Animal Farm!!!!. Review on Animal Farm - George Orwell

If you are a big fan of reading Satires and you haven?t read Animal Farm then you really have missed out on a great treat! This novel is a satire of the Russian Revolution and the way the author George Orwell has compared the real life characters with the animals of the farm, he deserves a pat on the back for his effort!

Story

The story is set in Manor Farm in England. Mr. Jones is the owner of the farm and treats the animals very cruelly. One night an elderly pig in the farm named Old Major, calls a meeting and persuades the fellow animals to start a revolution against Mr. Jones & the human breed for the tortures they inclined on them! The idea of this struggle for freedom really moves each animal and they become determined to achieve the rebellion.

The story is about how they manage to do it. The animals themselves become the owners of the farm and rename it Animal Farm from Manor Farm. They fight bravely against the men when they try to re-capture the farm. They carry out the daily chores efficiently and do follow a few rules, which were set by pigs (since they were the most intelligent). But slowly, the pigs themselves start breaking those rules and begin to consider themselves superior to other animals (which wasn?t the case earlier).

After sometime, other animals can?t find any difference between the pigs and the humans! It?s a great mockery on the Russian Revolution and tries to advocate the fact, that when a person gets power it slowly but surely does corrupt him and makes him more self-centered! The author also wants to prove that socialism isn?t completely free from blemishes!

Symbolism

1) Mr. Jones He represents the Czar of Russia. At a time he was a decent master and the farm was doing well under his guidance. But after the worldwide depression of 1929 there was scarcity of food and Czar was uprooted, the same thing happened with Mr. Jones.

2) Old Major He represents Karl Marx. He was the one who advocated the theory of Socialism (Animalism in this book) and inspired the mob for a revolution. He also has shades of Lenin.

3) Napoleon He was the pig who ultimately becomes the owner of the farm and treats the animals in the same way as Mr. Jones used to (maybe even worse)! The name Napoleon is very apt, as Napoleon, the dictator of France was Anti-Christ. He represents Stalin, the cruel dictator of Russia.

4) Squealer This pig represents Pravda, the Russian newspaper of 1930?s. Since there were no other sources of media information, Stalin had monopoly over this newspaper and it gave the reports to the public in such a way, that it suits Stalin & hide his misdeeds.

5) Snowball Leo Dawidowitsch Trotsky is the character played by this pig. He was an archrival for Stalin and believed he could run Russia better than him. Stalin was afraid that he might take his position so he got him assassinated by his internal police force in Mexico (where Trotsky had run away). Napoleon also does the same with Snowball and prepares a ?police force? of strong dogs long time back to drive him away from the farm.

6) Boxer This name is metaphor for Boxer rebellion in China in early 20th century. He was a carthorse and represented the lower class of labourers who were not intelligent enough to think of themselves and thus, obediently accepted whatever Stalin told them, thinking it?s for their own good! These classes of workers carried out majority of the work!

7) Pigs They represent Stalin?s friends, communist party loyalists and Russian parliament. They enjoyed all the luxuries and didn?t care about the common peasant who was struggling for his daily bread!

8) Dogs They were the bodyguards of Stalin. The special ?police force? which I mentioned earlier was used to kill Trotsky. Napoleon used them for the first time when he had an argument with Snowball on the matter of whether or not to create a windmill in the farm! Dogs were very loyal and it was through them that Napoleon satisfied his evil hunger for power!

9) Mollie She was a pretty mare who represented the middle-class, which were against the revolution and didn?t want communalism. She wasn?t happy as now she didn?t get to eat sugar (nice salary), which she got in the old days at Manor farm. Middle class was now equal to the lower class and they didn?t appreciate it!

10) Moses It?s a pigeon which did no work but kept telling the animals false tales like, they will go to a place called Sugarcandy mountain after they die, where they will live happily. He represents the church, which was doing the job of keeping people hopeful and productive by advocating a life after death.

11) Muriel It?s a knowledgeable goat who his intelligent enough to decide things for herself and find flaws in the leadership of Napoleon but can?t oppose due to the lack of power. She represents that minority of working class, which had the brains to distinguish from right and wrong.

12) Old Benjamin He was an old donkey and far more matured than any other animal. He didn?t really cared whether Napoleon or Mr. Jones owned the farm. He could see into the future and easily predict that the rebellion was just a temporary change and the hardships haven?t finished for them!

13) Rats and rabbits They were the wild animals and represented a socialist movement called ?Menscheviki''. Animals were double-minded whether to include them among the comrades or not!

14) Pigeons They were the Soviet propaganda to the outside world. They used to go to other farms and tell about the success stories of Animal Farm, which were not 100% accurate.

15) Farm Building It stands for Kremlin which later became the residence of Stalin.

16) Windmill It stands for the Russian industry created by the working class.

17) Fredericks He represents Hitler. Since there was a talk in the novel about arrangements and secret deal.

18) Foxwood Farm It represents England.

19) Pinchfield Farm It stands for Germany.

20) Destruction of the Windmill It symbolizes the failure of five year plans.

© Tanmay Singh, 2004