,
george orwell
how does orwell create an allegory of the great purge in the passage?
□ by depicting false confessions and brutality
□ by creating a character who is a strong leader
□ by showing a related series of causes and effects
□ by using imagery when showing scenes of violence

Explanation:

To determine the answer, we analyze each option:

• Option 1: The passage shows sheep making false confessions (e.g., a sheep confesses to urinating in the pool urged by Snowball, others confess to murder) and then being slain (brutality). The Great Purge involved false confessions and executions, so this matches the allegory.
• Option 2: The question is about creating an allegory of the Great Purge, not about a strong leader. The passage focuses on confessions and executions, not a leader's strength. Eliminate.
• Option 3: The passage is about confessions and executions, not a series of causes and effects. It's more about false confessions and brutality, not cause - effect relationships. Eliminate.
• Option 4: While there is violence, the key to the allegory of the Great Purge is false confessions and executions (brutality), not just imagery of violence. The main element here is the false confessions leading to execution, which is captured in Option 1. Eliminate.

Answer:

by depicting false confessions and brutality