Karl Marx’s perfect society described in his Communist Manifesto is in direct conflict with the implementation of Soviet Communism, which was scathingly criticized by George Orwell’s book Animal Farm. Karl Marx believed that in order to form a just and equal society, the working class, called the proletariat, would have to overthrow those who owned the means of production, who were known as the bourgeoisie. This was to be known as the Proletariat Revolution where the oppressed laborers in capitalist societies, such as England, would unite under a common cause to overthrow the oppressive bourgeoisie, and establish a communist society. This would be a society where all were equal, each performing to his ability, and each receiving according …show more content…
Fortunately for them, they never got to see their systems go amiss, as they did on Animal Farm and in the Soviet Union.
In Animal Farm, and in the Soviet Union, both regimes after the revolution stuck pretty closely with the ideals of Communism (Animalism as it was called to the inhabitants of Animal Farm). Unfortunately, things quickly collapsed. In the beginning, the animals worked together and they lived a life they had never before lived. None of the animals went to the slaughterhouse, and each got adequate amounts of food. Napoleon and Snowball represented the Soviet Union’s Lenin and Trotsky, respectively. Napoleon was “leader” of the revolution, but was still a comrade like all the other animals. Snowball was enthusiastic about Animalism and stuck to the ideals. After a while, Napoleon had a change of heart, and did not seem to like Snowball’s enthusiasm. He was convicted of being a traitor and driven off the farm by Napoleon’s guard dogs. This is the same thing that happened to Trotsky in the Soviet Union. After Stalin came to power, Trotsky was no longer wanted, was declared a traitor, and lived the remainder of his life in exile. The Soviet Union erased all records of Trotsky’s affiliation with the Communist Party. The same thing happened to Snowball. His heroics at the Battle of Cowshed were played down and eventually reversed, and he was the scapegoat of all things that went wrong
How would you feel if your leader did not treat you as equal as his people? In Animal Farm by George Orwell, Napoleon treated his people as if they were more important than the other animals. He changed the rules, to rules in which he desired. The animals were not intelligent enough to realize who Napoleon was brainwashing them to live as he wanted them to live. Napoleon took control of Animal Farm by using the Seven Commandments, dogs to make the animals fear him, and Squealer as propaganda. Through these ways, Napoleon maintained full power of Animal Farm.
I have decided to explore the theme of how ‘Fear is a powerful motivator’. Different leaders and influential people have various ways of using fear to motivate people. Two of my texts: ‘Animal Farm’ by George Orwell, and ‘The Rise of Evil” directed by Christian Duguay, both show how totalitarian leaders used violence to motivate the public. The other texts: ‘Bowling for Columbine’ directed by Michael Moore, and ‘Who’s for the Game’ by Jesse Pope, both show how two different influential people motivated the public without using violence, instead creating fear using words.
Orwell effectively conveys the rise of communism in Russia throughout the book Animal Farm by the accurate elucidation of the context in the Soviet Union from 1917-1945. Orwell’s attitude and political view towards Russia is evident in his representation of the farm animals on Communist Party leaders: Napoleon and Snowball, for example, are figurations of Joseph Stalin and Leon Trotsky, respectively. He expresses the anthropomorphic characters of farm animals, and major events in Animal Farm such as the Rebellion and the construction of the windmill, reminiscent of the Russian Revolution and the “Five-Year Plans”. Orwell also uses many techniques to describe the crucial points in Animal Farm by metaphoric language and allegorical means
There are several themes in Animal Farm, some including: Leadership and corruption, control of naïve working class, lies and deception, and dreams and hopes. The main themes in Animal Farm leadership and corruption. Animal Farm portrays the history of the Russian Revolution by retelling the development of communism. In the novel, by overthrowing Mr. Jones, the animals give the power to the pigs who take complete control of the farm. The struggle for superiority between Leon Trotsky, a Russian revolutionary, and Stalin, a Soviet statesman, is portrayed by the rivalry between the pigs, Napoleon and Snowball. In both cases, the less powerful one, Trotsky and Snowball, is eliminated by the more superior one, Stalin and Napoleon. Stalin's rule
Animal Farm by George Orwell Is Animal Farm by George Orwell merely a political argument or does it manage to entertain the reader as a story in itself In this Personal Study I shall be writing about how Animal Farm by George Orwell entertained me as a novel while putting over a political argument in the process. The opening chapter introduces the theme of revolution that dominates the whole novel, and aswell as doing that it also introduces the farm animals. In Chapter 1 Old Major is the central figure, he gets all the other animals into the barn one night and talks about a revolution, which gets the smartest animals - the pigs, thinking about what could happen.
George Orwell is the author of the novel, Animal Farm, which is an allegory for the Russian Revolution. An allegory is a story that uses characters or events to represent ideas. Animal Farm can be read as a fable of talking animals, or as a history book. Animal farm is full of information, you just need to reach out for it. Orwell wrote this to tell people the effects of communism and how it affected the Russian people. This event was a huge movement in the history of Russian society; and the first step in creating communism in Russia. George Orwell’s Animal Farm was a satirical allegory, presented in the form of a fable, which was meant to criticize and
In George Orwell’s novel, Animal Farm was based on a political allegory based on Orwell’s experience in the Revolution. The characters in the novel were based on those whom Orwell knew. Throughout the book, my understandings of the three characters Boxer, Mollie and Napoleon were of different personalities. There were a lot of conflicts both internal and external and the author used elements of satire to blend politics and art. To me the book was giving a fair idea of how the powerful and intelligent life treated the low and unintelligent ones. The setting of Animal Farm was in England and the different animals that were used to symbolize persons from the Spanish Civil War in the book were mainly pigs, horses and dogs etc. The novel basically tells the story of a group of animals who were ruled by pigs.
Animal Farm has shown us what happens when a country (farm in this case) moves towards a more socialistic government. The revolution was meant to bring equality to all the animals on the farm. That was the case at first through the efforts of Snowball. As time went on though Napoleon took over and gave the ruling class (pigs) more rights than the working class (rest of the animals). This can be seen by looking at the past 10 years of the United States History. In the past 10 years we’ve have gone through/ started 3 different political associations. Many changes have taken place other this time. We have gone through many political, inequality, and racial issues in that time, which relates to Animal Farm.
Dystopian Fiction and Marxist Connection: George Orwell’s Animal Farm as a critique of Bourgeoisie- Proletariat Relation and How Tyranny Operates
Many writers, artists, novelists, journalists, and the sort seek to bring awareness to political and cultural issues through their work. It is not often, though, that their work attains such critically acclaimed status and subsequently creates a platform by which people are moved to respond to the writing’s purpose.
An ideology is a set of opinions or beliefs of a group or an individual. Very often ideology refers to a set of political beliefs or a set of ideas. Our ideology is our most closely held set of values and feelings, and it acts as the filter through which we see everything and everybody.
The main aim of Marxism is to bring about a classless society, and ‘Animal Farm’ is generally considered to be a Marxist novel, as all its characters share a similar ambition at the beginning. ‘Animal Farm’ represents an example of the oppressed masses rising up to form their own classless society, whilst offering a subtle critique on Stalin’s Soviet Russia, and communism in general. Orwell is, ironically, revolutionary in his work, as contextually in 1945, communism was a ‘taboo’ subject, punishable in post-war America by arrest and even death. It is clear from the political references in ‘Animal Farm’, that Orwell considered Russia, and consequently communism as a
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.
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.
The rebellion was to escape from people and their cruel ways, but can they escape the death-grip of their own kind? The animals of animal farms are mistreated and have no rights. Mr and Mrs. Jones were the owners of Manor Farm, the human oppressors, and authoritarians of the animals. The animals rebel against the Jones and take over the farm. They create a utopian society for themselves, but the utopia quickly turns into a dystopia when the pigs take control of the farm. In many ways, Animal Farm is a complete allegorical / fable –like retelling of the founding of the Soviet Union, complete with a rebellion and eventual installation of a dictator. Like the ideological battle that was raged in Russia between the classes, the one that is played out in this novel have many of the same themes, including an initial push to strengthen the working class, a strong beginning movement of nationalism and unity, a series of successful efforts to topple the ruling authority (Mr. Jones), all followed by a complete totalitarian takeover by a dictator who is a hypocrite and goes back on many of the promises he made at the height of the revolutionary action.