Animal Farm Research Paper

Kelley Fulce

Research Paper

English IV

1 May 2017

Animal Farm Animal Farm, a novel by George Orwell, was written and published in August 1945. The book, according to the author, represents the events leading up to the Russian Revolution, which took place in 1917, and later the Stalinist era of the Soviet Union. Orwell was a critic of Joseph Stalin and used this novel to express what he thought was the corruptness of Stalinism. He uses the farm to symbolize the area of Russia, and uses the animals of the novel to represent leaders and other key members of the Russian Revolution and the Soviet Union. The story begins with Old Major, a boar who knows he hasn’t much time left, calling all the animals

Frederick, and is successfully defended once again although the windmill is destroyed again and Boxer, the farms workhorse, becomes injured which would not stop him from working all up until his eventual collapse. Napoleon then gets a van to deliver Boxer to the veterinarian, which ended up being a cover up as Napoleon had instead sold Boxer to a knacker were Boxer would be ‘put down’, allowing him to buy him and his committee whisky. The purchase of whisky was only the first way the pigs began to resemble humans, as they also started to wear clothes, sleep in beds, and even wear clothes. The Seven Commandments that the revolution was based on were also changed to a single phrase; “All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than other”. Napoleon also creates an alliance with local farmers and returns the name of the farm back to Manor Farm. The animals then realise they cannot tell the difference between the pigs and

Old Major, a combination of Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin, inspired the rebellion and got the animals of the farm behind the whole idea. Napoleon, a depiction of Joseph Stalin, was the main villain who ended up being disliked by nearly all the animals much like Joseph Stalin, and Snowball, the original leader, was Napoleon’s rival and was an allegory of Leon Trotsky. Squealer, who became Napoleon’s protege, held the same position of Vyacheslav Molotov, who was Stalin’s second-in-command. Mr. Frederick is the stern owner of the farm next door and is feared by both his animals and the animals of Animal Farm. He is rumored to be abusing the animals of his farm and is most likely a representation of Adolf Hitler during the time of Soviet Russia. Boxer is meant to represent the loyal, hard-working, and enthusiastic workers the Soviets hired to do whatever job they would need to be