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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After Stalin and Napoleon rid of competition (Trotsky and Snowball), they manipulate the media and fundamentally re-write history to portray Trotsky and Snowball as the common enemy to provoke a negative union among the public. This leads to the Great Purge from 1936 to 1938. Innocent people we forced to publically confess of crimes they did not commit. Stalin had the NKVD execute anyone that posed as a threat or spoke out against his leadership, thus eliminating free speech. In 1928, Stalin wanted to adjust the agricultural system by producing crops on a larger farm rather than small individual farms. In theory, this would produce more crops but in fact, did the complete opposite and caused a widespread famine from 1931 to 1932. When this
Joseph Stalin and Napoleon are both communist with the demand for power. Both had similar ways of ruling but one main reason is that they ruled with an iron fist, and ruled by terror. If anybody opposed their word on something that most likely meant that person was going to be exterminated. “Stalin ruled by terror and with a totalitarian grip in order to eliminate anyone who might oppose him. Stalin expanded th...
George Orwell’s animal farm is an allegory about communist Russia and the Russian revolution. Animal farm represents communist Russia through animal farm. Some of the themes Orwell portrays throughout the story of animal farm are lies and deceit, rebellion and propaganda through the characters and the story of animal farm.
Soviet Russia is ruled by a totalitarian government that uses close monitoring against their citizens and encourages people to tell on each other. In the article, "Life in USSR under Stalin," when the cons of Stalin ruling Russia is listed, it states,
Orwell’s Animal Farm closely follows the people and events of the Russian Revolution. In fact, Orwell wrote Animal Farm to convey the evil correlation between revolutions and tyrannies, and to point out the fault in revolutions (“Animal Farm” Literature). The Russian Revolution came about when the Bolsheviks took power after overthrowing Czar Nicholas II and Romanov rule, around the 1920s (Smele). This revolution was the real life version of the Rebellion on Animal Farm, an event in which the animals overthrew the evil humans who owned the farm. Two of the most well-known figures of this time include Joseph Stalin and Vladimir Lenin, who both used and accentuated propaganda. In the novella, Napoleon the pig represents Stalin. Both Napoleon and Stalin became a dictator and stopped any resistance to their power through the use of propaganda (Stults). Old Major, a respec...
In 1917, Russia underwent a massive transformation. Common folk revolted against the corrupt Russian government and attempted to create a better system. However, humans are all flawed and because of this a perfect system of government is an unreachable standard. George Orwell's Animal Farm describes a situation which at first glance appears quite unrelated. In reality, Animal Farm is actually an animalistic version of the revolution. The animals in the book overthrow the farmer and strive to operate the farm without human aid. Eventually, the animal's revolution follows the same path as the Russian Revolution, the perfect intentions of the revolution soon gave away to corruption and greed as leaders chipped away at citizens' rights. Throughout the slow removal of freedom, propagandists spread the news that things were better than ever before. In Animal Farm, three characters represent key elements in a political revolution.
The characters and events that George Orwell put in his novel Animal Farm, can be linked to the similar events and people associated with the Russian Revolution. People like Joseph Stalin and Leon Trotsky can be compared and represented by the 2 pigs, Napoleon and Snowball, in Orwell’s Animal Farm. By writing this novel, Orwell attempted to expose the truth behind the totalitarian-type government in Russia at that time. However, he did this in a discreet way by using animals to symbolize the different people that played a role in the Revolution.
One of the main characters of Animal Farm is an allegorical parallel of Joseph Stalin. Napoleon is the pig that emerges as the leader of Animal Farm after the Rebellion. He represents the Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin in Animal Farm, but can easily stand for any of the great dictators in world history. Napoleon seems at first to be a good leader, but he is eventually overcome by greed and becomes power-hungry. Stalin was the same in Russia, leaving the original equality of socialism behind, giving himself all the power and living in luxury while the peasants suffered. While Stalin’s national and international status flourished, the welfare of Russia remained unchanged. In Animal Farm, Orwell writes a similar thing: “Somehow it seemed as though the farm had grown richer without making the animals themselves richer – except of course the pigs and the dogs.” In the novel, Napoleon openly seizes power for himself by using the dogs he trained to chase Snowball off Animal Farm. He banishes Snowball with no justification and rewrites history in order to further his own ends. Similarly, Stalin forced Trotsky from Russia and seized control of Russia. Stalin used his secret police ...
The 1945 novel 'Animal Farm' by George Orwell is an allegory for the Russian Revolution specifically for a variety of themes, such as lies and deceit, manipulation, and dreams and hopes. The novel shows great similarities to the Russian Revolution through these themes. In Animal Farm, Orwell portrays a society that is somewhat messed up that promises things that which people betray, which is rather quite alike our society where one is higher up than another and to be intimidated is very often. Lies and deceit, manipulation and hopes and dreams are themes that are portrayed and displayed in Animal Farm and the Russian Revolution.
George Orwell's goal in writing the novel Animal Farm was to portray the events surrounding the Russian revolution that took place in 1917. Orwell's tale of Animal Farm is seemingly a story of how a group of farmyard animals plot to overthrow their owner and seize control of the land. The novel seems to be a simple story, however Orwell wrote this book as an allegory, a story that has a clear secondary meaning beneath is literal sense. Everything in Animal Farm is used to represent people and events that took place during the Russian revolution from 1917-1939. Orwell chose to represent Russia's three famous leaders during this time with three pigs. Each three are drastically different and have dissimilar beliefs. Snowball representing Leon Trotsky, Napoleon by Josef Stalin and Old Major by Karl Marx. Orwell wrote this and many other books as warnings. The warning is that people must change their ways, or we are most surely doomed.
The idea of totalitarianism that is shown in Animal Farm is represented by the pigs treatment of the other animals. The pigs start off treating the other animals as equals but as their hunger for power increased they began to differentiate themselves from them. According to the facts on file companion to the British novel: 20th Century, vol.2 “They allocate the food that all the animals help to growing an unequal manner, reserving the milk for their own exclusive use.” (British novel: 20th Century, vol.2) Bec...
The Russian Revolution of the twentieth century represents a cycle of feudal dictatorship. Similarly, in George Orwell’s Animal Farm, Napoleon and his pigs use manipulation to succeed in their quest for total control. From exploiting the farm’s resources and withholding education to overworking the other animals, the pigs show no mercy in their power struggle.
Throughout history, a totalitarian government has proven time and time again that in the end there are negative outcomes regarding this particular style of government. In George Orwell’s novel, Animal Farm, the author accurately portrays the events occurring during the control of the Soviet Union. Orwell applies the horrors of his infamous period in history through his writings. Furthermore, the novel depicts the impacts of a totalitarian government on the citizens living under the rule, those who oppose the government, and the propaganda leaders used to influence the minds of the citizens.
George Orwell’s novel Animal Farm is a great example of allegory and political satire. The novel was written to criticize totalitarian regimes and particularly Stalin's corrupt rule in Russia. In the first chapter Orwell gives his reasons for writing the story and what he hopes it will accomplish. It also gives reference to the farm and how it relates to the conflicts of the Russian revolution. The characters, settings, and the plot were written to describe the social upheaval during that period of time and also to prove that the good nature of true communism can be turned into something atrocious by an idea as simple as greed. This essay will cover the comparisons between Animal Farm and the Russian Revolution. It will also explain why this novel is a satire and allegory to the Revolution that took place in Russia so long ago.
By the mid-1930s, Stalin had forcibly transformed the Soviet Union into a totalitarian regime and an industrial and political power. He stood unopposed as dictator and maintained his authority over the Communist Party. Stalin would not tolerate individual creativity. He saw it as a threat to the conformity and obedience required of citizens in a totalitarian state. He ushered in a period of total social control and rule by terror, rather than constitutional government.