Allegory Used By Authors

Allegory Used by Authors

Ines Palacio
Mrs.Coplen
English I Honors
10 December 2012

Do you ever wonder what it takes for a revolution to happen? Revolution usually takes time, a strong leadership, ideology, and not just one person. When writing a story, authors often mean for the story to interpret a second meaning behind it, to reveal a hidden message. They do this by using allegory. In Animal Farm and Black Boy some sort of revolution happens at different points in the book to convey this meaning. As for the song “Revolution” by the Beatles it is pretty much the whole plot. Authors use allegory to parallel the Russian Revolution in order to show that freedom can be lost very quickly as it was with the animal's lives in Animal Farm due to the pig’s over abusive power.
The Russian Revolution has two parts to it: the February Revolution and the October Revolution; that centers around 1917-1918. The February one resulted in the overthrow of Tsar Nicholas II’s abusive power. After that, Lenin and the Bolsheviks took control. Leon Trotsky was the leader of the 1917 Russian Revolution that took care of foreign affairs under Lenin. He was exiled from the Soviet Union after losing a power struggle with Stalin over who was to become Lenin’s successor. The October Revolution was planned to get rid of the provisional government. Led by the Bolsheviks, an extremist group, they established the Soviet Union. In the year of 1918, these people abandoned the democratic process and formally declared themselves the dictators of the proletariat.
In Animal Farm, George Orwell uses allegory for most of the characters, in this case which are animals that are personified. This means that the pigs aren't only animals that talk, read, write, and dress like humans but also have a meaning, if thought outside the box in comparison with revolution. Not only the pigs but for instance Boxer: "The passage in which the loyal but stupid workhorse Boxer is sold to be turned into glue, hides, and bone metal because he is no longer useful is written out for the cynicism of the Soviet Union" (Meyers, ‘An Allegory of Revolution'). After Major's speech, the human tyranny slowly starts to become vulnerable and weak. Hitler can be an example that demonstrates this: "Suddenly Hitler's army, which had looked invincible for so long had begun to look vincible just like the tyranny of humans that was taken over by the animals" (Orwell, viii). This is related to government and ties back to revolution since it is the overthrowing of a government. Another example of how Animal Farm has allegory is that after the animals plan the attack, the fight between the negligible animals and unjust, greedy humans is an example of rebellion. "Just like the Stalinists were trying to destroy every trace of Trotsky's contribution to the Russian Revolution so are the animals trying to erase all the human traces off the farm" (Orwell, v). The last piece of evidence that there is allegory in the book Animal Farm is the use of totalitarianism, which means having to do with a government controlled by one political group that permits no other political groups. This shows both the relationship between revolution and the book, as well as the result of totalitarian regime of the animal's lives and the pig's excessive abuse of power. There is no better example to prove that Orwell has actually experienced this than: “When one reads Orwell on the Spanish War, one knows that he’s been there. One feels very differently too, I think, about reading a novel like Animal Farm. One knows that the author has actually experienced what he is writing about” (George Orwell’s Dystopias). As the citation explains the reader does feel that he is experienced with this and has been there.
In Black Boy by Richard Wright, allegory is also used to display a political meaning as well. This story is racist towards African Americans and relates to the Underground Railroad: “The North symbolized to me that all I had not felt and seen; yet by imagining a place where everything was possible, I kept hope alive in me “(Wright, 659). This reminds the reader of slavery against African Americans, obvious in the story. Another instance that shows slavery in Black Boy is: “I knew I lived in a country in which the aspirations of black people were limited, marked off...yet I felt that I had to go somewhere and do something to redeem my being alive “(Wright, 659). Here is Wright's aspiration about writing a story, but the limitations of black people confront him to writing, to feeling confident about himself. He is so passionate about writing that he revolts against his family and friends, even when he doesn’t quite understand what is going on: “You’re growing up now, and you won’t be able to get jobs if you let people think that you’re weak minded” (Wright, 658). Here, the allegory is moral: the people Wright portrays, like his mom, his classmates, his teacher, and grandma represent oppression, fear, and hatred. Black boy seems individual and desires to join society with his own terms and not the oppression of his family and friends.
In the revolution song which is “Revolution” by the Beatles allegory is definitely used as well as Animal Farm and Black Boy since the story is explaining how the author supports a peaceful decision but still wants to change the world in some way. "Well you know, We all want to change the world, But when you talk about destruction, Don't you know you can count me out “(Beatles-John Lennon, 5-8). This is saying that revolutions change the world but that it takes destruction first just like the Russian Revolution. Even though the people wanted a revolution because they kept criticizing the government, the Beatles themselves were people who tried to be peaceful. “You say you got a real solution, Well you know We’d all love to see the plan, You ask me for a contribution, Well you know We’re doing what we can” (Beatles-John Lennon, 11-16). They were uncertain about destruction since they wanted to know whether the alternatives the people proposed were truly any better than what they were criticizing.
In conclusion, many authors use the literary device allegory when talking about something deeper than simply just a story in order to decode a point behind the story; having to do with the characters and other symbols of this story. In this case it is revolution: the abuse of power in the Russian Revolution relates to the pig’s tyranny over the desperates animal’s lives in Animal Farm, the limitations on black people like Wright in Black Boy, and how there can be different point of views and confusion about whether a revolution should take place to overthrow a government in “Revolution” by the Beatles.