OBSERVATIONS While reading Animal Farm by George Orwell, there were quite a few interesting observations I was able to make about the characters, plot, and many other elements of the novel. In the beginning of the novel, I found it very interesting that when the animals were filing into the barn to listen to Old Major, they all seemed to know where to go just as if this was a regular occurrence. I am assuming that this was something that happened quite often, however, it was still surprising given that this is the first instance of sophisticated talking animals that I have ever read. Also, right away when I began the novel, I was able to notice the uniqueness of George Orwell’s writing style. He was able to put so much detail of the scene into the writing without dragging it out or making it sound choppy. This is a quality that very few authors I’ve ever read have been able to demonstrate. Later in the novel, when the pigs first started becoming power hungry, I observed the obvious fact that the animals were not all equal as it was proposed they would be. Even though this is such a simple observation, I feel that it is a very important one because it is the start of one of, if not the, biggest conflicts in the entire novel. This is when Napoleon gets way too crazy and the Animal Farm starts getting very divided on certain issues because he and Snowball cannot seem to agree on anything. Upon completion of the novel, I did notice that this is not really a story of a farm, but an allegorical retelling of the Communist Revolution in Russia. Orwell uses the animals in the novel to represent the various political leaders responsible for the revolution, and the different events in the novel to represent the events following the revolution. WONDERINGS Along with observations, many questions arose while I was reading Animal Farm. I was mostly confused as to why the authorities were not brought into the scenario to help Mr. Jones get his farm back. I understand that Mr. Jones did not want to be a laughing stock of the town, however, I feel that he wouldn’t be laughed at so much if he got his farm back. Obviously, people would still find him somewhat pathetic for losing his farm to his animals, but at least he would
Animal Farm, by George Orwell was published in 1945, a crucial time in history because of Stalin’s takeover of the Soviet Union and his exploitation of the centralized communist government. This was in direct contradiction to the expected results of the Russian Revolution. Orwell felt that revolutions fail because the end result is a change of tyrants and not of government. Orwell exemplifies this failure through the goals of the revolution and their failure to meet them, the malfunction of Napoleon and Snowball’s rule together, and Napoleon’s disastrous reign.
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
Most believe when George Orwell wrote Animal Farm he was trying to warn us about several thing, some of those things include communism, revolution, and class divide. Orwell points out the dangers of communism by putting the dangers in a understandable, digestible cute story with animals. He shows the dangers of revolution by remind us how some revolutionions just end up being a switch a power to someone worse. And he reminds us about the dangers of class divide by have a big ruling class destroy all others. George Orwell wrote “Animal Farm” to remind us the dangers of communism, revolution, and class divide.
Animal Farm is a novella written by George Orwell in 1945. This particular story by George Orwell reflects on the events leading up to and during Stalin era in Russia. During the time he wrote, the work of Karl Marx’s Communist Manifesto was being followed by the Russian leaders, and some of Marx’s ideas can be found in the way George Orwell’s character, Old Major, expresses the way animal’s future should be.
Eric Blair wrote “The Animal Farm” during 1945, which he writes about a dystopian society with animals. He makes connections to real world problems throughout the story. He refers to animals being human by making connections by forming a government, because it's in human nature to form any type of government. In this case, the animals form a democracy from the commandments they put in their constitution; with all the corruption it mimics a communist government. The corruption deals with the leaders taking advantage of the commandments by overriding them while the other animals have to obey them. The main characters were Napoleon, Snowball, Boxer, and Squealer which can be connected to real world leading figures. The author also put in
George Orwell's novel, Animal Farm, was his very first piece of political writing. On the surface, this novel is about a group of miserable and mistreated farm animals that overthrow their neglectful owner; they take control of the farm. However, it too is a political allegory mainly focusing on the Russian Revolution. Orwell wrote Animal Farm in response to what had occurred in the Russian Revolution. Seeing how the people were being manipulated over for their freedom, he decided to write about these events through farm animals. The author's purpose for writing this novel is to warn his audience that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutly. Orwell's intent in fusing political purpose and artistic purpose into one whole, was truly
Animal Farm, a fiction novella by George Orwell, displays a political satire reflecting the problems and ironies in the Russian Revolution and the Soviet Union. Animal Farm follows the animals of Manor Farm, who revolt and take over the farm from their cruel owner. Eventually, the pigs (particularly Napoleon) become the leaders of the farm plummeting the originally republic rulership into a dictatorship. The corruption of power between the pigs leads to the ultimate suffering of the rest of the farm animals. At the end of the book, the farm animals are looking into a window where the pigs and humans are having a meeting and realize, “The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.” (Orwell 141). This scene conveys to the readers that not only have the pigs abused their power, but the animals only realized once it was too late. The pigs exploit the animals several times throughout the story, most apparently through the alterations of the original rules set in place by the pigs themselves. The repetition of lying to the remaining animals shows the pigs’ fraudulence in their
“Animal Farm” by George Orwell is an allegorical novel published on England in 1945. According to the author, this book reflects historical events leading up and during the Stalin era before World War II. It is the story of a revolution which goes wrong, based on the Russian revolution and Stalin’s use of power, the overall message is that man’s desire for power makes a classless society impossible. In the book, each animal represents a public figure or a type of person in real life. With this we can begin to develop the questions below in order to have a more complete idea of the meaning of the novel.
In George Orwell’s novel Animal Farm, a major turning point in the novel was when Napoleon used his secret police force, his dogs, to exile Snowball. Snowball had previously been trying to improve the animal’s lives for the future by building a windmill. After Snowball was exiled, Napoleon became leader and everything immediately went amiss. Orwell stated that: "Somehow it seemed as though the farm had grown richer without making the animals themselves any richer- except, of course, for the pigs and the dogs" (p.86). In other words, no one was benefiting from the animal’s labours apart from the pigs and the dogs because the amount of authority the dogs and the pigs, especially Napoleon had, was corrupt. Frighteningly, if Snowball had been
Animal farm is a renowned, allegorical novella written by George Orwell in 1945, which can be interpreted to have a hidden political meaning behind it referring to the Russian Revolution. Throughout this novella, the author purposely positions the audience to make judgements based on sensible, moral perception to show that Orwell effectively revealed how the pigs exploited a vast majority of propaganda techniques to deceptively manipulate the values, attitudes and beliefs of the other animals, with full intention of complete social control. This was exposed to the reader when the three main values of ‘Animalism’, as outlined in Old Major's speech, which consists of freedom, unity and equality, are abused for the pigs own advantage. This task
George Orwell’s Animal Farm reflects the events of the Russian Revolution and the Stalin era in the Soviet Union through the story of a seemingly simplistic farm controlled by animals. One night, Old Major, a prize-winning boar, gives a speech on the idea that all of humanity is evil and rebellion is necessary to achieve freedom. After Old Major dies shortly after his speech, three pigs, Squealer, Snowball, and Napoleon, decide to take control and form the ideas of Old Major into a philosophy—Animalism—with seven principles inscribed in a barn to help maintain harmony amongst the animals. After driving out the human workers, the animals celebrate and begin their own farm. However, problems arise as Napoleon drives Snowball out and begins controlling
“The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and and from pig to man again, but already it was impossible to say which was which.” Orwell wrote Animal Farm as an allegory based on problems resulting from the Russian Revolution. In Animal Farm, George Orwell uses tone, characterization, and stylistic elements to show that people in power use manipulation to stay in power.
George Orwell includes a strong message in his novel Animal Farm that is easily recognizable. Orwell’s Animal Farm focuses on two primary problems that were not only prominent in his WWII society, but also posed as reoccurring issues in all societies past and present. Orwell’s novel delivers a strong political message about class structure and oppression from the patriarchal society through an allegory of a farm that closely resembles the Soviet Union.
Animal Farm is a novel by George Orwell. It is an allegory in which animals play the roles of Russian revolutionists, and overthrow the human owners of the farm. Once the farm has been taken over by the animals, they are all equal at first, but class and status soon separates the different animal species. This story describes how a society’s ideologies can be manipulated by those in political power, to cause corruption by those in leadership.
Though Animal Farm can be considered nothing more than a charming animal fable depicting a doomed rebellion, its origin is actually of a more serious and political nature. It is not only the tale of Napoleon and Animal Farm, but a satire and commentary on that of the Russian Revolution, Stalin and Communism. For a person to gain a true understanding of Orwell's meaning in Animal Farm, it is best that he or she has an understanding of the political parties and history surrounding Communism, Stalin, and the upheaval and fear that followed Stalin's rise to power.