ANIMAL FARM (Essay 1)
Book written by George Orwell
George Orwell's novel Animal Farm does an excellent job of drawing parallels from the
situation leading up to the Russian Revolution of 1917. Animal Farm is a satire that uses
its characters to symbolize leaders of the Russian Revolution. The animals of "Manor
Farm", the setting of this novel, which symbolizes Russia, overthrow their human
master after years 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 their human master, Farmer Jones. Slowly over time the pigs gain power and
take advantage of the other animals. They gain so much power that they become just as
power hungry and corrupt as their human master. The theme in the novel being that in every
society there are leaders who will, if given the chance, likely abuse their position.
Old Major is a prize white boar who helps point out to the animals that no animal in
England is free. He continues to tell the animals that the their labor is stolen by man,
who benefits alone. The animals in return get near nothing, just enough to keep them away
from starvation. Old Major gave many speeches to the farm animals about hope and the
future. He is the main animal who got the rebellion started even though he died before it
actually began. Old Major's role compares to Lenin and Marx whose ideas would spark the
communist revolution. Lenin became the leader and teacher of the working class in Russia,
and their determination to struggle against capitalism. Like Old Major, Lenin and Marx
wrote essays and gave speeches to the working class poor. The working class in Russia, as
compared with the barnyard animals in Animal Farm, were a laboring class of people that
received low wages for their work. Old major tells the animals that the source of the
problem is man, they must overthrow man to abolish tyranny and hunger. Soon Old Major does
die, but his words still echo in the hearts of all the animals. With the leadership of the
pigs, the smartest animals, they repel against the human and gain complete control of the
farm. This would symbolize the Russian Revolution.
Another parallel represented in the book is Farmer Jones. His character is similar to
the politician Czar Nicholas who treated his people similar to how Farmer Jones treated
his animals. The animal rebellion on the farm was started because Farmer Jones was a drunk
who never took care of the animals. This made them very angry, fed by the words of Old
Major the animals decided to rebel like the Russians. Czar Nicholas was a very weak man
who treated his people similar to how Farmer Jones treated his animals. The Czar made his
working class people very uneasy with the way he used his authority and preached all the
time, and the people suffered and finally demanded reform by rebelling.
The animal Napoleon can be compared as a character representing Stalin in Russia. Both
were very mean looking, didn't talk very much but always got what they wanted through
force. In one part of the book Napoleon had the dogs charge Snowball, another animal, as
soon as he thought that the pigs were becoming corrupt. Stalin became the Soviet Leader
after the death of Lenin. He was underestimated by his opponents who always became his
victims, and he had one of the most ruthless, regimes in history. In was not till very
many years later that the world found out about the many deaths that Stalin created in
Russia during the Revolution. Another strong parallel would be the character of Snowball
with the Russian leader Trotsky. Snowball was very enthusiastic and was a leader who
organized the defense of the farm. He gave speeches and instructions but was not very
beneficial. All the other animals liked him, but he was outsmarted by Napoleon. Trotsky
and Stalin's relationship was very much like Snowball's and Napoleons. Trotsky organized
the Red Army and gave speeches and everyone in Russia thought he would win power over
Stalin. After Lenin's death Trotsky lost all his power to Stalin and was expelled from the
communist party.
George Orwell has created a masterpiece which is excellent if it is read without any
prior knowledge to the situation in Russia. However the added element does wonders for
this novel. Orwell is a genius and he has cleverly hidden the satire in such an excellent
way, that everything fits into the picture like a jigsaw puzzle. I give this book five
stars. This rating is given for many reasons. It is a very easy read and quite enjoyable
to many levels of education.
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