Allegory In Animal Farm By George Orwell

One of the main ideas in Animal Farm, by George Orwell, is how each event in it corresponds to an event in the Russian Revolution. Orwell’s entire novel is essentially an allegory, in which each detail represents a different aspect of this historical event and the episodes surrounding it. I believe that “Animal Farm” shows that too much power can corrupt anyone. “When Old Major’s vision, later called “Animalism,” was put into practice, the pigs in charge took over and became selfish and violent, twisting the philosophy until it barely contained an echo of the original intent.” (Orwell, n.d.) This same exact thing happened with communism, as Stalin left much of the country helpless without money, and put people to death if they showed the slightest

resistance to his regime. “Old Major’s perfect vision of a farm where animals ruled without man was a direct match to Marx’s vision of a communist society. In his Communist Manifesto, Marx envisions a world where everyone is equal, and where those on the lower rungs of society have as much say as those on the upper rungs.” (Orwell, n.d.) The comparisons between Napoleon and Stalin, and Snowball and Trotsky, are relatively straightforward. At the beginnings for the novel, the two pigs lead the rebellion against Mr. Jones, just as Stalin and Trotsky played roles in the Russian Revolution under Lenin. Eventually, Stalin exiled Trotsky by using force, the same way that Napoleon drives out Snowball through the use of a pack of violent dogs he raised earlier. “When Napoleon takes over Animal Farm, he encourages the animals to work harder than ever, his sole worry when food becomes scarce is about public approval.” (Orwell, n.d.) When the hens refuse to give the pigs their eggs, Napoleon starves them until several die, and the rest give up. He later sets the dogs on a group of pigs who have expressed discontent, as well as several other possibly innocent animals. “This likely parallels Stalin’s Great Purge, which happened between 1936 and 1938, in which Stalin killed or exiled anyone who might have possibly defied him.” (Orwell, n.d.) As you can see, the novel corresponds to history in many ways. - Rayne Cohen