Animal Farm Essay Research Paper The novel

Animal Farm Essay, Research Paper

The novel Animal Farm is a satire on the Russian revolution, and therefore full of

symbolism. General Orwell associates certain real characters with the characters of

the book. Here is a list of the characters and things and their meaning:

Mr Jones: the farmer Mr Jones stands for the Russian Tsar Nicolaii the second who

was forced to abdicate after the successful February-revolution. But Mr Jones also

somehow stands for the moral decline of men in a capitalist or feudalist type of government.

This book is a satire of the Russian Revolution. It shows how a minority took over when all

were supposed to be equal and how the others listened without complaining.

The theme of Animal Farm is not difficult to understand. Orwell intended to criticize the communist regime he saw sweeping through Russia and spreading to Europe and even the United States. Though he agreed with many Marxist principles, Orwell was unable to accept the communist interpretation of socialism because he saw many similarities between the communist governments and the previous czarist regimes in old Russia. Communism, he thought, was inherently hypocritical.

In his self-proclaimed “fairy-story,” Orwell uses his allegorical farm to symbolize the communist system. Though the original intention of overthrowing Mr. Jones (who represents the Czars), is not inherently

evil in itself, Napoleon’s subsequent adoption of nearly all of Mr. Jones’ principles and harsh mistreatment of the animals proves to the reader that indeed communism is not equality, but just another formof inequality. The pigs and dogs take most of the power for themselves, thinking that they are the best administrators of government. Eventually the power corrupts them, and they turn on their fellow animals, eliminating competitors through propaganda and bloodshed. This is of course a reference to Stalin, who murdered many of his own people in order to maintain his dictatorship ofRussia.

Thanks in part to Animal Farm, much of the Western world finally realized the danger of communism. Soon a Cold War began between the world’s greatest superpowers- the Soviet Union and the United States. In the end, America would prove that capitalism and democracy could outlive a system of government-mandated equality

Yes, they all live under a “burnt sun” because they have destroyed all the suns that had illuminated the country for

thousands of years. Before the Russian Revolution, God represented the law, the only law which Russians accepted, and they

only seemed to follow those laws written by men of faith. After the revolution, the Bolsheviks understood how to use this

religious vigilance of the Russian people. They realized they could replace the monarchy and the church with power embodied in

the cult of one man, Stalin. Hence people held the socialist system in the same light as the church. How could people have

constructed factories and miles of highways in two weeks? People would die on the building sites in order to construct

Communism. We heard many slogans over the years, and millions of rubles were spent on the production of flags and parades,

but this energy used itself up. Long after the longwinded speeches, one hundred kilometers from Moscow, the flame of belief

burned out. Violence was the only alternative to keep the nation’s motor running.