“Animal Farm” by George Orwell

“All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.”

No other book that has the format of a childish fable gets the same amount of praise as “Animal Farm”. The reason for the above situation lies in the characterization of the its content as “a manifesto”, which a plethora of critics accredit to Animal Farm. Therefore, in the present article we will examine the accuracy of the forenamed acclamations with the aid of a thorough book analysis.

Brief narration of the plot

“Animal Farm” is a dystopian allegorical novella that functions as a cautionary tale describing a revolution gone wrong. The fable starts with the animals of a farm named “The Manor Farm” kicking out their human master Jones after being moved by a speech given by Old Major, a boar everyone respected. The animals for a brief amount of time live in better conditions as they have at their disposal everything they produce. In this peaceful and democratic environment, they manage to educate themselves and design their own form of a constitution, the “seven commandments”.

However, things took an ugly turn when two of the most intelligent animals in the farm, the pigs Napoleon and Snowball have a fight. Napoleon seizes power by force and turns the democracy that characterized Animal Farm into a tyrannical dictatorship. Every one of the seven commandments gets misconstrued and in the end, only one commandment exists “All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others”. The pigs have officially become just the same and worse than the humans, who once controlled them.

Main themes and symbolisms

Orwell’s story reflects the events of the Russian revolution of 1917. All the animals are representations of Russian politicians and workers. For instance, Snowball’s and Napoleon’s power struggle is a direct allegory of Trotsky’s and Stalin’s. Furthermore, another example is the special committee of pigs that was controlled by Napoleon and took every decision regarding the farm. The previously mentioned committee is in many ways similar to the politburo that used to exist in communist Russia. Moreover, since Animal Farm was published in 1945, the year that Japan surrendered ending the Second World War, the allied forces were still in cooperation with Russia. This in turn meant that Orwell would find a publisher for his book with great difficulty.

Analysis of the main characters

Napoleon is a “large, rather fierce-looking Berkshire boar” and the leader of Animal Farm. Napoleon is based on Joseph Stalin.

Snowball is Napoleon’s rival, an incredible orator and the first head of Animal Farm. His character has many similarities with Leon Trotsky.

Squealer is a porker pig. He has his way with words and the other animals swear that he “could turn black into white”. Squealer acts like a press secretary of Napoleon and he constantly lies and manipulates the rest of the animals. He represents the propaganda machine of Stalin.

Pilkington is a neighbor of Animal Farm and owner of the Foxwood farm, who wants to cooperate with Napoleon, as they seem to have similar interests in the current moment. Pilkington seems to represent the Allies.

Frederick is the owner of the Pinchfield farm, a neighboring farm to the Animal Farm. Frederick is an allegory of Adolf Hitler. Frederick’s agreement to buy the timber draws parallels to the Nazi-Soviet non-aggression treaty, and his later invasion of Animal Farm represents the invasion of Nazi Germany to the Soviet Union.

Jones is the former owner of Animal Farm when it was still named The Manor Farm. He has an addiction to alcohol and he reminds the incompetent Czar Nicholas II.

Old Major was a middle White boar that acted as an inspiration for the animals’ revolution. He represents Karl Marx or Vladimir Lenin.

Boxer is a strong male horse and a great worker that wants to help his community in every possible way. Boxer trusted and admired his leaders no matter what. Yet, Napoleon did not return the same love back as when Boxer became useless for the farm, Napoleon sold him to a local knacker. Boxer represents the working class that believed the propaganda they were fed.

The dogs are nine puppies that Napoleon trained to protect him always. They represent the KGB that Stalin used to terrorize his people.

My impressions and thoughts about the book

“Animal Farm” was a book that, for a while, I had wanted to read. If one were to ask me why, I would point to them two reasons. First, my will to learn about social issues, which for better or worse are political ones as well, is inexhaustible. Second, George Orwell wrote the book. My appreciation for Orwell started not so much about his personality or life but had more to do with his critical and frank attitude towards the world.

“Animal Farm” is an example of Orwell’s aforementioned vision as it takes a critical stance towards communist Russia about reasons that are explained in a really simple and understandable fashion throughout the book. Consequentially, I think that “Animal Farm” is an ode to democracy and a call for the constant protection of human rights. A book that if most citizens read, perhaps we would live in a world that accountability would take the place of corruption at last.

Βασιλική Ντορλή (B3), Πρότυπο ΓΕΛ Ευαγγελικής Σχολής Σμύρνης