Animal Farm

Animal FarmBy George OrwellAll animals are equal, but some are more equal than others.Allegory - Satire - FableTEST REVIEW

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Animal Farm In BriefIt was written in 1940's. It's an allegory of the Russian revolution, on how communism doesn't work. In the story, a bunch of farm animals overthrow the farmer who treated them badly. They set up an ideal society in which all the animals are equal, and all work for the benefit of each other (basically a communist society). The pigs take a leadership position, even though technically all the animals are equal. One pig, Napoleon, who is power hungry, kicks out his co-leader, Snowball, and then becomes a tyrant. He mistreats the other animals in a similar way as the farmer mistreated them. The animals are back to square one, and no improvement has been made.

Why Animals? In explaining how he came to write Animal Farm,Orwell says he once saw a little boy whipping a horse and later he wrote,

It struck me that if only such animals became aware of their strength we should have no power over them, and that men exploit (use) animals in much the same way as the rich exploit the [worker].

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What is Animal Farm?A masterpiece of political satire, Animal Farm is a tale of oppressed individuals who long for freedom but ultimately are corrupted by assuming(arrogant) the very power that had originally oppressed(tyrannized) them. The story traces(sketches, describes) the deplorable(miserable) conditions of mistreated animals who can speak and who exhibit(present) many human characteristics(features). After extreme negligence(carelessness) by their owner, the animals revolt and expel(drive out) Mr. Jones and his wife from the farm. The tale of the society the animals form into a totalitarian(tyranny) regime is generally viewed as Orwell's critique(critic review) of the communist system in the former Soviet Union.Interesting Fact: Orwell initially struggled to find a publisher for Animal Farm.

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Significance(importance) TodayBut why now that Soviet Communism has fallen and the Cold War is over does Animal Farm deserve our attention? The answer lies in the power of allegory. Allegorical fables, because they require us to make comparisons and connections, can be meaningful to any reader in any historical period. The story of Animal Farm will always have lessons to teach us about the ways that people abuse power and manipulate others.Orwell's chilling(bitter) story of the betrayal of idealism(utopian) through tyranny and corruption is as fresh and relevant today as when it was first published in 1945.

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When History and Literature Merge

Critics often consider Animal Farm to be an allegory of the Russian Revolution. In the early 1900s, Russias Czar Nicholas II faced an increasingly discontented populace(offended people). Freed from feudal serfdom(slavery) in 1861, many Russian peasants(farmers) were struggling to survive under an oppressive(unfair, tyrannical) government. By 1917, amidst(among) the tremendous(terrible) suffering of World War I, a revolution began. In two major battles, the Czars government was overthrown and replaced by the Bolshevik leadership of Vladimir Lenin. When Lenin died in 1924, his former colleagues Leon Trotsky, hero of the early Revolution, and Joseph Stalin, head of the Communist Party, struggled for power. Stalin won the battle, and he deported(banished) Trotsky into permanent exile(banishment).

Czar Nicholas IIVladimir Lenin

Joseph StalinLeon Trotsky

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Animalism = CommunismAnimalismTaught by Old MajorNo rich, but no poorBetter life for workersAll animals are equalEveryone owns the farmCommunismInvented by Karl MarxAll people are equalGovernment owns everythingPeople own the government

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Animal Farm Revolution = Russian RevolutionAnimal Farm RevolutionWas supposed to make life better for all, but . . .Life was worse at the end.The leaders became the same as, or worse than the other farmers (humans) they rebelled against.Russian RevolutionWas supposed to fix the problems created by the Czar, but . . .Life was even worse after the revolution.Stalin made the Czar look like a nice guy.

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George OrwellBritish Author & Journalist1903-1950Born in IndiaAt that time India was a part of the British Empire, and Blair's father, Richard, held a post as an agent in the Opium(kind of drugs) Department of the Indian Civil Service. The Blair family was not very wealthy - Orwell later described them ironically as "lower-upper-middle class". They owned no property, had no extensive investments; they were like many middle-class English families of the time, totally dependent on the British Empire for their livelihood(living) and prospects. Noted as a novelist and critic, as well as a political and cultural commentatorOne of the most widely admired English-language essayists of the 20th centuryBest known for two novels critical of totalitarianism in general, and Stalinism in particular: Animal Farm Nineteen Eighty-Four

Liberty is telling people what they do not want to hear.

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1984The novel, published in 1949, takes place in 1984 and presents an imaginary future where a totalitarian state controls every aspect of life, even people's thoughts. The state is called Oceania and is ruled by a group known as the Party; its leader and dictator is Big Brother.

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George Orwell and His BeliefsOrwell was a person who had a reputation for standing apart and even making a virtue of his detachment(independence in opinion).This outsider position often led him to oppose the crowd(people whom work with).Orwells beliefs about politics were affected by his experiences fighting in the Spanish Civil War.He viewed socialists, communists, and fascists as repressive and self-serving.He was skeptical(doubt) of governments and their willingness to forsake(leave) ideas in favor of power.

Interesting Fact: George Orwells real name was Eric Blair.

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George Orwell in IndiaHe was born in India and spent his early years there since his father held a post there.

He was a lonely boy who liked to make up stories and talk with imaginary companions.

As an adult, he worked for the Imperial Police in British occupied India.

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WarWhen the Spanish Civil war began, Orwell volunteered to fight for the republicans against the uprising. He was injured after being shot in the neck by a sniper's bullet; following this he and his new wife, Eileen OShaughnessy, left Spain to return to England.DeathOrwell became seriously ill around this time, suffering with tuberculosis. Orwell had been courting Sonia Brownell and married her while in hospital in October 1949. By Christmas Orwell was very weak and in January of 1950, aged 46, he died. In accordance with his wishes, Orwell was buried. He lies in All Saints Churchyard in Oxford, as it was impossible for him to be buried in London.

CharactersOld MajorAn old boar whose speech about the evils perpetrated(have done) by humans rouses(awakes)the animals into rebelling.His philosophy concerning the tyranny of Man is named Animalism. He teaches the animals the song Beasts of EnglandDies before revolutionKarl MarxThe inventor of communismWants to unite the working class to overthrow the government.Dies before the Russian Revolution

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Who is Karl Marx?Many of the ideals behind the Soviet revolution were based on the writings and teachings of Karl Marx. A German intellectual who lived in the mid-1800s, Marx believed that societies are divided into two segments, a working class and an owner class. The working class creates all the products, while the owner class enjoys all the benefits of these products. This class division leads to inequality and oppression (tyranny , injustice) of the working class. Marxs objective was to create a classless society in which the work is shared by all for the benefit of all, and he believed revolution was the way to achieve this goal.

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Napoleon = Joseph StalinNapoleonBoar who leads the rebellion against Farmer JonesAfter the rebellions success, he systematically begins to control all aspects of the farm until he is an undisputed(no one stand against him) tyrant.

Joseph StainThe communist dictator of the Soviet Union from 1922-1953 who killed all who opposed him. He loved power and used the KGB (secret police) to enforce his ruthless(unmerciful), corrupt antics.

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Joseph StalinOnce in power, Stalin began, with despotic(tyranny) urgency and exalted(glorified) nationalism, to move the Soviet Union into the modern industrial age. His government seized(captured) land in order to create collective(group) farms. Stalins Five Year Plan was an attempt(try, effort) to modernize Soviet industry. Many peasants(farmers) refused to give up their land, so to counter resistance Stalin used vicious(evil) military tactics. Rigged trials led to executions of an estimated 20 million government officials and ordinary citizens. The government controlled the flow and content of information to the people, and all but outlawed churches.

Joseph Stalin

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Snowball = Leon TrotskySnowballBoar who becomes one of the rebellions most valuable leaders. After drawing complicated plans for the construction of a windmill, he is chased off of the farm forever by Napoleons dogs and thereafter used as a scapegoat for the animals troubles.

Leon TrotskyA pure communist leader who was influenced by the teachings of Karl Marx. He wanted to improve life for people in Russia, but was driven away by Lenins KGB.

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Farmer Jones = Czar Nicholas IIFarmer JonesThe irresponsible owner of the farmLets his animals starve(feel hungry) and beats them with a whipSometimes shows random kindnessCzar Nicholas IIWeak Russian leader during the early 1900s Often cruel and brutal(harsh) to his subjectsDisplays isolated(seperated) kindness

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Squealer & BoxerSquealerA big mouth pig who becomes Napoleons mouthpiece. Throughout the novel, he displays his ability to manipulate(treat in proficiency) the animals thoughts through the use of hollow(tell lies), yet convincing rhetoric.Represents the propaganda department that worked to support Stalins image; the members of the department would use lies to convince the people to follow Stalin.

BoxerA dedicated but dim-witted(stupid) horse who aids(assists) in the building of the windmill but is sold to a glue-boiler after collapsing(crash down) from exhaustion.Represents the dedicated, but tricked(cheated) communist supporters of Stalin. Many stayed loyal even after it was obvious(clear) Stalin was a tyrant. Eventually(finally) they were betrayed, ignored, and even killed by him.

BoxerSquealer

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Jessie & MosesJessieThe farm's sheepdog, she keeps tabs on the pigs and is among the first to suspect that something is wrong at Animal Farm.

MosesA tame(domesticated) raven and sometimes-pet of Jones who tells the animals stories about a paradise called Sugar-candy Mountain.Moses represents religion. Stalin used religious principles to influence(affect on) people to work and to avoid revolt.

JessieMosesJessie, Bluebell, and Pincher Three dogs. The nine puppies born between Jessie and Bluebell are taken by Napoleon and raised to be his guard dogs.

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More Characters

Mr. Pilkington

Jones' neighbor, The easygoing gentleman farmer who runs Foxwood, a neighboring farm. Mr. Fredericks bitter enemy, Mr. Pilkington represents the capitalist governments of England and the United States.

Mr. Frederick

The tough, shrewd operator of Pinchfield, a neighboring farm. Based on Adolf Hitler, the ruler of Nazi Germany in the 1930s and 1940s, Mr. Frederick proves an untrustworthy neighbor.

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More Characters Mollie

A vain horse who resists the animal rebellion because she doesn't want to give up the petting and treats she receives from humans. Mollie represents vain, selfish people in Russia and throughout the world who ignored the revolution and sought residence in more inviting countries.

Benjamin

The most cynical (ironical) of all the animals, the farm's donkey doubts the leadership of the pigs but is faithfully devoted to Boxer. Benjamin represents all the skeptical people in Russia and elsewhere who werent sure revolution would change anything.

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More Characters The Sheep

Not tremendously clever, the sheep remind themselves of the principles of animalism by chanting "four legs good, two legs bad."

The Dogs Napoleons private army that used fear to force the animals to work; they killed any opponent of Napoleon. The dogs represent Stalins loyal KGB (secret police). The KGB were not really police, but mercenaries used to force support for Stalin.

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Plot SummaryThe story is set on the Manor Farm, owned and operated by Mr. Jones.

One night the prize (something deserves to struggle for it) boar(male pig), Old Major, tells all the other farm animals he has realized that the misery of their daily lives is all due to the tyranny of human beings, and that if they work to overthrow(defeat) the humans their lives will become easy and comfortable.

Plot SummaryAfter Old Major dies, the pigs (led by the two boars Snowball and Napoleon) start teaching his ideas (which they develop into a system of thought called Animalism) to the other animals. A few months later, Mr. Jones gets drunk and forgets to feed the animals, who become so hungry that they rebel and drive the human beings off the farm. They rename the farm 'Animal Farm' and write the Seven Commandments of Animalism up on the wall of the barn(fold, store for animals food). Jones comes back with a group of armed men and tries to recapture the farm, but the animals, led by Snowball, defeat the men.

Plot SummarySnowball and Napoleon argue constantly(never stopping) over plans for the future of the farm, never able to agree - especially over a windmill which Snowball wants to build to provide the farm with electric power, and which Napoleon ridicules. Napoleon calls in nine dogs whom he has specially trained and they chase Snowball off the farm. Squealer, the very persuasive pig(able to persuade other) who relays(broadcasts) most of Napoleon's decisions to the other animals, tells them that Snowball was a traitor in league(union, alliance) with Jones, and that the windmill was really Napoleon's idea anyway and will go ahead.

Plot SummaryThe animals work hard - work on the windmill is slow and they rely(depend) heavily on Boxer the cart-horse(strong horse suitable for heavy work), who is very strong and hard-working. Napoleon begins trading with nearby farms, and the pigs move into the farmhouse(Mr. Jones's house) and sleep in the beds there - even though sleeping in beds like humans was forbidden by the original principles(rules) of Animalism.

Plot SummaryThe winter is difficult - the animals have little food. Napoleon and Squealer blame Snowball for everything that goes wrong on the farm, from bad crops(harvest, product) to blocked drains(consumes). Then Napoleon's dogs attack four pigs, who then confess to plotting(conspiracy) with Snowball and start a series of confessions of various 'crimes' from other animals - all of those who confess are slaughtered(was slaying) by the dogs, leaving the survivors shaken(trembled) and miserable(hopeless).

Plot SummaryThe windmill is finally completed and to get money to buy the machinery for it, Napoleon decides to sell a pile(pack, heap) of timber(wood of trees) - after wavering(hesitation) between the two neighboring farmers Pilkington and Frederick, he sells it to Frederick only to discover that he has been paid with worthless(silly, valueless) forged(fake) banknotes(currency). Frederick and his men then come on to the farm and blow(blast) the windmill to pieces with explosives, although the animals manage to drive them off the farm again after a bloody battle. A few days later the pigs find a case of whisky(alcohol) in the farmhouse cellar(underground store) and get drunk.

Plot SummaryBoxer is injured while working on repairs to the windmill, and Benjamin notices that the van(the great leader) Napoleon calls to send him to the vet(veterinary doctor), has 'Horse Slaughterer' painted on the side. After Boxer has 'died in hospital' under care of the vet, the pigs mysteriously(secretly) find money to buy another case of whiskey.After many years, life is just as hard as it ever was. The pigs start walking on two legs. None of the old Commandments(rules) are left on the barn wall. A group of human farmers come to see the farm, they quarrel(fight) with the pigs over a game of cards - and the animals discover they can no longer tell which is human and which is pig.

ThemesConflict and resolution:There are many conflicts in Animal Farm. The first is in the beginning of the book the rebellion. The animals on the farm chase Mr. Jones away and after they have done that, the problem is solved. The second isnt solved at all: In the end of the book the animals see the pigs have a fight with the humans and they cant see any difference between them. A new conflict has evolved and you, as the reader, must guess what happens next.

ThemesUtopia/Dystopia Animal Farm was intended to be a Utopiabut it became a dystopia when the pigs changedit into a communist society. Old Major's ideasfor the perfect society were well placed butdid not work. Not one animal was really equaland most were not cared for as should be.

ThemesFalse Allegiance(loyalty)A final noteworthy (and again, satiric) theme is the way in which people proclaim their allegiance to each other, only to betray their true intentions at a later time. Directly related to the idea that the rulers of the rebellion (the pigs) eventually betray the ideals for which they presumably fought, this theme is dramatized in a number of relationships involving the novel's human characters.Pilkington,Jones and Fredericks, for example, only listen to Jones in the Red Lion because they secretly hope to gain something from their neighbor's misery. Similarly, Frederick's buying the firewood from Napoleon seems to form an alliance that is shattered when the pig learns of Frederick's forged banknotes.

Allegory (contd)Yet there is no reason that allegory must be limited to two levels. It is possible to argue that Animal Farm also has a third and more general level of meaning. For instance, the pigs need not only represent specific tyrannical soviet leaders. They could also be symbols for tyranny more broadly: their qualities are therefore not simply the historical characteristics of a set of actual men but are the qualities of all leaders who rely on repression and manipulation.

Squealer, Snowball, & Napoleon

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PropagandaThe pigs began to spread propaganda to theanimals when they told them that they weredoing well. The animals, being naive, believedevery word of it. Propaganda was spread toother farms, telling them about how Animal Farmwas more prosperous. They were urged to rebel.The animals also could be indoctrinated usingpropaganda. Ex: The sheep bleating.

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SatireIn a satire, the writer attacks a serious issue by presenting it in a ridiculous light or otherwise poking fun at it. Orwell uses satire to expose what he saw as the myth of Soviet socialism. Thus, the novel tells a story that people of all ages can understand, but it also tells us a second story that of the real-life revolution. Soviet Coat of Arms

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IronyIrony results when there is a disparity between what an audience would expect and what really happens. Orwell uses a particular type of irony dramatic irony. He relies on the difference between what the animals understand and what we, the audience, can conclude about the situation at Animal Farm. We know just what the animals know, but we can see so much more of its significance than they can. The conclusions we reach that the animals never quite get to that the pigs are decadent, corrupt, and immoral are all the more powerful because we arrive at them ourselves, without the narrator pointing these things out directly.

Napoleon overindulging himself.Snowball below the commandments.

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Irony (contd)Orwell uses dramatic irony to create a particularly subtle satire. Satire stages a critique of an individual, group, or idea by exaggerating faults and revealing hypocrisies. The dramatic irony of Animal Farm achieves this aim indirectly. We see the hypocrisy that the animals don't and therefore understand in this backward fashion that the book is deeply critical of the pigs.

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ThemesReligion and TyrannyAnother theme of Orwell's novel that also strikes a satiric note is the idea of religion being the "opium of the people" (as Karl Marx famously wrote).Mosesthe raven's talk of Sugar-candy Mountain originally annoys many of the animals, since Moses, known as a "teller of tales," seems an unreliable(untruthful) source. At this point, the animals are still hopeful for a better future and therefore dismiss Moses' stories of a paradise elsewhere. As their lives worsen, however, the animals begin to believe him, because "Their lives now, they reasoned, were hungry and laborious (exhausting); Was it not right and just that a better world should exist somewhere else?" Here, Orwell mocks(ridicules) the futile(useless) dreaming of a better place that clearly does not exist. The pigs allow Moses to stay on the farm and even encourage his presence by rewarding him with beer because they know that his stories of Sugar-candy Mountain will keep the animals docile(obedient). Thus Orwell implies that religious devotion( viewed by many as a noble character trait can actually distort the ways in which one thinks of his or her life on earth.

Some definitionsDefinition of allegory: Extending a metaphor through an entire speech or passage so that objects, persons, and actions in the text are equated with meanings that lie outside the text.