George Orwell and Animal Farm and 1984
George Orwell is only a pen name. The man behind the classics Animal Farm and 1984 was named Eric Arthur Blair and was born to a middle class family living in Bengal in 1903. Eric Blair got his first taste of class prejudice at a young age when his mother forced him to abandon his playmates, which were plumber's children (Crick 9). He could then play only with the other children in the family, all of whom were at least five years older or younger than Eric (Crick 12). This created in him a sense of alienation that plagued him all his life and seems to be reflected in the bitter decay and loneliness he later expressed in his novel 1984. As he moved around unsuccessfully from job to job,
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It tells the story of the revolution of the animals living on Manor Farm. A pig named Napoleon rises to become the totalitarian leader of the farm, which is renamed Animal Farm, after the lazy, alcoholic farmer is run off. Animal farm is an allegory for the October Revolution and Stalin's regime in Russia. It is a novel in which "every detail has political significance" (Meyers 133). Napoleon the Pig, representing Stalin, gradually tears down the precepts upon which Animal Farm has been founded and eventually returns the farm to a condition almost worse than before, with the pigs whipping, killing, and starving the other animals.
The humans in 1984 exist in much the same state as Orwell left the animals in Animal Farm. They are defeated, scared, and completely subservient to their totalitarian dictator. 1984 is Orwell's vision of the state of the future, a state existing under the rule of Big Brother in the year 1984. The novel focuses on the life of Winston Smith. Winston works in Minitrue, which is the branch of Big Brother's government concerned with writing news stories, whether true or false, and altering past news reports to reconcile any contradictions with current news stories and state policies. Minitrue is a shortening of the words "ministry of truth" in Newspeak, an original language, based on these types of abbreviations, created by Orwell to show how Big Brother uses the limiting of people's language to control their thoughts.
Animal Farm by George Orwell which is an allegory of the Russian Revolution and the film adaptation of George Orwell’s novel 1984, which is set in a futuristic dystopian society, directed by Michael Radford uses Symbolism, foreshadowing and irony to convey the central ideas of power, politics, control, fear and they both also portray the dangers of totalitarianism. 1984 follows one main character (Winston) which shows how the society is being controlled whereas Animal Farm does not follow one character specifically. Though there are differences, Animal Farm and 1984 use the language techniques of symbolism, foreshadowing and irony in very similar ways.
George Orwell’s Animal Farm is, first and foremost, a political satire warning against the pursuit of utopian desires through unjust and oppressive means. Operating under the pretense of an animal fable, Orwell disparages the use of political power to poach personal freedom. He effectively alerts his readers to the dangerous price that can accompany the so-called “pursuit of progress”. And he illuminates how governments acting under the guise of increasing independence often do just the opposite: increase oppression and sacrifice sovereignty. While the cautionary theme Orwell provides proves widely applicable, in reality his novel focuses on one tale of totalitarian abuse: Soviet Russia. The parallels between the society Orwell presents in his Animal Farm and the Soviet Union – from the Russian revolution to Stalin’s supremacy – are seemingly endless. Manor Farm represents Tsarist Russia, Animalism compares to Stalinism, and Animal Farm, with the pig Napoleon at its helm, clearly symbolizes Communist Russia and Joseph Stalin. But Orwell does more than simply align fiction with fact. He fundamentally attacks Soviet Russia at its core. And in so doing he reveals how the Communist Party simply replaced a bad system with a worse one, overthrowing an imperial autocracy for a totalitarian dictatorship. This essay will demonstrate that Orwell’s Animal Farm is
Eric Arthur Blair may not seem like a familiar name, but it is the birth name of the English author better known by his pen name George Orwell. This author is best known for his works 1984 and Animal Farm. Both of these novels exhibit strong symbolism and convey many of Orwell’s opinions, especially concerning politics. Orwell’s personal background and strong beliefs about politics, religion, and his exposure to many world cultures is clearly evident within his novels. His opinions made his works controversial in their time.
Elie Wiesel in Night and Snowball from Animal Farm are very similar characters because they were victimized by tyrants and used as scapegoats, but they are also unique and individual characters because Elie knew he was being taken advantage of and Snowball did not. Animal Farm is written by George Orwell, and it is about a farm of animals that take over the farm. Napoleon, a large pig, slowly takes away food and supplies from the other animals until he starts walking on two feet and becomes a “human.” Because of him Snowball is expelled from the farm and acts as a scapegoat for everything that goes wrong on the farm. Night is an autobiography written by Elie Wiesel, and in it Elie tells the story of he was taken from his home and put into a concentration camp under the control of Adolf Hitler.
George Orwell was inspired by many events, which took place throughout his life. He lived through World War I, II and part of the Cold War and therefore used these events to help create the world of 1984. However, not only was he inspired by the political issues around his time, but he was also inspired by the author Yevgeny Zamyatin who had published the book We a few years prior to when 1984 was published.
People respond to control and power differently for various reasons, however, one of the main reasons is based on their personality; their confidence and intelligence. In, Animal Farm by George Orwell, confidence and intelligence is a big factor for why certain animals obtained power and control and why other ones did not. People with confidence and intelligence are likely to gain most of the control and power. People with little intelligence, but lots of confidence are more likely to have some power or work underneath the leader. People with intelligence, but no confidence seem to have no power at all and shy away from it. Both intelligence and confidence are needed for someone to take total power. Therefore, the amount of confidence and intelligence a person has will decide how they respond to control and power.
Animal Farm is an allegorical novel in which the animals attempt to create a utopian society. This novel is based on the once communist society in Russia, which very quickly turned into a totalitarian corrupted state under Joseph Stalin. The pigs in this story, take leadership after the rebellion takes place against Mr. Jones, the neglectful and abusive owner of Manor Farm. Napoleon, a wise and well-spoken pig who resembles Stalin, climbs his way up to leadership with Squealer, as his Spokesman, and uses language that intimidates, language that distorts the truth, and language that appeals to the emotions in order to manipulate the gullible animals of Animal Farm to prove the corrupting
Hopelessness is a very strong quality present in 1984 and Animal Farm both by George Orwell. Animal Farm is a very literal allegory to the Russian revolution and warns about the dangers of a communist society. It reflects that hope can quickly be lost and people or animals can quickly become what they once fought to be free and independent from. 1984 follows a man named Winston who comes to rebel against his society but in the end is shown how futile his efforts to break away truly are. In each novel literary devices are used to present hopelessness, which is a common theme. With his purposeful and blunt use of irony, tone, and anaphora, Orwell creates an all too realistic dystopian civilization where vivid feelings of hopelessness thrive.
George Orwell’s 1984 and Animal Farm shares a fundamental theme and common elements that shape the idea of an Orwellian society. Orwellian is widely described as a society in which the liberties of all are diminished due to authoritarian rule. Orwell conveys the theme of “Many believe that man’s actions result from his free will, the presentation/perception of what is fact, remains dominant over society 's actions.” through parallel elements of repression of information, fear propaganda, and language.
Animal Farm George Orwell 128 Pages George Orwell, the pen name of Eric Blair, was born in Bengal in 1903. He was educated at Eton School in England, and then served with the Indian Imperial Police in Burma. He returned to Europe and became a writer of novels and essays. Much of his work was political, and although he had a hatred of Communism, he was a socialist. Orwell died at the age of forty-seven of a lung problem, leaving behind several unfinished works. Animal Farm is a parody of the Communist revolution in Russia, and as a result its themes are the evils of totalitarianism and selfishness, and also the importance of hard work. Animal Farm tells the story of the Bolshevik revolution in Russia, but from a viewpoint slightly more
The 1917 Russian Revolution was recreated through the novel, Animal Farm, written by George Orwell. Despite the fact that Orwell used animals as his soldiers to fight the rebellion, there are a number of characters that represent real people. “George Orwell’s use of the fable form helps the reader go beyond the details of one revolution and examine the elements of human nature which produce a Stalin and enable him to seize power. ”(Robb) In George Orwell’s Animal Farm, Old Major represents Karl Marx and Marxism, the political and economical theories of Karl Marx.
What is freedom, is it a necessity, do we need it or do we just crave it? Freedom is defined in the dictionary as the state of being free or at liberty rather than in confinement or under physical restraint. Freedom is a concept that the animals in George Orwell’s novel Animal Farm crave. The animals of Animal Farm want freedom from their “dictator” Farmer Jones and the rest of humanity. Their problem is that Farmer Jones and humanity are still in power. With the bravery of two pigs, Napoleon and Snowball, the animals overthrow their human oppressors and free themselves from humanity. With his new freedom Napoleon craves power and expels Snowball. He becomes the dictator of Animal Farm and makes the farm a place where the animals are not free except for his fellow pigs. Ultimately the pigs become identical to Farmer Jones and his human rule. The most relevant literary elements in George Orwell 's novel Animal Farm are irony, personification, conflict, and the use of symbols. 4/5
George Orwell wrote Animal Farm: A Fairy Story with an intended political purpose; many aspects of Orwell’s life experiences are found throughout the novel. Orwell was born on June 25, 1903 in India and eventually moved to England with his parents where he remained for the majority of his
The story of “Animal Farm” interpreted the events of the Russian revolution and the political standings within the Soviet Union by comparing it to how farm animals would act if they had power. It is considered an allegory because it is a story that is trying to reveal a hidden message. Within the book, Manor Farm is a metaphor for Russia. Tsar Nicholas II was portrayed as Mr. Jones. Tsar Nicholas II was the last emperor of Russia before the revolution took place. The leader of the Bolshevik Party, V.I.Lenin was portrayed as old major. An ally of Lenin was Leon Trotsky which was portrayed as Snowball. Napolean, the pig, was a comparison of Joseph Stalin. Napolean’s
Throughout the Industrial Revolution, the lower class’s population continued to increase as more and more people became poor and fell into poverty. Although the upper class was prosperous and wealthy, they failed to assist the struggling population; this only made the problem worse. As the issue of poverty became more critical, it became a topic that authors commonly wrote about. George Orwell, Charles Dickens, and Jonathan Swift were authors who presented the problem of a poor community and a neglectful upper class to the people through the use of allegory and satire. This helped to easily convince and influence their readers. Through the use of satire and allegory, George Orwell, Charles Dickens, and Jonathan Swift effectively address the pressing issue of the upper class’s ignorance and mistreatment towards the lower, struggling class.