Orwells Animal Farm - Research Paper Example

Orwell’s Animal Farm When Orwell wrote his book, The Animal Farm, there was a misguided notion that the Soviet Union was a success story. To reveal the truth about Soviet Union, Orwell used an allegory to tell the truth that had remained hidden to many people. Animal farm is an allegory that focuses on early twentieth century Russia. The characters, the scenes and items used in the book represent real people and events that occurred during Great Russian revolution. This study will examine two main characters from the novel namely Napoleon and Snowball. The study will also analyze the use of irony and symbolism in the novel and how these bring out the themes of power corrupts, inequality, violence and language as demonstrated by the animals in Animal Farm. Characters and their character traits There are various characters presented in this book with various character traits. Napoleon is one of the leaders among other pigs in the farm. He emerges as opportunistic and corrupt individual who benefits at the expense of other animals in the society. He always award special privileges to his fellow pigs and in most cases to himself. On the other hand, he does not show his interest on the strength of animals in the farm. This is because he neither contributes to revolution nor the formation of ideologies to necessitate liberation. He also mistreats other animals in the farm. This is depicted when he undertakes project of training puppies in order for them to offer private security. He, therefore, depicts political tyranny and dictatorship in the society (Tania and Kissel para 6). Napoleon representing the pig character is the chief character on the farm. This is because he represents the human frailties of any revolution. Orwell uses this character because he believes that although socialism is an excellent ideal, it is not successfully adopted because of unmanageable human nature. This is because at first, Napoleon seems to be a good leader but is later overcome by greed and power hunger (Tania and Kissel para 7). As the book ends, Napoleon does not support socialist state. His acts of renaming of the republic and instituting new version of commandment show dictatorship character. Moreover, this character is also evidenced when he commands slaughter of many animals on the farm for plotting against him. On the other hand, Napoleon is represented as a canning, and a cruel tyrant who betrays major dreams on the farm. His devious character is portrayed when he decides to be in charge of milk on the farm. Through this, he mistreats other animals by feeding on milk alone. In addition, he changes all the seven commandments on the farm to suit him (Tania and Kissel para 7). The other major character is the snowball. Snowball is a young leader among other pigs but he is up for sale. He is represented as an intelligent and brilliant character. As progressive politician, his main goal is to develop Animal Farm with technological advances such as windmills. However, these ideas cause his downfall in the society due to opposition from Napoleon. He is used to represent government systems that believe on communism (Tania and Kissel para 7). Orwell present snowball with similar characteristics as Napoleon. This is because the two want leadership position in the new political and economic system on the farm. However, the two always have some disagreement and differences over the project of building windmill. Their rivalry forces Napoleon to have a spontaneous reaction of eliminating Snowball from the society (Orwell 3). In addition, Snowball is represented as an innovative articulate and a brilliant character (Tania and Kissel para 8). This is because he organizes animals on the farm and endorses projects that enhance welfare of animals. Unlike napoleon, he is also brave because he is willing to contribute in the revolution of the society. However, his efforts are denied when Napoleon eliminate him in the society. Orwell has also used irony throughout his writing in this book. Dramatic irony is revealed in the play when Squealer gives the description of the van that took Boxer to hospital. His statement eases other animals who do not know how credible his statement is. Audiences, on the other hand, are outraged by his explanation because they know the original van that picked Boxer belongs to pig slaughter. It is also ironical that the Boxer is strong enough to overpower all other animals in the farm but does not have equitable intelligence to realize other animals are mistreating him (JaiRudolf para 2). In addition, it is ironical when Napoleon says, “all animals are equal and are allowed to make their own decisions” (Orwell, 37). This is ironical because Napoleon does not allow other animals to make decisions. He always dictates the farm and eliminates anyone who tries to make decisions. Many of the fictional animal characters depicted in the novel represent real life counterparts. Each of the characters has a broader and larger meaning. Mr. Jones stands for Russian Czar Nichols II who was forced out of power during the revolution. In addition, Jones represents the detested capitalist and fascist societies such as America and Germany respectively. Jones symbolizes the moral decline and evil nature of men who live in these societies. Humans in general as depicted in the novel stand for capitalist and fascist societies, which exploited the weak for the benefit of the few. The pig’s transformation into human like creatures symbolizes the process through which revolution leaders were corrupted creating a class similar to the aristocrats the revolution had initially attempted to replace. The transformation of the pigs reveals that regardless of whether a society is based on communism or capitalism, the underlying reality for most political systems is oppression (Nordal &Alkiviadou:symbolism para. 1). Old mayor introduced the dream of a better place for the animals without the rule of humans, “there, comrades is the answer to all our problems. It is summed up in a single word- man….remove man from the scene and the root cause of hunger and overwork is abolished forever” (Orwell 4). Orwell uses Old mayor to represent Karl Marx who is regarded as the father of communism. Both Karl Marx and Old mayor serve as founders of the revolutionary creed and in both cases, they die before witnessing the revolutionary events they had predicted. Snowball, the pig on the other hand, represents Leon Trotsky. Snowball, like Trotsky was a smart and young speaker who imagined a better life for the animals coming up with creeds and inventions that would ensure the animals never had to work so hard again or copy human actions that only led to oppression. Snowball has a solution that would make life easier for the other animals, “the building of a windmill, a machine operated by wind to generate electricity and make life easier for all of us”, (Orwell 12). Trotsky, a leader in the October revolution was forcefully removed from the Soviet Union. When he was abroad, he was repeatedly blamed for the misfortunes that befell others with wild lies and tales invented to damage his reputation. He was also used as a scapegoat for the government’s incompetency in much the same way snowball was used to cover the pig’s incompetency particularly with the windmill. Trotsky later died while in exile in Mexico in the hands of Russian internal police (Nordal &Alkiviadou:symbolism para. 2). Napoleon was the other pig but was not as intelligent as snowball. He is also depicted as selfish, cruel and corrupt. Napoleon clearly represents Joseph Stalin who ruled Soviet Union in a dictatorial style killing anyone that dared to oppose him in the purges. Napoleon at a deeper level represents human weaknesses that undermine the very best of political intentions. Further, in the same way Napoleon used Squealer and the dogs to control the animals against rebelling, Stalin used propaganda and the KGB to control the Russian people, “at a sign from Napoleon, the dogs expel snowball from the farm” (Orwell 13). Squealer depicted as an extremely persuasive speaker manages to convince all animals to believe in the leadership of Napoleon. responding to boxer’s statements about Benjamin’s view that a resolution was passed that animals would not act as human beings squealer responds by saying, “ you only imagined that we passed these resolutions because of the lies spread about by that traitor snowball” (Orwell 17). To this boxer responds, “there you are you see. Comrade Napoleon is always right” (Orwell 17) Many people consider squealer to represent Stalin’s propaganda machine, Pravda, the 1930s Russian newspaper. The dogs on the other hand represent the KGB, used to cause terror across the country and ensure loyalty to Stalin and Leon. In general, Orwell uses the pigs to symbolize communist party loyalists. The revolution first started out with the interest of the people at heart, however as time passed, they started taking advantage of their position in the party to amass wealth and power for themselves (Nordal &Alkiviadou:symbolism para. 3). Clover and Boxer, the two hardworking horses who live by the mantra “I must work harder” represent the proletarian class who are attracted to the rebellion as they reckon it, will make things better for them. Moses, linked to the biblical character, symbolizes religion, more so the Orthodox Church and what Orwell thought of church. Though Snowball and Napoleon do not agree with his ideas, they tolerate his presence as his message encourages submission and hard work (Nordal &Alkiviadou:symbolism para. 3). The major theme in Orwell’s book is power corrupts. The novel generally attacks power search particularly how corrupt leaders seek out and manipulate power to serve their own interests. As the pigs acquire more power, they find it harder to resist the temptation of an easier life especially when the other animals are naïve and do not realize they are being manipulated. Napoleon, driven by power results into tyranny and throughout the novel he plans on how to acquire it. He starts in chapter two in which he takes the puppies away from everyone to educate them. He turns the puppies into a secret police force and uses them to terrify and kill the other animals if they refused to obey. Napoleon further abolishes the meetings, debates and elections denying the other animals a valuable opportunity to decide for themselves (Schmoop 8). The bloodbath witnessed at the barn demonstrates an effective way of holding onto power. Use of intimidation and murder to keep control over absolute power go against the ideas of revolution (Schmoop, 12). Napoleon also controls all sources of information through Squealer who has the ability to “turn white into black”. In addition, Napoleon orders the rewriting of history to give an account that is more favorable to him. He paints Snowball as the villain, stripping him of his bravery title and instead labels himself as the hero fighting fiercely during the battle at the cowshed. The animal farm under Napoleon represents a totalitarian state where his power is absolute. Orwell suggests that this is how Stalin gained power in Soviet Union and that revolutions will always fail as the leaders use the acquired power to meet their own needs (Nordal &Alkiviadou:themes para. 1). Another theme is language and power. Orwell shows that there is a relationship between language and power. A totalitarian state is created by telling people what they should think, something that is achieved through effective use of propaganda and language. Simplifying major ideas into a slogan “four legs good, two legs bad”, (Orwell p11) leads to loss of meaning and many other aspects are not addressed. Squealer’s ability to feed lies to the people and his persuasive character contributes to Napoleon’s success. He is able to invent statistics and alter the commandments without any of the other animals raising opposition. He uses rhetorical questions, pinpointing the enemy, lying, repetition, selection and assertion to convince the other animals (Nordal &Alkiviadou:themes para. 3). Another theme is inequality in which the final correction on the commandments reads, “all animals are equal but some are more equal than others” (Hall, Mitchell, Peaslee, &Orwell 62). Old mayor’s dream was to have a farm where all animals were equal but bringing this into actuality is a problem. From the beginning when he is addressing the animals, the animals are seated in hierarchy with the pigs at the front. The other animals also question the equality of such animals as the rats. Boxer is seen performing difficult tasks while the pigs carry out the least demanding work of managing and organizing the farm. From the beginning, the reader is presented with a society where inequality exists and under the tyrannical rule of Napoleon, attaining equality becomes harder (Nordal &Alkiviadou:themes para. 2). Works cited Animal Farm, by George Orwell. Sunnyvale, Calif.: Shmoop University, 2010. Internet resource. Hall, Peter, Adrian Mitchell, Richard Peaslee, and George Orwell. The Play of George Orwell's Animal Farm. Oxford: Heinemann Educational, 1993. Print. JaiRudolf. "Irony in "Animal Farm" by George Orwell." 15 August 2011. 12 September 2012 . Nordal, Natalie &Alkiviadou , Martin. Animal Farm: The Book. 2003. 12 september 2012 . Orwell, George. Animal Farm. London: Nick Hern Books, 2004. Tania, Asnes and Adam Kissel. "Animal Farm Characters." 31 May 2008. 12 September 2012 . Read More