Totalitarianism in Animal Farm

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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.

When someone lives in a totalitarian dictatorship, they would have absolutely no freedom. Totalitarianism is a form of government in which the national government has complete control over every aspect of both private and political life (Landestoy). When Stalin came to power during the 1930s, he took over every single aspect of Russia. While living under these dictators, civilians could not speak their mind, had no freedom, and had to live under the rulings of the dictator. The dictator would set all the rules and punishments for anyone in violation of the rules. If anyone disobeyed Stalin, that person would be sentenced to death.

Therefore, totalitarian dictatorship was evident through Russia’s history and in Animal Farm. In both cases, these dictators did not care about the welfare of their civilians, they only cared about themselves.

Looking back through Russia’s history, you can very closely compare certain political figures to the characters in Animal Farm. In the book Old Major represents Karl Marx. The revolutionary ideals of Karl Marx are the same as the opinions that Old Major has about the revo...

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