Conflict In Animal Farm And Animal Farm By George Orwell

Besides his severe opiate addiction, Thomas De Quincey is best known for remarking that “All that is literature seeks to communicate power…” In other words, some form of conflict takes place in every piece of literature created, and they serve to study power, whether it be fictional or saturated in history. Naturally, this quote is true for all works of literature due to the necessary presence of a central conflict or power struggle. This is particularly true for Shakespeare’s play The Taming of the Shrew, as well as the novel Animal Farm by George Orwell, because both of these classics maintain a paramount feud, in addition to several other sub-plot conflicts. George Orwell employed allegory, extended metaphor, and anthropomorphism to communicate

Orwell utilizes allegory to further his social commentary on power, as the Animal Farm is used as a metaphor to describe the state of Russian affairs during the rise of Lenin, Trotsky, and the Bolsheviks, until the rise of Stalin. Furthermore, allegory essentially acts as an extended metaphor throughout the novel, with several of the characters directly mirroring prominent figures who participated in one of the most notable dissentions in history. For example, Old Major is an allegorical symbol of Karl Marx, while Napoleon serves as Stalin, and Snowball as Trotsky. Similarly, a multitude of the characters contain elements that relate them to Lenin. In a similar manner, the characters in Animal Farm mirror disputes that occurred between the people their characters are rooted in. As an illustration, the power struggle between Snowball and Napoleon is directly related to that between Trotsky and Stalin, while the relationship between Mr. Frederick and Napoleon reflects the Nazi-Soviet Pact signed by Hitler and Stalin in nineteen thirty-nine. Understandably, a portion of the reason that the power struggle in Animal Farm is so effective is because of its roots in history. In addition to allegory, Orwell uses anthropomorphism, or the use of characterizing a non-human with human qualities, to accentuate the swelling power the pigs possess. This device was used

Animal Farm and The Taming of the Shrew by George Orwell and William Shakespeare, respectively, both illustrate how an author communicates power through works of literature. Both of these classics hinge on a paramount power struggle, while still featuring several other arguments in the sub-plots. As Thomas De Quincey believed, without the presence of the omnipotent power struggle, neither of these works of literature, nor any others, would be in