The Geographic Change In George Orwell's Animal Farm

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The geography of Animal Farm, specifically the farm which the book’s title is based on, Animal Farm, does not serve just as a setting, but a character. Regardless of its certain role, Animal Farm definitely exists for the plot. Orwell gives details about the landscape, weather, and positional cues. These geographic features are used to symbolize and to convey a certain tone. Over the course of Orwell’s allegory, Animal Farm, the readers can see how the weather, the landscape, and the positions of certain objects change. Animal Farm’s first geographic change occurs when “the gale” violently rocked “the farm buildings... on their foundations ” (Orwell 69). Because of the windy weather, “the windmill” is “in ruin” (Orwell 69). The …show more content…

The animals experience a “bitter winter” (Orwell 73). “The stormy weather” affects the farm with “hard frost”, snow, and sleet (Orwell 73). The weather is cold for a good reason. In this scene particularly, it is used to present the tone and the atmosphere of Animal Farm. Winter is commonly associated with the words cold, harshness, and “death”, in some cases also “life” (Foster 181). In the case of Animal Farm, the winter resembles closely more to the words, death and hopeless. The words, “hard frost” implies that the crops will be difficult to produce on such a soil that is covered with ice. If the animals cannot produce crops with the land they have, they will become sickly and quite possibly die. The environment of this scene gives off a tone of hopelessness. The animals’ hoped for succession in the farm. But at this point in the plot, the animals fail to keep the farm bountiful with crops. At this point, the details of the geographical feature and the animals’ situation confirm the tone to be ‘hopeless’. Although it may seem so, the weather and the change in placement of certain objects are not the only geographic features Orwell uses. Orwell also uses a setting, placed at a different altitude than as most of the settings in Animal …show more content…

Foster goes on to say that some representations of high and low altitude are similar. Out of Foster’s deductions, Orwell’s celestial setting represents death, life, and purity. Moses claims Sugarcandy Mountain to be “up there, just on the other side of” the “dark cloud” (Orwell 117). Sugarcandy Mountain, its geographic placement gives off a certain tone. Although the tone is not as obvious, it can be assumed that it is a happy, joyous place to live in, since Moses, the loquacious raven speaks of such a place in the time of need. Moses says he has seen “cake” and “sugar growing on the hedges” of Sugarcandy Mountain (Orwell 117). At this point in the plot, the animals are hungry. And for Moses to mention sweet-tasting food, means the animals have something joyful to hope for. Orwell has Moses revealing information about Sugarcandy Mountain to the give the readers and the animals some sort of hope, in that after their lives are over, these animals will be at a joyous place. Sugarcandy Mountain, if its tone were to be identified it would be ‘joyful’ and

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