Animal Farm
Essay Preview: Animal Farm
Report this essay
Animal Farm by George Orwell is a political satire on Russian revolution. George Orwell makes use of characterization by using characters in the novel to represent key figures in the russian revolution as well as to represent general groups of society. The novel has strong political themes such as the corruption of Socialist Ideals in the soviet union and the danger of a niave working class as well as the theme of betrayal.
In Animal Farm the animals play the roles of Bolshevik revolutionaries who overthrow their oppressive human owners, setting it up as a commune in which all the animals are at first equal. But soon disparities begin to emerge between different social classes/species. In the end the pigs become the very being they originally rebelled against and the animals can only look on in dismay and they realize the pigs betrayal to them.
CHARACTERS Some of the characters in the book have clear real life counterparts whereas others are intended to show general groups of society. The pig Napoleon is based upon Russian dictator Joseph Stalin. Napoleon gradually builds up his power
The ousting of the humans after the farmers forget to feed the animals represents the Russian Revolution of 1917 that led to the removal of Tsar Nicholas II and his family after a series of wars that resulted in famine and poverty.
Mr. Jones effort to re-take the farm “The Battle of the Cowshed” symbolizes the Russian Civil War in which the western capitalist governments sent soldiers to try to remove the Bolsheviks from power.
Napoleons removal of Snowball is like Stalin’s removal of Leon Trotsky from power in 1927 and his subsequent expulsion and murder.
Squealer constantly changing the commandments on Napoleons orders may refer to the constant adjustments to the Communist theory by the people in power. Also, his lies to animals of past events they cannot remember refers to the revision of history texts to glorify Stalin during his regime. The animals who completely trust their leaders and have dim memories believe all the lies.
Boxers motto “Napoleon is always right” is linked with “Il Duce ha sempre ragion” meaning “Mussolini is always right” which was a fachist chant used to hail Benito Mussolini during his rule of Italy from 1922 to 1943.
During the rise of Napoleon, he ordered the collection of all the hens eggs. In an act of defiance, the hens destroyed their eggs rather than give them to Napoleon. During Stalins collectivization period in the early 1930s, many Ukrainian peasants burned their crops and farms rather than handing them over to the government
Napoleon works with Mr. Frederick, who eventually betrays Animal Farm and destroys the windmill. Though Animal Farm repels the human attack, many animals are wounded and killed. This is similar to Stalin’s Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact with Nazi Germany in 1939, which was later betrayed in 1941 when Hitler invaded the Soviet Union. Though the Soviet Union won the war, it came at the cost of 8.5-15 million Soviet soldiers and many civilians. The detonation of the windmill and the battle that ensued there could also be a reference to the Battle of Stalingrad. The selling of the farms excess timber supply could represent the offering of raw materials to the United States in exchange for weapons of war under the Lend-Lease.
The dogs may be an allegory to the KGB, the elite police force who ruled by terror under Stalins hand.
Boxer, in the allegory of the novel, directly relates to the working class who laboured under strenuous and exceedingly difficult conditions throughout the Communist regime with the hope that their work would result in a more prosperous life. Boxer represents this clearly at points when he utters such quotes as “I will work harder” in response to any sort of difficulty. Later on in the story Boxer and his motto become a tool of propaganda to be used by Napoleon and his regime later on once Boxer has been murdered to pay for a crate of whiskey for the pigs.
CORRUPTION OF SOCIALIST IDEALS. In the novel the animals overthrow their human oppressor Mr . Jones — who represents Nicholas the second of russia — and create a democratic coalition of animals. Although Orwell