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Animal Farm Satire

Decent Essays

Often in life, men and women are forced to pause in their states of mind to ponder the world in which they live, often involving politics and similar forms of existence. Fortunately, certain noble authors compose written thoughts which make this easier to do. One of these, however, rises above the rest. Animal Farm, by George Orwell, deserves to be a classic because it functions on so many levels, as a novel, a satire, a fable and an allegory. Whether for better or for worse, any classical piece of literature falls under one type, and that type is a novel.A novel is a narrative book which uses fictional characters to describe real life events and people. In this particular case, Animal Farm is a book with 139 pages, on the short side of literature, …show more content…

Satire is a form of humor which ridicules a person, an association, or an event. In the same way that Animal Farm is a novel, it is also a satirical fiction, and thus mocks and undignifies the Russian revolution, as well as the descent of Communism into Capitalism. In spite of how well and kind the novel begins in regards to the Communist Government, but then turns into a bitter story of darkness and broken hearts. It mocks the government, calling them pigs, and in the ending, pig becomes man, demonstrating what the author believes of the Communists. Even with such obvious symbols, one may believe that Animal Farm is merely an entertaining book, which is one of its more obvious functions. However, this book is not nearly so innocent. By giving faces to people of history and the other events thereof, they open up a world of subtle insults and injuries which are decipherable as jests… or stabbing wounds at the esteem of those people, demoralizing them and sending them and their actions to a zone of bitter anger and sadness. Animal Farm subtly inserts jokes and jabs at the political characters of Communist Russia in a somewhat safe environment, using such phrases as “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.” (Animal Farm, page 139) This phrase …show more content…

A fable is a short but memorable tale which uses anthropomorphous animal characters in a fictional world which closely resembles ours. This makes Animal Farm into an obvious fable, for as its title clearly states, the book is about a group of animals who live on a farm. They can talk, and some of them can read and write. In addition to this, the novel takes place in a small neighborhood which appears similar to the Great Britain of the world wars, thus satisfying the fictional requirement, leaving only one thing; the length. Animal Farm checks in at 139 pages of medium text, short enough to be considered a fable, and a surprisingly fast

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