Animal Farm by George Orwell

They set up a commune under the control of the pigs soon afterwards. But the pigs abuse their power and the animals end up being no better off than they were under Farmer Jones. Animal Farm, a parody of the Russian Revolution, is Orwell’s attempt to inform others about a purveying truth regarding human nature- that power is, by its very nature, corrupting. This is why “history consists of a series of swindles where the masses are first lead into revolt… and enslaved all over again”. Old Major, representing both Marx and Lenin, is the catalyst for the revolution.

Animal Farm George Orwell                                             4-19-02 Book Review # Plot Summary George Orwell’s Animal Farm is a political satire of a totalitarian society ruled by a mighty dictatorship, in all probability a fable for the events surrounding the Russian Revolution of 1917. The animals of “Manor Farm” overthrow their human master after a long history of mistreatment. Led by the pigs, the farm animals continue to do their work, only with more pride, knowing that they are working for themselves, as opposed to working for humans. Little by little, the pigs become dominant, gaining more power and advantage over the other animals, so much so that they become as corrupt and power-hungry as their predecessors, the humans. Characterization Major is a white boar, he is old and wise.

Some of these animals’ names are Old Major, Snowball, and Napoleon. They are all pigs from the farm. The animals on the farm get tired of how they are getting badly treated. So they end up overthrowing their farm owner Mr. Jones. After they overthrow their owner, the pigs start taking over the farm and taking control over all the other animals in the farm.

Shortly after, Napoleon takes the spot light and takes charge along with the other pigs. He argues that dishonesty becomes present within the environment and their ideas and their views are all different. In this story the animals send away the unkind humans out of the farm, and change the name of their home from Manor Farm to Animal Farm. George Orwell embodies the Russian corruption of communism into the pigs upon the farm. Mr. Jones was irresponsible to his animals by letting them starve, and very cruel by beating them with whips.

The pigs then become almost exactly like the humans. The most important pigs are Napoleon and Snowball, that is until Napoleon throws Snowball from the farm. It is throughout this satire that Orwell illustrates how power corrupts by showing the pigs actions. Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely is a concept widely understood after having read Orwell’s satire. It is first shown when the pigs take the milk and apples, explaining to the rest of the animals that everyone is equal, but some are just more “equal” than others.

After a while “Animal Farm” begins to go down hill there is food shortages, hard labor, and death. However, because Napoleon is intelligent he uses his and Squealer’s knowledge to undermine the other animals that are not so bright. Napoleon’s complete power only results in the destruction of the society. Only the pigs are well cared for and the other animals work all day and everyday thinking that they are happy even though they are not. The book Animal Farm is a great example that if one person has complete power only destructive things will end up happening because that one person is only thing of themselves.

The book Animal Farm, is a political satire of a totalitarian society ruled by a mighty dictatorship, in all probability an allegory for the events surrounding the Russian Revolution. The animals of "Manor Farm" overthrow their human master (Mr. Jones) after a long history of mistreatment. Little by little, the pigs become dominant, gaining more power and advantage over the other animals, so much so that they become as corrupt and power-hungry as their predecessors, the humans. Major (an old boar) tells them that the source of all their problems is man, and that they must remove man from their midst for hopes of a Utopia. After Major's death Napoleon and Snowball, two boars led the rebellion where soon things start to change.

He declares that only the pigs have the power to make decisions for the farm and that all the other animals will obey them. Napoleon’s pig-in-crime, Squealer, gives explanation for all of Napoleon's actions with skillful but deceitful revisions of Animalist principles. Napoleon keeps strengthening his power causing more animals to be scared of him, which in turn, gives him less enemies. The common animals continue to obey the pigs in hope for a better future. Napoleon begins to ally with neighboring farms so that there is no way out for the common animals and they are now unknowingly trapped.

The use of language is a major factor in George Orwell’s book, “Animal Farm.” Orwell constructs rhetoric the most through the pigs because it is how they gain power and become the highest class on the Manor Farm. The pigs use rhetoric to convince the other animals to go through with the rebellion, to harvest, to build the windmill, and to accept the changes made on the farm by using the three appeals: logos, pathos, and ethos. Rhetoric is first used by the pig Old Major whenever he is convincing the other animals that there is a rebellion coming. He says, “and the very instant that our usefulness has come to an end we are slaughtered with hideous cruelty.” He uses this as pathos to connect to their emotions and make them believe that humans

It is clear to us that the pigs are using their intelligence to trick the other animals and play mind games with them. Orwell describes Snowball as a "more vivacious pig than Napoleon." We can see this whilst he is still on the farm, as he is always doing things to benefit the whole of the farm, not just himself whereas Napoleon is. "Snowball made a little speech, emphasizing the need for all animals to be ready to die for Animal farm if need be." It is evident from this quote that Snowball is very passionate about the farm and will do anything to improve it.