Transcript Document

Animal Farm
Background Information
Overview
 George Orwell’s 1945 novella, Animal Farm, is the
story of an animal revolution. The animal residents of
Manor Farm, spurred on by the dream of the pig, Old
Major, decide they will change their “miserable,
laborious, and short” lives. They overthrow Mr. Jones,
their master, and take over the management of the
farm. Rather than living under the heel of their human
master, the animals of Manor Farm decide that they
will take control of the products of their labor, working
for the good of the farm and other animals, rather than
for the good of humans.
Allegory
The representation of ideas or moral principles
through the use of symbolic characters, events,
or objects. It is a form of extended metaphor, in
which objects, persons, and actions in a
narrative, are equated with the meanings that lie
outside the narrative itself. The underlying
meaning has moral, social, religious, or political
significance, and characters are often
personifications of abstract ideas as charity,
greed, or envy. Thus an allegory is a story with
two meanings, a literal meaning and a symbolic
meaning.
Animal Farm and Allegory
Many of the events at Manor Farm are closely linked to
political events in Russia during the first half of the
twentieth century. The rebellion by the working animals
of the farm against the oppressive human farmer who
lives off the fruits of their labor is directly analogous to
the Russian Revolution of 1917 in which workers and
peasants revolted against a feudal system in which
feudal lords lived luxuriously from the toil of the
peasants who farmed on their lands.
What’s in a Name? Parallels between
historical figures and Orwell’s characters
 Karl Marx = Old Major - Old Major is the originator of the idea
that becomes the basis of the animal rebellion- however, like
Marx, the ideals behind it are soon forgotten.
 Czar Nicolas II = Mr. Jones - Old Major describes Mr. Jones,
and humans he represents as the only animals who consumes
without producing. The Czar who fell to the communists and the
aristocracy he represents collected rent from the peasants who
tilled their fields without actually laboring himself.
 Josef Stalin = Napoleon - Exemplary of the tyranny that
overtakes all humans when they accumulate too much power.
His greed for more power and wealth overtakes any ideals he
may have initially had- much as it did with Stalin, who ultimately
can be connected to the deaths of millions of his own fellow
citizens. Note Orwell’s choice of names. In pre-WWII Europe,
Napoleon was considered the arch-villain.
More Parallels
 Leon Trotsky = Snowball - Leon Trotsky escaped from the
Soviet Union after losing a power struggle with Stalin. Trotsky
went into exile in Mexico, where he was later murdered by
Stalin’s agents.
 The “Proletariat” (the laboring or working class) = Boxer
Boxer is symbolic of the working class who does not have
enough information or education to understand the ramifications
and implications of decisions made by their bosses or leaders.
Boxer believes Napoleon, and his refusal to question what
doesn’t seem right ultimately costs him his life. Orwell saw this
as parallel to the fate of much of the working class. Note that
the use of a ‘workhorse’ parallel the Soviet Union’s workers, and
the name which references the Boxer Rebellion of China- which
marked the beginning of the process that eventually led to
China’s turn to communism.
and still more parallels . . .
 Pravda (the newspaper that worked as the propaganda
organ of the Party) = Squealer - Pravda was the propaganda
arm of the Communist Party prior to the entrance of radio and
television. Information was both highly controlled and highly
managed, or ‘spun’. It was also the public face of Party policy.
 The KGB, or secret police = Dogs - The KGB was the enforcer
of the Communist Party, and was deeply feared for their ability
to carry out orders, no matter how odious.