Symbolism In Animal Farm, By George Orwell

"All oppression creates a state of war" -Simone de Beauvar, French Philosopher. Animal Farm by George Orwell is an allegory for the Russian Revolution. Each animal was a key character in the Revolution such as Napoleon being Joseph Stalin, Mr. Jones being Tsar Nicholas and Boxer, being an ignorant. Mr.Jones was run off the farm because the animals were tired of the drunken man mistreating them. What the animals didn't know was that they went from one dictator to a whole group of them. The pigs. Ignorance contributes to political and social oppression and is proved by the inability to comprehend what the pigs are doing to the other animals. The animals cannot read or write as well, are perplexed easily, couldn't see the blemishes in the pig's leadership, or how the pigs changed things and didn't see or completely ignored how the pigs had acted.

Orwell uses irony as one of his methods to direct his satiric attack on the totalitarian regime. Before Old Major dies he warns the animals about mankind, “Man serves the interests of no creature except himself…. All men are enemies….And remember also that in fighting against Man, we must not come to resemble him…. Do not adopt his vices…. And, above all, no animal must ever tyrannize over his own kind …. All animals are equal” (Orwell 10-12). Old Major intentions were to tell the animals about the bright future they would have after the rebellion over man. He claimed that no animal should take more power over another and that all the individuals of the society had an equal say in their actions as a community. This is important because he is explaining the importance of not resembling man once the animals rebell. Unlike man, he spoke to the animals about equality and advised them to not abuse their individual power. However, the pigs undergo a change throughout the book, and start to live in the farmhouse, adopting human vices. Later on in the plot the animals peer through a window, “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). The pigs actions towards the end of the book contradict Old Major’s words of advice. This is ironic because Old Major was a prized boar, and his mindset was on a society with equality, which the pigs agreed to. But after the rebellion the pigs started becoming more and more like the humans that once used to rule. Napoleon insistence that the

In George Orwell’s allegory, Animal Farm, the characters portray important people from the Russian Revolution. One of the main characters, Napoleon, has become a tyrant. He suppresses all ideals as a rebellion and makes his own rules. He overthrows fellow animals to become a leader with power. Moreover, with Napoleon as a leader, he has become a unfaithful, cruel, and manipulative pig.

Animal Farm by George Orwell is a story with lots of underlying and foreshadowing ideas. It takes place in England and it is about a farm were the animal’s take over and they run it themselves. However the pigs create a dictatorship, which ruins the purpose of the farm. The rules of Animalism change in the story to suite the pigs as the pigs gain more power.

Orwell uses Napolean, the head pig of the farm, to portray Stalin the totalitarian Leader during the russian revolution. Napolean ennforces his total powers by making the animals work long hard hours for minimal profit. This process was made easier because the animals were very uneducated and relied largely on the more educated animals to do all the thinking for them. Napoleon took advantage of the animals

The Seven Original Commandments are the following: “Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy. Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend. No animal shall wear clothes. No animal shall sleep in a bed. No animal shall drink alcohol. No animal shall kill any other animal. All animals are equal.” Napoleon rewrites every single rule to benefit only him and his decisions; without the animals ever noticing. Another strong tactic Napoleon utilizes is fear; he uses fear to control the animals and keep them from speaking out against his rule. Napoleon raises a litter of puppies to be his secret police and terrify others; “they had come to a time when no one dared speak his mind, when fierce, growling dogs roamed everywhere, and when you had to watch your comrades torn to pieces after confessing to shocking

George Orwell’s Animal Farm is an allegoric fairy tale type novel that uses irony, satire, and allegory to portray the true identity of media censored Communist Russia. Because of the relationship between America and Communist Russia during WWII, Animal Farm was not originally received with warmth because it was thought of as harmful propaganda. But then, during the Cold War, when US-USSR relations soured, George Orwell’s novel was finally read.

In the novel, Animal Farm by George Orwell, the use of allegory and symbolism depicts the abuse of power which emphasizes the villainy of the character. Orwell’s use of allegory to characterize the villain, Napoleon, as Joseph Stalin emphasizes the use of power in both the fictional world and reality. The use of symbolism, like the windmill and commandments, show the change in characters over time and how a leader is able to manipulate their citizens with power. Napoleons dynamic characterization and innocence depicted in the beginning of the novel illustrates how power is abused when given to one specific group, who are considered the elite in the population.

He takes his power and turns into a tyrant. At the beginning of the story, Napoleon and Snowball write seven commandments for all animals to follow. Napoleon goes on to kick Snowball out of the farm and uses him as a scapegoat. This creates a common enemy for the animals and gives everyone the illusion that Napoleon is a perfect leader. While everyone is under the cloud of false security, Napoleon is going behind everyone’s back. He is taking on human characteristics in addition to associating with man. At night, Napoleon has his second-in-command, Squealer, change the commandments so they fit Napoleon’s needs “...and near at hand there lay a lantern, a paintbrush, and an overturned pot of white paint,” (Orwell 108). Just like most tyrannical leaders, Napoleon believes he is superior to everyone, which goes against the initial rule that all animals are

George Orwell’s use of symbolism and character development with conjunction of imagery in Animal Farm made his message very clear to the reader. Animal farm is most famous for being a critique of the Russian Revolution; telling the development of Soviet communism in the form of an animal fairy tale. Orwell achieved this by having every setting and every character being a symbol for a class and the power that they hold.

Lastly, Orwell uses the pig’s abuse of political propaganda to show the reader how people can be deceived by persuasive, yet deceitful leaders. Firstly, corruption is a significant theme in Animal

In the book, 2 pigs, Napoleon and Snowball fight for absolute power on their farm. They follow the ideals of animalism (adapted from Karl Marx’s communism by Orwell) and use propaganda tactics to overthrow Mr. Jones, the owner of the farm. Orwell uses Napoleon from the allegory to show that language can be used as an instrument to abuse power.

(Orwell 27.) As Napoleon reaches absolute power by ousting his competition through brute force, he soon becomes corrupted by the totalitarian power which he has bestowed on himself. As his reign progresses, he continues to unapologetically strip away the rights of his people and deteriorate the commandments which brought equality and social order to society. Social conditions degenerated to the point where a petrifying message ruled the land, “All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others.” (Orwell 57.)

Symbolism in Animal Farm “Everyone worked according to his capacity”(29). Animal Farm is dystopian novel that was written in on August 17, 1945. The author, George Orwell, wrote the book about some of the problems that were happening in Russia and that time. Stalin was the leader then and was very cruel to his people. The citizens had to work hard and did not get very much food.

Orwell uses all of this in Animal Farm. The different characters represent different people in his novel. Major, the old boar, represents Lenin and the Marxist ideals, whereas Napoleon and Snowball are the Stalin and Trotsky of the book. The other groups of non-Communists found their way into Orwell's story by way of Pilkington and Frederick, the human neighbors to Animal Farm, whereas the paranoia that Stalin felt is shown in Napoleon by his use of the adult dogs he had raised from pups (a parallel to Stalin's Secret Police) to kill any rebels after the putting on of animal show trials. This is shown in Animal Farm: