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STUDYWORLD STUDYNOTES
Animal Farm
Background Information on Animal Farm
The novel Animal Farm, published in 1945, is an animal fable satirizing Communism. The setting is a farm in England where a minority of animals takes over even though all the other animals were supposed to be equal.From the outside it resembles the Russian Revolution and the rise of Stalin, however it is more meaningful as an anatomy of all political revolutions, where the revolutionary ideals of justice, equality, and fraternity shatter during the event. The novel is often heralded as George Orwell's lightest, gayest work, even though Orwell paints a grim picture of the political 20th century, a time he believed marked the end of the very concept of human freedom.
Animal Farm is constructed on a circular basis to illustrate the futility of the revolution. The novel is a series of dramatic repudiations of the Seven Commandments, and a return to the tyranny and irresponsibility of the beginning. The only change will be in the identity of the masters, and ironically, that will be only partially changed.
The novel is full of symbolism and many of the characters are taken from history.
