ANIMAL FARM
A tale of animals who attempt to achieve a free life form the human beings through a rebellion,
Animal Farm is a simple but compelling piece of writing. It is written in such a simple way that this
makes it easy-to follow and crudely reflects the reality of Orwell’s current society.
A warning about political tyranny isn't particularly effective if no one can understand it—that's
the whole point of using a fable about farm animals rather than writing a complex essay about
political theory. A fable is just a short animal allegory with a clear moral. In all those stories, the
animals stand in for people or behaviours. Orwell's novel is a traditional animal fable, but it's also a
more complex allegory for the events leading up to and following the Russian Revolution. Orwell's
story is full of personified animals. It's simply told and has a few clear morals: power corrupts,
utopian visions are doomed, etc. This simplicity makes Animal Farm easy: it has a point to make,
and it makes it clearly and concisely.
When Orwell saw a kid whipping a horse, he had an idea: "It struck me that if only such animals
became aware of their strength we should have no power over them, and that men exploit animals
in much the same way as the rich exploit the proletariat."
On Orwell’s Animal Farm (originally Manor Farm) different animals represent different members
of this proletariat (working class) or the Russian communist regime, but the point is that Orwell
picked the setting of the farm because it would work well as an allegory. Furthermore, all the main
characters represent important people of the main political movements of the time. For example:
*Old Major = Karl Marx
*Snowball = Leon Trotsky
*Napoleon = Josef Stalin
*Boxer = Russian laborers and workers
*Mr. Pilkington = the U.S. and U.K.
*Mr. Frederick = Hitler
As well as the story in itself, reflects certain historical events which are indeed true. All the things
that happens in the Manor Farm are the factual events which happened during Orwell’s time and
which are part of the human history.
This novella is widely known as a critique of the history of the Russian Revolution, retelling the
story of the emergence and development of Soviet communism as well as it accounts the rise of
power of the dictator Joseph Stalin. Also, it reflects the way in which language can be manipulated
as an instrument of control. The pigs clearly exemplify this when they gradually change the
meaning of their words. And therefore, as a result, all animals seem unable to oppose the pigs
without also opposing ideas. Animal Farm demonstrates how the inability or unwillingness to
question authority condemns the working class to suffer the full extent of the ruling class’s
oppression.
A warning about political tyranny isn't particularly effective if no one can understand it—that's the
whole point of using a fable about farm animals rather than writing a complex essay about political
theory. A fable is just a short animal allegory with a clear moral. In all those stories, the animals
stand in for people or behaviours. Orwell's novel is a traditional animal fable, but it's also a more
complex allegory for the events leading up to and following the Russian Revolution. Orwell's story
is full of personified animals. It's simply told and has a few clear morals: power corrupts, utopian
visions are doomed, etc. This simplicity makes Animal Farm easy: it has a point to make, and it
makes it clearly and concisely.