Friedrich Nietzsche once said “Be careful when fighting monsters, lest you
become one.” In George Orwell’s Animal Farm, a political satire about the Russian
revolution, the animals begin by fighting their one enemy, the capitalist farmer that
controls their lives every day. By the end, some of the animals have become the very evil
they once fought against, and yet everyone believes that they are better off than at the
start.
In the beginning all of the animals on the farm suffer under the reign of the “evil”
capitalist, Farmer Jones, who exploits the animals so that he can have all the money. He
leaves the animals in terrible conditions and doesn’t care about their well being. He is
described as setting “[animals] to work, he gives back to them the bare minimum that will
prevent them from starving, and the rest he keeps for himself” (pg 4). This shows that
Farmer Jones is a capitalist, working for himself but not those beneath him. Under this
power, the animals live their lives on the farm and are then gotten rid of when they are
too old and crippled to be of any more use. Old Major says “And even these miserable
lives we lead are not aloud to reach their natural span” (pg 5). Here we see that the
animals live miserable lives under the rule of their master, and then die of causes other
the old age. Finally, the Farmer is a symbol of evil for the animals to rally against. The
animals agree that “All men are enemies. All animals are comrades.”(pg 6) In “1984”
George Orwell talks about needing an enemy to exist so that the people have someone to
hate, saying “The face will always be there to be stamped upon. The enemy of society
will always be there, so that he can be defeated and humiliated again.”(1984, pg 260) If
there was no farmer ruling everyone, there would be no revolution of hate to begin with.
The revolution in Russia would not have happened without Karl Marx planting
the idea of revolution into the minds of the people of the world, just as the revolution of
Animal Farm would not have happened without Old Major. Before he dies, Old major
gives a rousing speech on the inequality of the world and the revolution of the future,
which has the same message as the Communist Manifesto and gives everyone of a vision
of a future where everyone is equal and everyone does what they can to help their
comrades. In this society of equals, the animals all contribute all that they can, and the
main principle of animalism is “All animals are equal.”(pg 15) However, just like Marx,
Old Major doesn’t live long enough to see his ideas and dreams turned into a reality.
Later, the book states that he dies 3 days after he gives his speech, and the revolution
happens 3 months later. After the animalism revolution, it states that all the animals
worked on whatever they had the ability to do, from the horses with plows to the hens
gathering the smallest scraps. This is a symbolic representation of Karl Marx’s phrase
“From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs” because although
the hens and ducks are clearly not as strong as the horses, they still do all that they can on
the farm because they have the ability to.
The USSR was originally formed by the revolution of the poor, working-class
people, who are represented in this book by most of the animals other then the pigs.
Boxer is used to represent the working class as strong, loyal and dedicated to the farm
that he lives on. His personal motto becomes “I will work harder” as his solution to any
problems encountered on the farm. (pg 18) He gets up earlier then the other animals all
the time and does more work then others because he believes it is his duty to do all the
work he possible can. Boxer also represents the blind trust that the working class has in
the integrity of their leaders and also represents their unwillingness to question anything
that the pigs do. Partway through the book, Boxer adopts the second motto of “Napoleon
is always right.”(pg 37) This motto then spreads throughout the rest of the animals until
they all believe in Napoleon as a person who can do no wrong, and this opinion is helped
along by the propaganda of the pigs. Finally, Boxer also is willing to fight for this new
farm and defend it however he can, because he is also devoted to the idea and belief of a
future where all the animals will be free of the human overlord. In the battle of the
cowshed, Boxer attacks a young farmhand because he has been convinced that all
humans must be evil, and sees this as how he can help his farm and his leaders, because
he is too naive to realize that the pigs are becoming no better then farmer Jones.
The pigs of the farm are symbolic of the people of Russia who want power over
others, and seek to gain it under the banner of equality. They start off as animals fighting
for everyone else, but they are the organizers of the revolution, and so they already have a
position of power over the other workers, unrealized by the others. They are given this
power because “The work of teaching and organizing the others fell naturally to the pigs,
who were generally recognized as being the cleverest of the animals.”(pg 9) The pigs are
shown to be the smartest, and then they realize that they can become the true leaders of
the farm. In Russia, there were two revolutions within a short time span, with the
overthrow of the capitalists, and then the overthrow of the people who overthrew the
capitalists in the first place. In Animal Farm, this is mirrored by the original overthrow of
farmer Jones, and then Napoleon overthrowing Snowball to leave him and only him in
charge of the pigs, who are in charge of everyone else. He then convinces all the animals
that Snowball was a dangerous person, with Squealer saying to the animals “He
(Napoleon) had only seemed to oppose the windmill, simply as a maneuver to get rid of
Snowball, who was a dangerous character and a bad influence.” (pg 39) This is the type
of behavior that the animals would have been outraged at from Mr. Jones, but are easily
convinced it was necessary when the pigs do it. Any time the pigs need to convince the
animal of something, they use Squealer who is symbolic of the power of the media and
propaganda, and who is backed up by fierce dogs whose very presence threatens anyone
who isn’t convinced by words alone, as shown by the driving-out of Snowball, after
which we see that “Squealer spoke so persuasively, and the three dogs who happened to
be with him growled so threateningly, that they accepted his explanation without further
questions.” With a government that threatens and kills its own citizens, any threat like
that would be very real and very good at shutting up all but the most outspoken citizens.
Finally, the original principles of animalism, which can theoretically contain the
ambitions and corruption of the pigs, are changed to suit the “needs” of the pigs, without
the other animals discovering. When the others find out, nothing changes because the
pigs hold power through threats and violence. After the pigs have begun to take on more
human characteristics, and Squealer is sent to change the laws of the farm, Squealer is
found lying on the ground and as the other animals find him, the dogs surround Squealer
to protect him from any questions or accusations the animals may have. In the end, the
principles of animalism have been changed to “All animals are equal but some animals
are more equal then others”, which represents the principles that the pigs are following,
not the idea of equality.
Symbolism is abundant in Animal Farm. Farmer Jones is a Capitalist who cares
nothing for those beneath him, even though his life is based on theirs. Old Major is an
idealist who believes that equality for all the animals is a true possibility. Boxer and the
rest of the workers are naïve people who believe that everything is better after the
revolution, and the pigs are ambitious animals who become the very enemy they once
fought, just as Nietzsche warned.