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George Orwell's novel Animal Farm does an excellent job of drawing
parallels from the situation leading up to the Russian Revolution of
1917. Animal Farm is a satire that uses its characters to symbolize
leaders of the Russian Revolution. The animals of "Manor Farm", the
setting of this novel, which symbolizes Russia, overthrow their human
master after years of mistreatment. Led by the pigs, the farm animals
continue to do their work, only with more pride, knowing that they are
working for themselves, as opposed to working for their human master,
Farmer Jones.
Slowly over time the pigs gain power and take advantage
of the other animals. They gain so much power that they become just as
power hungry and corrupt as their human master. The theme in the novel
being that in every society there are leaders who will, if given the
chance, likely abuse their position. Old Major is a prize white boar
who helps point out to the animals that no animal in England is free.
He continues to tell the animals that the their labor is stolen by man,
who benefits alone. The animals in return get near nothing, just enough
to keep them away from starvation. Old Major gave many speeches to the
farm animals about hope and the future. He is the main animal who got
the rebellion started even though he died before it actually began.
Old
Major's role compares to Lenin and Marx whose ideas would spark the
communist revolution. Lenin became the leader and teacher of the
working class in Russia, and their determination to struggle against
capitalism. Like Old Major, Lenin and Marx wrote essays and gave
speeches to the working class poor. The working class in Russia, as
compared with the barnyard animals in Animal Farm, were a laboring
class of people that received low wages for their work. Old major tells
the animals that the source of the problem is man, they must overthrow
man to abolish tyranny and hunger. Soon Old Major does die, but his
words still echo in the hearts of all the animals. With the leadership
of the pigs, the smartest animals, they repel against the human and
gain complete control of the farm. This would symbolize the Russian
Revolution.
Another parallel represented in the book is Farmer Jones. His
character is similar to the politician Czar Nicholas who treated his
people similar to how Farmer Jones treated his animals. The animal
rebellion on the farm was started because Farmer Jones was a drunk who
never took care of the animals. This made them very angry, fed by the
words of Old Major the animals decided to rebel like the Russians. Czar
Nicholas was a very weak man who treated his people similar to how
Farmer Jones treated his animals. The Czar made his working class
people very uneasy with the way he used his authority and preached all
the time, and the people suffered and finally demanded reform by
rebelling.
The animal Napoleon can be compared as a character representing
Stalin in Russia. Both were very mean looking, didn't talk very much
but always got what they wanted through force. In one part of the book
Napoleon had the dogs charge Snowball, another animal, as soon as he
thought that the pigs were becoming corrupt. Stalin became the Soviet
Leader after the death of Lenin. He was underestimated by his opponents
who always became his victims, and he had one of the most ruthless,
regimes in history. In was not till very many years later that the
world found out about the many deaths that Stalin created in Russia
during the Revolution.
Another strong parrael would is the character of Snowball with the
Russian leader Trotsky. Snowball was very enthusiastic and was a leader
who organized the defense of the farm. He gave speeches and
instructions but was not very beneficial. All the other animals liked
him, but he was outsmarted by Napoleon. Trotsky and Stalin's
relationship was very much like Snowball's and Napoleons. Trotsky
organized the Red Army and gave speeches and everyone in Russia thought
he would win power over Stalin. After Lenin's death Trotsky lost all
his power to Stalin and was expelled from the communist party.
George Orwell has created a masterpiece which is excellent if it is
read without any prior knowledge to the situation in Russia. However
the added element does wonders for this novel. Orwell is a genius and
he has cleverly hidden the satire in such an excellent way, that
everything fits into the picture like a jigsaw puzzle. I give this book
five stars. This rating is given for many reasons. It is a very easy
read and quite enjoyable to many levels of education.
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(0 vote)