Animal Farm, written by George Orwell, depicts a group of animals who plot to destroy their master, Mr. Jones. The oldest and wisest pig on the farm, "Old Major," told the other animals a story about a revolt called, "The Rebellion." The pigs, which were considered to be the most intelligent of all the animals, devised a plan and successfully conquered Manor Farm. The animals ran the farm effectively, with the pigs overseeing and constantly developing new ideas. One pig, Snowball, was in favor of the improvements of the farm, while another pig, Napoleon, was seeking only personal success. They were both adamant about their viewpoints and often argued. When Snowball introduced a new plan to build a windmill, Napoleon disagreed and convinced the animals that snowball had ulterior motives, and that he should be banished from Animal Farm. The animals followed Napoleon who later adopted the windmill plan as his own. He slowly took over the farm by making subtle changes that boosted his rise in power. In the end, the pigs took on the characteristics of men, and the animals regressed into their former lifestyles.
Animal Farm has many mimetic qualities. One such quality is demonstrated in the use of symbolism. The animals, representing people, overthrow their authority. This is similar to the situation in the Russian Revolution. The people followed Lenin and overthrew the czar, the same as the animals overthrew Mr. Jones. A second mimetic example is in Napoleon's rise to power. He easily took control by making subtle changes and slowly turning all of the animals against Snowball. One way in which Animal Farm is unrealistic is that animals are not actually capable of taking over and running a farm. It is also unreali...
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... state. When Stalin disagreed with Trotsky, he had Trotsky murdered and took total control of the USSR. Instead of leading the farm in complete animalism as originally planned, Napoleon only became the enemy they had just defeated. Stalin, instead of leading the USSR in communism, slowly led it into a totalitarianism government.
This allegorical novel serves as a clear interpretation of the Russian Revolution. Orwell's description of Snowball and Napoleon clearly depicts Trotsky and Stalin. Also, the comparable circumstances, such as the hatred for the farmer (the czar), and the overworked animals (the people), made the novel realistic. The characters are so similar that one can easily understand the connection between the novel and the revolution. This work can serve as a reminder of the suffering that so many people endured to protect their freedom.
Thesis statement: Joseph Stalin was accurately embodied throughout this story through the pig Napoleon, Orwell’s representation of Stalin, who showed his attributes clearly.
There are several themes in Animal Farm, some including: Leadership and corruption, control of naïve working class, lies and deception, and dreams and hopes. The main themes in Animal Farm leadership and corruption. Animal Farm portrays the history of the Russian Revolution by retelling the development of communism. In the novel, by overthrowing Mr. Jones, the animals give the power to the pigs who take complete control of the farm. The struggle for superiority between Leon Trotsky, a Russian revolutionary, and Stalin, a Soviet statesman, is portrayed by the rivalry between the pigs, Napoleon and Snowball. In both cases, the less powerful one, Trotsky and Snowball, is eliminated by the more superior one, Stalin and Napoleon. Stalin's rule and abandonment of the founding principles of the Russian Revolution are portrayed when the pigs adopt human traits and behaviors, which they originally tried to escape. “Twelve voices were shouting in anger, and they were all alike. No question, now, what had happened to the faces of the pigs. The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from ...
The saying “history repeats itself” is used quite often, but how many times have you actually seen it happen? The book Animal Farm portrays the idea of history repeating itself. The character Benjamin and the pigs in the story show history repeating itself throughout the book. In addition to these characters within the book, North Korea displays history's repetition outside the book.
5. Setting is a working farm. The setting allows the microcosm of the Animal Farm to be basically undisturbed. Had it been close to a big city or other small towns, then there would have been more interruptions and challenges to Napoleon’s take
One of the main characters of Animal Farm is the heartless and merciless leader Napoleon. Napoleon is a leader that prefers to have things his way and not cooperate with others, in other words really obnoxious. For example “He declared himself against the windmill from the start. One day, however, he arrived unexpectedly to examine the plan. He walked heavily round the sled, looked closely at every detail of the plans and snuffed at them once or twice, then stood for a little while contemplating them out of the corner of his eye; then suddenly lifted his leg, urinated over the plans and walked out without uttering a word.”(Page 33, chapter5) Thus, this proves that Napoleon is an obnoxious pig because just because he was against Snowball’s windmill idea he urinated all over his work so he could get his way.
There is a substantial amount of conflicts that occur in this satirical story. Often these conflicts are between the pigs and the rest of the animals. Only a minute portion of the animals didn’t really have some sort of conflict with Snowball, Napoleon, Squealer, or the rest of the dominating pigs. Overall, Snowball was a better leader than Napoleon, yet the animals reacted differently to Napoleon than to Snowball.
Just as during the revolution, when at first Stalin was fair and just but as he was given power he turns into a corrupt man with dictatorship qualities. He became more selfish and sinister. When securing his power base he engineered the permanent exile of Trotsky. This compares to the book, when Napoleon and his ‘nine sturdy puppies’ chased Snowball out of the farm. Napoleon then proceeds to portray his true nature of an assassin.
As soon as Old Major had died Napoleon took his place as the leader of
Pigs walking on two feet, horses and sheep talking. This is how George Orwell satirizes human nature in his classic novel Animal Farm. Animal Farm is an allegory of the Russian Revolution of 1917. The title of the book is also the setting for the action in the novel. The animals in the story decide to have a revolution and take control of the farm from the humans. Soon the story shows us how certain groups move from the original ideals of the revolution to a situation where there is domination by one group and submission by all the others. The major idea in this story is the political corruption of what was once a pure political ideal. Orwell uses satire to ridicule human traits in his characters such as Napoleon and Squealer. There are several different characters in the novel utilizing animals as symbols of people in real life during the Russian Revolution. Napoleon is the leader of the pigs that ultimately come to dominate the farm. The characteristics that we associate with pigs , lazy, greedy, and pushy are meant to symbolize the characteristics that the leaders of the Russian Revolution exhibited. Napoleon is admired by all of the animals because he is their leader. All of the animals believe that their leader wants to fulfill all of their needs. They also are convinced that Napoleon’s decisions are made the best interest of the animals. Napoleon’s piglike qualities are shown throughout the story. He exhibited greediness when he sold the dying horse, Boxer to a slaughterhouse for money so that he and the other pigs could purchase whiskey. Orwell ridicules human nature through Napoleon in the sense that he is trying to show how the greedy and power hungry eventually end in corruption.
In Conclusion, Orwell?s reason for writing this novel, was to educate people about the atrocities being committed through his own experiences during the Russian revolution. Snowball, Napoleon and Old Major were made as pigs ? the smartest of barnyard animals? to show that even the strongest people can be corrupted by power. Marx, Stalin and Lenin, the three most influential men during the Russian Revolution, were perfectly mirrored by the pig that best represents them. Orwell?s reason for righting Animal Farm as an Allegory was warn others that unless humans change their ways, we will be swept away by the lust for power, and live in a world of hate and misery.
Animal Farm by George Orwell is a satire of the Russian Revolution that took place during the late 1930s. Orwell uses vibrant characters such as Snowball, Old Major, and Napoleon to represent some of Russia’s horrific past. While Old Major represents the idea of revolution and Snowball represents the idea of industrialism, Napoleon represents the totalitarian dictatorship in Russia. Animal Farm is a good example of what happened to Russia during this time period. While Animal Farm could represent any dictatorship, it more specifically represents the totalitarianism brought on by Joseph Stalin through communism.
Animal Farm is a fairy-tale with a much deeper topic of the Russian Revolution hidden in satires. It presents the unjust “equality” promised through communism. The book satirizes the dictatorship manipulation, and the citizen’s blatant innocent trust in their leaders. Orwell tells of communism and totalitarianism through the outside perspective, revealing the many faults of such societies.
Stalin was able to get Trotsky kicked out of Russia, and became Supreme Soviet Leader by 1928.... ... middle of paper ... ... Napoleon and Stalin both had a plan to make the place they controlled better, but they did not have to do the work, the people that they ruled had to.
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.
“When I sit down to write a book, I do not say to myself ‘I am going to produce a work of art.’ I write because there is some lie I want to expose and some fact I want to draw attention to…”