Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Russian Revolution and animal farm
Discuss animal farm as an allegory
Analysis of a novel animal farm by George Orwell
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Russian Revolution and animal farm
One of the simplest things humanly possible is to imagine a perfect world, a utopia to be exact, but to truly accomplish this task, is quite the opposite. Animal Farm is a uniquely insightful novel written by George Orwell in the year 1945 that is an allegory and satire of the Russian Revolution. Old Major as well as all of the animals that live on the farm, value freedom. However, old Major’s vision of the revolution is based on his values of equality and virtue, whilst the animals that have achieved freedom, value supremacy, and survival. They all share a common value of freedom because they wish to be free of human control. Old Major values impartiality since he wants everyone on the farm to be treated as equals, yet what happens after the revolution is that a new hierarchical system is created with the pigs replacing the humans. The animals also value survival because rather than following the high merits old Major had envisioned by doing everything the right way, without violence and also by avoiding becoming as corrupt as the humans have become. They decided to do whatever it takes in order to survive, even if that means going against their beliefs such as engaging in trade which was strictly forbidden in the past.
To being, the novel Animal Farm has an undeniable sole objective of freedom, which is shared amongst Old Major’s vision and the current situation within the novel. Old Major indicates that he wants freedom for the animals from the humans during his motivational speech. He attempts to explain to the animals just how cruel and heartless human beings truly are by stating, “’Is it not crystal clear, then, comrades that all the evils from this life spring from the tyranny of human beings? Only get rid of man, the prod...
... middle of paper ...
...ieces.
To conclude, Old Major’s vision and what actually occurred on the farm once the revolution had taken place, shared a common objective, to attain freedom from human beings. This goal was shared since all of the animals thought that Man was the breeding ground of all things evil. These two separate realities hit a road block when it came to how power should be used and how decisions should be made. The animals after the rebellion were more focused on power and surviving, while the lifestyle Old Major had envisioned after the revolution was more focused on equality amongst animals and following the right path, no matter what hardships may arise. Animal Farm by George Orwell has an allegory of a storyline which establishes to the reader that dreaming about something is facile, since actually having to live through it can be one of the biggest nightmares alive.
At the beginning of George Orwell’s Animal Farm, an aging pig named Old Major gives a speech to the rest of the animals. In his speech, he explains to them how awful their lives are in order to shows them that the Rebellion against Man, their one true enemy, will come soon. Old Major appeals to the animal’s emotions by using rhetorical questions and fear to effectively persuade the animals of the coming Rebellion.
“All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than other.” is one of the most famous quotes from George Orwell’s Animal Farm. From afar, Animal Farm is a fictitious novel with no real substance, but when carefully read, it is a chilling allegory of the horrors of the Russian Revolution. Orwell stresses in the novel, the dangers that go along with a bureaucratic or totalitarian regime. The novel supports the idea that Communism is an unethical and unjust system of government and damages society. While Orwell hides the fact that the novel has information, identical to events pertaining to Russia during the 1940’s, he utilizes it in an innocent way by using simple farm animals to directly compare different events and characters of the revolution.
It was was a dark night, all the animals huddled around Old Major to hear what he had to say about his dream. It turns out Old Major talks about rebelling against man so that all animals can have a better life. Ironically, after Rebellion, no one except Napoleon has a better life and he makes their lives even harsher. This is a story of communism, this is the story of Animal Farm.
The actions of the pigs express this theme by starting with good intentions, but slowly becoming more and more like what they were trying to avoid. In the beginning of the story Old Major gives a speech to the animals on the farm, and in this speech he mentions how cruel the humans are. During his speech Old Major uses Boxer the horse as an example when he says “You, Boxer, the very day that those great muscles of yours lose their power, Jones will sell you to the knacker, who will cut your throat and boil you down for the foxhounds.” (Orwell 11). He then proceeds to tell the animals that once they revolt the cruelty will end, and at first it does, but soon the pigs begin to act more like humans. The pi...
In today’s world, people have always strived to create a utopian society. In the novel ANIMAL FARM written by George Orwell, the animals strive to create their own utopian society based on equality and prosperity. Animalism was created to, as like the Ten Commandments, Animalism’s Seven Commandments were rules for the animals to live by. However, similar to God’s rules, Animalism was a difficult concept for all the animals to follow and live by. Secondly, the collapse of Animal Farm was due to the animal’s own intelligence and their ability to fully understand how the farm was being run. Finally, the failure of Animal Farm was due to in large part by the pigs power over the other animals and the greed and desires that the pigs wanted to achieve. Therefore, the collapse of Animal Farm had to do with Animalism itself, the animals, and the corruption of the pigs.
The history of the human race follows a plot detailing the struggles and triumphs of various individuals with the concepts of power and control. In George Orwell’s novel, Animal Farm, these elaborate concepts are further explored through various characters such as the shire boar, Napoleon. Napoleon’s ability to exercise control over the animals derives from his capability to indoctrinate them with his partial ideologies. Napoleon then further clasps his power by his avail of expert power throughout the novel. Finally, the excessive and abusive use of coercive power, secures Napoleon’s control over the animals. In George Orwell’s Animal Farm Napoleon assumes the reins of power over the animals and controls them by means of physiological manipulations.
Animal Farm, written by George Orwell, is a dystopian allegory. Its book cover sports a red and black background, with a pig (presumably Snowball) sneaking in front of a windmill. Set in Manor Farm, a group of farm animals are mistreated by their owner, Mr. Jones. Shortly before Old Major, an old, highly-respected pig, dies, he tells all the animals to revolt against Mr. Jones. After his death, and shortly after, the expulsion of Mr. Jones, leadership on the farm is divided between Snowball and Napoleon, two intelligent pigs who utilize conflicting methods of rule. Initially, they held equal sway among the other, less intelligent residents of the farm. However, when Snowball, a passionate speaker, tried to convince the farm to build a windmill to make their lives easier, Napoleon set vicious dogs he had raised himself to drive Snowball out of the farm. Justifying this by saying the windmill was a useless idea that would overburden the farm, Napoleon takes sole authority of the farm, leading the animals in an increasingly harsh manner. Ironically, Napoleon also makes a plan to build a...
Old Major, a eminent pig on the Jones farm, is regarded as the wise superior by the other animals. He has had a strange dream and calls the other animals together to talk about their disastrous situation. Old major declares: ';Let us face it, our lives are miserable, laborious and short';. He declares in Marxist terms that Man is the problem: ';Only get rid of the Man, and the produce of our labour would be our own. Almost overnight we could be rich and free. What then must we do? Why, work night and day, body and soul, for the overthrow of the human race! That is my message to you, comrades. Rebellion!';
The novel opens with Mr. Jones not locking up the barn properly because he is so drunk. The animals taking advantage of the situation have a meeting planned to hear about the dream that Old Major had the previous night. Old Major speaks about his idea of something he calls animalism. This is the idea he has of the humans that control them and mistreat them. In his dream he describes a world without humans and the animals doing all the work for no one but themselves. He also teaches them a song that his mother taught him “Beasts of England.” Old Major dies a few days later and the animals waste no time in planning a revolution because of the recent worse treatment by Mr. Jones. The pigs are the ...
In George Orwell’s Animal Farm we get a glimpse of a strange switch in totalitarian rule. From Mr. Jones a cruel farmer who feeds his animals to little and works them to hard, to Napolean a pig that will have you killed for a bottle of liquor. Through stupidity, narrow mindedness and pure cowardice of some animals we view the inevitable as the farm animals become ruled by pigs. Old Major probably not the first animal to think of as an animal to ruin a utopia for the farm, is in most cases not a favored example to contribute to the pigs takeover. This pig finally near the end of his better than average life chose to create a rebellion against the then in power Mr. Jones. A truly justifiable act executed in a time to late, for Major died to soon to lead the farm. If Old Major had summed up an ounce of courage in his closer to piglet years further and earlier then his dying days the animals might have had a chance of a better life. Old Major can be seen as him being a late coward having what is thought on the farm to be a good life trying to end it a false legend or maybe Old Major was a slow hero wanting to leave a better life for his friends. Still though we should agree that for Old Major’s failing action or neglect was the time he chose to start a rebellion, in the few days before he died.
George Orwell’s Animal Farm is a political satire of a totalitarian society ruled by a mighty dictatorship, in all probability a fable for the events surrounding the Russian Revolution of 1917. The animals of “Manor Farm” overthrow their human master after a long history of mistreatment. Led by the pigs, the farm animals continue to do their work, only with more pride, knowing that they are working for themselves, as opposed to working for humans. Little by little, the pigs become dominant, gaining more power and advantage over the other animals, so much so that they become as corrupt and power-hungry as their predecessors, the humans.
Imagine a world where every person is equal: everyone has the same possessions, everyone shows respect to each other, no one kills anyone else, and no authority rises over others to give dictating commands. It sounds wonderful doesn’t it? George Orwell’s haunting book Animal Farm shows however, the near impossibility it is to make that idea a reality. In this fairy tale, a group of oppressed farm animals revolt against the tyrannical bonds of their evil master Farmer Jones, chases him off the farm, and attempt to make a society based on the idea listed above. But instead of having this incredible society, the pigs decide to make one instead where they are the ultimate authority. This book highlights the dangers of trying to establish an equal society under the ideas of communism, and also has poignant symbolic characters that display historical figures in new lights.
Old Major, who is a respected animal on the farm, had given a speech to stir the animals emotion into rebellion. He used his power of respect and trust to persuade the others to pursue the vision in his dream. “Old Major was so highly regarded on the farm that everyone was quite ready to lose an hour’s sleep in order to hear what he had to say” (Orwell 15). Old Major’s dream was for the earth to be ruled by animals. Old Major strongly believed that animals have only one adversary. “Man is the only real enemy we have” (19). His oration inspired and energized the listeners. “At this moment there was a tremendous uproar” (21). Old Major had all the power and history has proven that dictatorship does not work, due to the fact that, power leads to corruption in a communism style government. The power Old Major held led his friends into taking action in what he desired to do, which led to rebellion and future tragedies. Power corrupted society and absolute power that is eventually obtained becomes corrupt within. (Lord Acton).
The animals in the book “Animal Farm” hoped to achieve unity, equality. trust/truth, prosperity, better quality of life, freedom and individuality, in terms of the revolution. This was achieved at the beginning of the revolution, which made it a success, but in the end the revolution was a failure. The farm, in many ways, was very prosperous when the revolution began. The animals were given an education, “the reading and writing classes were however a great success,” which made them feel equal to the humans because they were now learning in the same way the humans did.
It was the glorious speech from Old Major that made the animals want to rebel so badly. Animal Farm, written by George Orwell is an excellent novel that portrays the need for power. It shows how power can be used for either good or evil. The story begins on Manor Farm, owned by a farmer named Mr. Jones. One of the pigs, named Old Major, gives a speech that motivates the animals to rebel. After a while, the animals ended up rebelling, and managed to kick out Mr. Jones. During the beginning of “Animal Farm’s” reign under Snowball and Napoleon’s (main characters) lead, it brought the animals on Manor Farm together into a peaceful world. However, after this initial stance of power, Snowball and Napoleon began to fight for it. In the end, Napoleon ends up with control of the farm and Snowball is never seen again. Power is a corrupting influence in Animal Farm and both Snowball and Napoleon’s way of leading are very different.