Political Satire in Animal Farm

Political Satire in Animal Farm

George Orwell, author of the highly acclaimed Animal Farm, wrote this fable

in hopes of informing not only children, but also the population as a

whole, of his views on the Russian Revolution and the rise of communism in

that nation. The fable, a literary composition conveying a moral truth,

clearly guides the readers through the steps and outcome of the Russian

Revolution. But instead of the battle being fought and won in the streets

of Russia, Orwell chooses to portray the happenings of the Russian

Revolution on a farm based during the beginnings of the Industrial

Revolution. The animals, unhappy with their day-to-day living conditions,

rise and revolt against the tyrant Jones, the cruel and drunkard owner of

the Jones' farm.

In Animal Farm, the barn was a place for the meetings that took place, and

alternatively served as a shelter for all of the animals, except for the

pigs. The schoolhouse was a place for the pigs, and rarely other animals,

to learn to read and write and therefore grow in social power over the

other less-intelligent animals that spent their days working in order to

bring in enough food to keep the revolution alive. The farmhouse was where

the Jones family resided, before the revolution that forced them astray.

According to the commandments set forth after the revolution, no animal was

to use the farmhouse for their own personal gain, however, the pigs were

able to distort this rule so that they were able to live in luxury in this

house meant for the humans. Building the windmill proved to be an important

icon and struggle for the animals of Animal Farm, as it was destroyed twice

and never quite brought the gleefulness and comfortable life that the

animals were led to envision before-hand and during the construction by the

sinister pig Napoleon. Each character of Animal Farm represented an

important character or type-of people in the Russian Revolution, a direct

comparison between Animal Farm, and a strong political movement that

shocked the world.

Comrade Napoleon, as he insisted the other animals called him, represents

Joseph Stalin, a cruel leader during and after the revolution, who exiled

other political leaders and forced mass-executions upon the people, just as

Napoleon does in Orwell's fable. Snowball, the opposing pig and leader of