Animal Farm Analysis

Analysis of the book "Animal Farm" The book "Animal Farm" is a novel by George Orwell. It was written during World War II, but was not printed until after the war in 1945. The book intends to show that Russia was not a true democratic socialist country, and is at the same time a parody of Stalinist Russia. In this book analysis I will try to find similarities between George Orwell's fiction in the book and the actual people and events of the Russian revolution.

Animal Farm is set in an unspecified time period. However, Orwell means the fable to be contemporaneous with the object of its satire, the Russian Revolution (1917–1945). It is important to remember that this period represented the recent past and present at the time of writing and that Orwell understands the significance of the story’s action to be immediate and ongoing rather than historical.1 The story takes place in an imaginary farm in England.
The book "Animal Farm" is about the farm animals, that inhabit the Manor Farm are abused and mistreated by Farmer Jones. Old Major, a prize-winning boar, gathers the animals of the Manor Farm for a meeting in the big barn. He tells them about a dream he has had in which all animal live together with no human beings to oppress or control them. He teaches them a song called " Beats of England", because the lyrics is describing his dream, and he tells them that they must work hard toward such a paradise. Old Major dies, and three younger pigs - Snowball, Napoleon and Squealer formulate his main principles into a philosophy called Animalism. One night the animals manage to defeat the farmer Mr. Jones, and he runs of the land. The Animals rename the property Animal Farm and dedicate themselves to achieving Major's dream. At first the Animal Farm is doing great. Snowball learns the animals to read and Napoleon educates young puppies to the principles of Animals. Mr. Jones reappears to take back his farm, but the animals defeat him again, in what comes to be known as the Battle of the Cowshed. However, as time passes, the pigs, Napoleon and Snowball struggle for the power of the farm and the other animals. Napoleon changes completely to a different character, he begins to expand his powers, and tries to make Snowball look like a villain. But beside of Napoleons doings, Squealer convinces the other Animals that Napoleon is a great leader and is making good things for everyone - despite the fact that the common animals are overworked, hungry and cold. Years pass at Animal Farm, and the pigs become more and more like human beings, and it turns out to the common animals that they no longer can tell which are the pigs and which are the humans.

The pig Napoleon is the leader of all animals. He is a corrupt opportunist. He never shows interest in the strength of Animal Farm itself, but only the strength of his power he has over it. The only thing he has done is the training of the puppies. He does not educate them for their own good, but rather for his own good. He uses the puppies to his private army against the other animals. He is very mean and unfair to the other animals. He is a lying and bullying leader. Napoleon represents the Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin who ruled the Soviet Union for over 35 years, but in a more general sense, the political tyrants that have emerged throughout human history.

The pig Snowball is Napoleons helper. He is largely based on Leon Trotsky and describes how he led the opposition against Joseph Stalin (Napoleon), though he also includes elements of Vladimir Lenin. He appears as an ardent ideologue who throws himself heart and soul into trying to spread Animalism worldwide and improve animal farm infrastructure. Snowball is very superior in spite of the other animals. He has a big enthusiasm for the big projects like the windmill, and it has affected him in a bad way. It might have erupted into full-blown megalomaniac.2 Snowball believes in a continued revolution: he argues that in order to defend Animal Farm.

The horse Boxer is the most sympathetically character in the novel. He has the best qualities of the exploited working classes. He is loyal, dedicated and strong. He has a huge capacity for labor. He only sees good things in people, which make him a little naive. He does not recognize even the most blatant forms of political corruption. The pigs exploit Boxer much more than Mr. Jones ever has done. Boxer represents all of the invisible labor that undergirds the political drama being carried out by the elites. He believes any problem can be solved if he works harder.3 With his serves, he is the force that holds Animal Farm together.

Squealer is an effective and very convincing orator. He is a fat porker. He is good at making speeches to the animals, and he is also one of the leaders of the farm. Under the rule of Napoleon, Squealer does things to manipulate the other animals.4 As the book progresses Squealer takes the central role in making announcements to the animals as Napoleon appears less and less often. Squealer represents Vyacheslav Molotiv, who was Stalin’s protégée and head of Communist propaganda. He is Napoleon's (Stalin's) key to propaganda for the farm (Soviet Union).5

There are many relevant themes in the book such as the corruption of socialist ideals in the Soviet Union, which goes through the whole story. Also the societal tendency toward class stratification enters in the novel, which you see in the pigs, who feels superior to others. The danger of a naive working class is also an important theme in the novel, because Boxer he believes any problem can be solved if he works harder. The abuse of language as instrumental to the abuse of power also enters the story, because the pigs learn the other animals’ things that are very wrong as “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others”.6

There are three important symbols in Animal Farm; Animal Farm, The Barn and The Windmill.
Animal Farm symbolizes Russia and the Soviet Union under Communist Party rule. Animal Farm also stands for any human society, be it capitalist, socialist, fascist, or communist. It possesses the internal structure of a nation, with a government (the pigs), a police force or army (the dogs), a working class (the other animals), and state holidays and rituals.7 The Barn on Animal Farm whose outside walls the pigs paint the Seven Commandments and, later, their revisions symbolize the collective memory of a modern nation. There are many scenes in where the ruling-class pigs alter the principles of Animalism, but the working-class animals accept these changes and in that way an institution in power can revise a community’s concept of history to bolster its control.8
The Windmill symbolizes the pigs’ manipulation of the other animals for their own gain. The pigs exploit an abuse Boxer and the other common animals by making them undertake labor to build the windmill, which will ultimately earn the pigs more money and thus increase their power. The windmill is also the enormous modernization projects undertaken in Soviet Russia after the Russian Revolution.9
Humans are also a symbol in the story, because they represent the Germans with whom; Stalin made a non-attack treaty with. The humans symbolize the bad in us all, and I think Orwell tries to tell that no one are better than the pigs in the novel.

I think George Orwell wrote animal farm as a parable to the Russian Revolution. I think he tries to tell us how a revolutionary government could be worse than previous predecessor. They key lesson is that the organization’s bosses often manipulate the organization for their own good.