“Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely” Lord Acton. Although it has
been nearly over sixty nine years since the release of George Orwell’s “Animal Farm” the
ultimate meaning of this satire is still up for agreement. This paper will explore Orwell’s satirical
incite on how the corrupt nature of power on Animal Farm, mirrors that of Marxism and of 20th
century communism, but more importantly how in this day age Orwell’s classic allegory has
much needed relevance. Napoleon is not a just leader, or a democratic leader, nor is he even the
great liberator of Animal Farm. Like Josef Stalin and Adolf Hitler, Napoleon is a tyrannical
dictator. Throughout “Animal Farm” the political rhetoric and propaganda that Orwell fuses
together with the imaginary gives us a view on revolution can quickly turn into tyranny or in his
words how “…revolution always ends badly for the underdog” (Davidson)
During the early part of the 20th Century almost all European countries where empires
and ruled solely by monarchies, but there would be a swift change to that rule, which would
forever change Europe and its aristocracies. Communism based upon a variant of the ideology of
Marxism by the sociologist Karl Marx, gained a significant amount of support across Europe,
particularly in Russia. For Russians and Russia, the early part of the century had been a
tumultuous one. Famine, basis social structures, civil war and a huge World War where
everyday worries, along with a impassive dictator who could have cared less about the Russian
underclass. The rise of communism changed all of that. In a brutal yet seemingly short
Revolution, Russia’s power structure changed from Imperialism to Communism ostensibly
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...y, Animal Farm is “…the first British post-war II novel embodying a fundamental turning point in world historical mood.” The book
has been an everlasting testament throughout the times because of its enduring message.
“…Revolutionaries, once in power, often become as repressive as the people they have overthrown. All too often the oppressed become the oppressors.” (Simon). The struggle for preeminence between the two rival pigs, demonstrates how in both fictional and historical circumstances the abandonment of founding principles for the oppressive rules of government.
For Orwell the “turning point of the story was supposed to be when the pigs kept the milk and apples for themselves” (Davidson) signaling the pigs turn from a socialist animal utopia, to the adoption of a repressive regime that adopted the traits and behaviors of their original oppressors
This was, of course, only a humorous exaggeration, a case of political satire. Yet beneath the humor, there lies a very profound testament to the belief that Russia's political culture has been inherited from its czarist days and manifested throughout its subsequent development. The traditions from the pre-Revolution and pre-1921 Russia, it seems, had left its brand on the 70-years of Communist rule. The Soviet communism system was at once a foreign import from Germany and a Russian creation: "on the one hand it is international and a world phenomenon; on the other hand it is national and Russian…it was Russian history which determined its limits and shaped its character." (Berdyaev, "Origin")
“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.
In the end Orwell gives one final allegory to the corruption of communism and how it compared to real life events. When The pigs are plying card with the farmer and Frederickson they both try to cheat each other, showing the real liofe events that would lead to the cold war.
... while offering a critique on stalins’s Soviet Russia, and communism in general. Orwell is revolutionary in his work, as in 1945, communism was a “taboo” subject, punishable in post- war America by arrest and even death. Every aspect of context is explored in Animal Farm is an allegory of the situation at the beginning of the 1950’s and employs a third person narrator, who reports events without commenting on them directly. Animal Farm represents both the making and the breaking of communist society. The birth of the communist agenda in animal Farm is brought by the character “old major”. The conclusion is that Animal farm and Marxism have a lot in common.
Kearney, Anthony. "Orwell's Animal Farm and 1984." Explicator 54.4 (1996): 238-240. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 2 Apr. 2011.
In the book Napoleon began his leadership role quite well, with his ideas being fair and with a positive meaning. As the story continues he becomes more corrupt, and his ideas turn into a dictatorship. “Napoleon lead the animals back to the store-shed and served out a double portion of corn to everyone, with two biscuits for each dog.” As time went on his true nature, of a power crazy character begins to surface, he becomes more selfish and the principle idea of equality no longer exists. The farm is run on terror, and no animal dare speak out against him, for fear of death. “The news leaked out that every pig was receiving a ration of a pint of bear daily, with half a gallon for Napoleon.”
In “Animal Farm” where the word Animalism is created, is used to describe the movement for the animals that can work for themselves. Mr. Jones owns the Farm where the book takes place. In the first chapter, the animal’s labor is best described as slavery. The animals were all poorly fed and overworked. Uproar for a revolution was approaching. Old Major, an old pig of the farm tells the animals the idea of a revolution to all of the animals. In Communism’s “Communist Manifesto” Communism also talks about a change that must occur. The animals hated the dictatorship of the humans and wished to rule themselves where all animals were equal. Communism was also based on the belief that all people were equal. The common people were tired of the rich getting richer while the poor kept getting poorer. Animalism supported the ...
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.
Throughout Animal Farm, George Orwell stresses the importance of thinking for oneself and always questioning the authority, especially in the face of the myriads of propaganda tactics that are constantly used. In this modern day and age, propaganda techniques continue to flourish amongst the governments of the world, ensuring that one must always be on their guard against tactics such as revisionist history, black-white fallacy, and scapegoating. Only those who do not fear to question can ever be truly free to think their own thoughts.
This story Animal Farm by George Orwell is a novel about an animal revolution over an oppressive farmer. The irony in the story comes when the pigs turn into the very thing revolted against. They exhibit the same cruelty by treating the other animals the same or even worse than previous owners. This cycle of cruelty is shown in the Russian revolution by Joseph Stalin who is represented by Napoleon in the story. Cruelty in animal farm is shown by the human’s treatment of the animals, and the animal’s eventual treatment of each other and the ironic characteristics of the two.
Animal Farm is indeed communist propaganda. It describes how the animals overthrow the farmer and drive all humans from the farm. The animals create a set of laws, designed to eradicate all hints of humanity; humanity, of course, represents the capitalist government. The animals call each other "comrade", a clear reference to communism, and after the revolution the animals are described as being "happy as they had never conceived it possible to be" (Orwell 46).
Author, George Orwell published his novel, Animal Farm in the mid 1940’s. it is a dark, “Fairy story”, describing an imaginary society of animals living in a farm, under miserable conditions, being treated badly by the farm’s owners, Mr & Mrs Jones. Their rebellion under its rule and the creation of a new system of living leading to that new systems’ eventual decline. Whilst this fable is based on Orwell’s view of political systems of a totalitarian nature at the time, in particular communism, it is equally indicative of many other political systems that seek to control its population and not allowing individual freedom under its authority.
George Orwell is a well-known author of many famous books, many of which are critiques of various governments, such as his popular book Animal Farm. Described by Orwell as his favorite book, Animal Farm describes the experience of animals on a farm as they try to set up a government for themselves after they revolted against their cruel human taskmasters. The book is an allegory of the Soviet Union and the communist system of government that it employed. Because of the political nature of the book, its reception was greatly varied, depending on the political climate of the time (Rodden, “Appreciating” 67). Orwell’s book, Animal Farm, initially rejected by many, later went on to be a bestseller and is now considered a classic,
Animal Farm satirizes the Russian revolution and magnifies the flaws of communism and totalitarianism in the composition of a fairy tale. The book “Animal Farm,” was published in 1945, by George Orwell. Orwell writes to show the result of all people being equal…”but some are more equal than others.” Through a third person perspective Orwell clearly depicts the naïve loyalty of the individuals to the leaders, and the deceptive manipulation by the leading positions. Orwell puts communism and totalitarianism under a microscope and exposes the realistic outcomes these society’s produce, while satirizing with a fairy-tale story of talking animals and tyrannical pigs.
The novel “Animal Farm” written by George Orwell revolves around the themes of dreams, hopes and plans. In the novel these themes clash with one another and bring out the turmoil in the novel. The writer has carefully chosen the appropriate characters which are helpful to bring out these themes. The animals in the farm, who insanely fallowed the dreamy utopian concepts which promised them a world of which everyone works well with each other and is happy, finally trapped and enslaved by the same concepts they fallowed. Anyone may argue that it is the self-centered rulers, the pigs who have power over the poor animal transform ‘the dream of a better or more perfect society in “Animal Farm” into a totalitarian nightmare.’ This paper discusses ‘the main causes that transformed the dream of a better or more perfect society in “Animal Farm” into a totalitarian nightmare’, such as intellectual inferiority, violation of rules and regulation, lack of education and awareness in relation to the “actions” and the behavior of the subjected animals.