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How Does Animal Farm Reflect The Russian Revolution

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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, expresses the idea that all of humanity is evil and rebellion is necessary through a dream he had of all animals living together in harmony without being controlled by mankind. After 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, expresses the idea that all of humanity is evil and rebellion is necessary to achieve freedom through a speech of the dream he had of all animals living …show more content…

After Old Major dies shortly after his speech, three pigs, Squealer, Snowball, and Napoleon, decide to take control and form the ideas of the speech into a philosophy—Animalism—with seven principals inscribed on a wall to help maintain harmony amongst the animals. However, problems arise as the pigs begin to compete on taking control of the farm. Napoleon drives Snowball out and begins controlling the farm with unfair and deceiving measures. Animal Farm portrays how a naive working class being controlled by an intelligent government through manipulation can lead to unjust treatment on one side and a lack of compassion and empathy on the other.
Napoleon and Squealer manipulate the other naive animals into unjust treatment through lies. After many years, the majority of the animals that had heard Old Major’s speech had died. In response, Napoleon and Squealer decided reduce the seven principles of Animalism to a single Commandment: “All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others.” (134). In other words, Napoleon and Squealer have changed the quote from “All animals are equal” to give themselves an excuse to live with a privileged

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