Orwell's Portrayal of the Characters in the Last Chapter of Animal Farm

This essay will examine how Orwell portrays the characters and develops the plot in the last chapter of Animal Farm to demonstrate the satirical techniques utilised in the text, such as allusion, sarcasm, exaggeration, metaphor and irony, to undermine Russian revolution indirectly.

Most characters are allusion to certain figures in the revolution. To present them in a subtle yet suggestive way, their names are carefully selected with implications of their personalities and roles. Take the pigs for example. In order to parody Stalin, the pig Napoleon is named after Napoleon Bonaparte, who also transformed the revolution into dictatorship one century ago. Squealer, the living Pravda, playing the role of ‘the tongue and throat’ of Napoleon, gets the name from the onomatopoeia. Similarly, the name Snowball not only recalls Trotsky’s grey hair and beard but also implies the pig’s exile from the farm, as it will melt eventually.

Other techniques such as sarcasm and exaggeration are also employed to portray the characters. For example, when depicting Squealer, bitter and caustic language like “Squealer was so fat he could with difficulty see out of his eyes” and “not quite used to supporting his considerable bulk in that position” is used to overstate and ridicule his obesity. However, the aim here is not to criticise him being too fat, but to imply writer’s repugnance for this subject deliberately and encourage the audience to adopt the same negative attitude in an unconscious way. Moreover, many animal displays one dominant trait throughout the story and all the other personality features are omitted. For instance, Benjamin is an intelligent sceptic and always sticks to the “unalterable law of life” (p.50) even when all other animal...

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...fore, in Orwell’s book, the Soviet Union or Stalin is not condemned for being socialist, but for betraying and distorting socialism.

In conclusion, various techniques are utilised in the text to reveal the Soviet myth in a subtle way that could still be readily understood. In terms of the characters, a careful selection of their names that fit both their personalities and roles helps to keep the allusion implicative. Sarcasm and exaggeration techniques are also applied to present author’s instructive attitude towards the characters while exposing their weaknesses through simplified and easily recognised traits. On the level of plot structure, the stark contrasts between multiple metaphors, between intentions and results, between words and facts, between dreams and reality all contribute to the dramatic and intense irony that undermines the target effectively.