The Animal Farm
INTRODUCTION
George Orwell’s idea of ‘The Animal Farm’ came to him in a rather odd way. He observed a boy flogging a horse and started wondering what would happen if mistreated animals realized the power they had, and they used it to rebel against their human masters. From this observation, Orwell drew an analogy between the mistreatment of the horse and the way the upper-class members of the society treated the lower class. To make sure his readers would understand the complex concept of communism and also to make it easier for the book to be translated into other languages, Orwell scripted the story as a fable. It is a political fable that is based on the Russian Bolshevik revolution and its betrayal by Joseph Stalin. The book is about a group of farm animals, who, in their quest for freedom, decide to overthrow their human masters, then they set up an egalitarian society. However, the animals’ leaders’, the pigs, soon betray the revolution by subverting it. The pigs impose a dictatorial rule, after concluding that although all animals are equal, some are more important than others. They say this about the seventh commandment, which states, “All animals are equal.” This dictatorship rule by the pigs leaves the animals in a situation that is far worse than before the revolution. Although Orwell had never traveled to the Soviet Union, he wanted to convince the British Socialists that the USSR could not deliver the Socialist utopia that it had long campaigned to achieve. According to Orwell’s views, the values Stalin’s government stood up for were not nobler than those of the government of Nazi Germany or Imperialist Japan. Through ‘The Animal Farm,’ George Orwell, who had experienced British Imperialism, hoped to show how governments that promised their people better lives in exchange for total submission to the government’s rule inevitably sought to undermine public opinion and establish dictatorial rule (Trotsky, and Max 195).
ALLEGORICAL NATURE AND HISTORICAL CONTEXT
The book is a political allegory about the events of the Russian revolution. Every character in the book represents a notable individual from the Russian revolution. The original farm owner, Mr. Jones, represents Czar Nicholas II, the incompetent leader. The animals’ dictatorial leaders, the pigs, represent the figures of the Bolshevik leadership. The pig called Napoleon represents Joseph Stalin, Squealer represents Vyacheslav Molotov, and Snowball represents Leon Trotsky. The rest of the animals are the average working-class citizens of Russia. They initially supported the revolution because its leaders manipulated them into believing the regime would bring change only for it to be more oppressive and brutal than the previous leadership. Unlike most British socialists in the 1930s and 1940s, George Orwell was not smitten with the Soviet Union or its policies, as he did not think that it was possible to have a socialist society with the Soviet Union. In the early 20th century, the vast majority of Russian wealth was being controlled by a tiny minority, while a vast majority of the population lived in poverty (Trotsky, and Max 195). Communism arose when a group of intellectuals helped the workers and peasants rebel against the wealthy and powerful class of capitalists, hoping to create a socialist system based on the principles of Karl Marx (Trotsky, and Max 195). The peasants’ dreams soon became a reality when, in 1917, the ruling monarch, Tsar Nicholas II was forced to leave the throne to one of the revolutionaries, a Russian intellectual in the Communist Party (Trotsky, and Max 195) The new system of government took land from private control and put them under government control. This action constituted the first step among several steps that Russia needed to take to restore herself to the prosperity she had before World War I. However when Stalin took over the leadership in 1924, he began to consolidate his power with acts of ruthlessness, killing political enemies or imprisoning them, and being directly responsible for the purge of more than 20 million Soviet citizens (Trotsky, and Max 195)
THEMES AND COMPARISON TO ‘1984’
‘The Animal Farm’ addresses the same themes as in ‘1984’, another one of George Orwell’s novels that were completed in 1949. In these two books, Orwell repeatedly opposes the idea of totalitarian communism, a system whereby a ruling party controls the social action of a state by disallowing personal freedom. Orwell argues that a revolution whereby a small conspiratorial group leads a group of oppressed citizens can only worsen into more oppression and dictatorship. This revolution is illustrated through the allegory of the farm. The revolution initially stands for truth and justice, and this works in the beginning, as the animals get to work for their benefit. However, as time passes, the animals’ leaders begin to become as corrupt and incompetent as the government that existed before (Trotsky, and Max 195). The pigs adopt the ways they initially opposed, such as sleeping in beds and drinking whiskey. The other animals, in contrast, face negative changes only. Although they continue to support Napoleon, their leader, their quality of life declines, and the promises their leaders had given them, such as electric light and heated stalls, soon become a fantasy. Through this book, Orwell hopes to show that totalitarianism is endemic to humans, and without quality education and empowerment of the lower classes in society, everything always defaults back to dictatorship and tyranny (Trotsky, and Max 195).
SYMBOLISM
Owing to the allegorical nature of the book, ‘The Animal Farm’ is full of symbolism. The animal population symbolizes individuals or groups from Russian society. The farm symbolizes Russia, while the surrounding farms symbolize the European nations that witnessed the Russian revolution. George Orwell does a good job of choosing certain objects as symbols to evoke the desired response from readers. One of the objects which Orwell chooses as a symbol is a windmill. The windmill symbolizes the various attempt by different groups to modernize Russia. It also symbolizes the incompetent leadership of Joseph Stalin. Initially, Snowball puts forward the idea that the windmill would be a great agent of improvement to the living conditions on the farm. Napoleon later takes the suggestion as his own, but he mismanages the project and faces attacks from other landowners, which makes the project take longer to complete (Trotsky, and Max 195). The final product is of bad quality, symbolizing many failed projects undertaken by the Soviet Union after the revolution. At the end of all this, the windmill only benefits Napoleon and his pig friends at the expense of the other animals.
Another way in which Orwell uses symbolism is through whiskey. Whiskey symbolizes corruption within the leadership. One of the commandments of Animalism is ‘No animal shall drink alcohol.’ However, with time, Napoleon and his pig friends start consuming whiskey and enjoying its effects. Seeing the outcomes and experiencing his first hangover, Napoleon alters the commandment to ‘No animal shall drink alcohol to excess’ (Trotsky, and Max 195). Napoleon becomes a corrupt leader, and when Boxer is sold to the Knacker, he uses the money to buy whiskey, thus, embodying the human behaviors the animals once opposed.
The Seven Commandments written on the barn wall symbolize the power of propaganda and the tendency of information to change when people ignore facts. The commandments are changed throughout the book. For example, some of the commandments according to Somers, are changed as follows; ‘No animal shall drink alcohol’ changes to ‘No animal shall drink alcohol to excess,’ ’No animal shall sleep in a bed’ changes to ‘No animal shall sleep in a bed with sheets, ‘and ‘No animal shall kill any other animal’ changes to ‘No animal shall kill any other animal without cause’ (Trotsky, and Max 195). Napoleon and his associates change these rules in secret, and each change indicates that the animals have moved further and further away from the principles they once stood up for.
CONCLUSION
‘The Animal Farm’ clearly demonstrates how a government can impose a dictatorial rule to its people by giving false promises. The animals’ desire to live better lives blinded their judgment, and they chose a ruthless leader who made their lives worse. One of the reasons why the animals submitted to this type of dictatorial rule is because they were not as smart as the pigs. The pigs are ‘smart’ enough to use propaganda to brainwash the animals, and they also use violence against any animal who questions the pigs’ decisions. Napoleon uses his position to raise an army of dogs, brainwashing them by teaching them that ‘Four legs good two legs bad,’ which is essentially telling them to harm the humans, who have two legs. The other animals are powerless against them, as the pigs change the laws according to their wishes and needs. Some of the animals try to question the changes, but Squealer, the pig who was the chief propagandist, tells the animals that rules have always been the same. The theme addressed in ‘The Animal Farm’ of totalitarianism resonates in most of today’s governments, with leaders using propaganda to brainwash citizens into believing their lives are going to get better as long as those leaders stay in power. The citizens have no influence over the changes made in their lives, only false promises of better lives by their leaders. The book’s ending sums up Orwell’s views on oppressive rule by the Soviet Union through communism. The animals watch from the window as Napoleon eats with the other farmers. They realize that they cannot differentiate the animals from humans, and this realization helps them remember that their quest for freedom and equality resulted in them being oppressed even more than before. The animals conclude that power corrupts every mind, whether human or animal. This corresponds to Orwell’s views on leadership that it doesn’t matter whether an individual is a capitalist or communist, political power has the same influence on them (Trotsky, and Max 195). What the reader can conclude from ‘The Animal Farm’ is that there is no perfect political system because the corruptive nature of power dooms all political structures.
Works Cited
“Animal Farm: Context.” SparkNotes, SparkNotes, www.sparknotes.com/lit/animalfarm/context/.
“Animal Farm.” CliffsNotes, www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/a/animal-farm/animal-farm-at-a-glance.
Florman, Ben. “Animal Farm.” LitCharts. LitCharts LLC, 22 Jul 2013. Web. 2 May 2020.
“Literary Analysis of Animal Farm.” An Examination of the Life and Works of George Orwell, ab3orwell.weebly.com/literary-analysis-of-animal-farm.html.
Orwell, George, and A. M. Heath. Animal farm and 1984. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2003.
Somers, Jeffrey. “Animal Farm: Themes, Symbols, Allegory.” ThoughtCo, www.thoughtco.com/animal-farm-themes-symbols-4587867.
Trotsky, Leon, and Max Eastman. History of the Russian Revolution. Haymarket Books, 2008.
ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY
1.
WORKS CITED ENTRY: Orwell, George, and A. M. Heath. Animal farm and 1984. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2003.
QUOTE: “they had come to a time when no one dared speak his mind, when fierce, growling dogs roamed everywhere, and when you had to watch your comrades torn to pieces after confessing to shocking crimes.” (Orwell and Heath 34).
EXPLANATION: This quote refers to the other animals’ inability to protest against the pigs’ leadership because of the dictatorial rule the pigs had imposed upon the other animals. They could not question any law changes, as they were afraid of the army of dogs who would kill them if they dared speak their opinions.
2.
WORKS CITED ENTRY: Orwell, George, and A. M. Heath. Animal farm and 1984. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2003.
QUOTE: “The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.” (Orwell and Heath 54).
EXPLANATION: This quote shows how the animals’ leaders had come to behave opposite of what they had campaigned for to get into power. The animals believed that man was the oppressor because he contributed very little to the farm. This can be likened to the Russian revolution, which fought for equality and a socialist government. Still, Stalin betrayed the revolution by later ruling like the oppressors had before the revolution. Napoleon and the other pigs had adopted man’s vices, like cheating in a card game as humans do.
3.
WORKS CITED ENTRY: Orwell, George, and A. M. Heath. Animal farm and 1984. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2003.
QUOTE: “Four legs good, two legs bad.” (Orwell and Heath 13)
EXPLANATION: This quote is used by the pigs’ leadership as a call for unity among the animals, supporting the principle of Animalism. However, this is one of the many forms of propaganda that the pigs use to drown personal opinions from the animals. At first, the animals embrace this quote, but as soon as the pigs have power, it becomes useless, as the pigs interact with the humans anyway. This quote can be used as an example to show how the upper-class members of society use language to control the lower-class citizens. At the end of the book, the pigs change the quote to “Four legs good, two legs better,” showing how the pigs embraced man’s vices even after telling the animals to stick together.