Satire And Symbolism In George Orwell's Animal Farm

In the allegory published by George Orwell in 1956, Animal Farm becomes the only farm in England to be run by animals. Orwell clearly formulates uses of satire and symbolism to turn the life of ordinary farm animals into a tale representing the Russian Revolution. In Animal Farm, George Orwell cleverly uses symbolism that correlates with the events of the Russian Revolution. Not only does Orwell relate the leaders of Animal Farm to the leaders of Russia, but he uses ingenious satire to bring out the poor characteristics of both. While being a genius at work, the author never directly correlates the Russian leaders to Animal Farm’s leaders, the audience works out the relations themselves. In his dystopian novel, George Orwell may make a mockery of the Russian Revolution,
One of the more interesting forms of symbolism that Orwell uses is Animal Farm’s flag. Directly after the animals of Animal Farm overthrow the humans, Orwell creates the scene of the society’s new flag, “Snowball had found in the harness-room an old green tablecloth of Mrs. Jones’s and had painted on it a hoof and a horn in white” (Orwell, 1956). Ironically, the hoof and horn of Animal Farm’s flag is very similar to the hammer and sickle that can be seen on Russia’s “Victory Flag”. Orwell’s audience can easily appreciate his sly symbolism that he puts into his novel. Throughout the novel the animals sing “The Beasts of England”, a song is similar to “Internationale”, a communist anthem that was sang in the late 1800’s. “Beasts of England” and “Internationale” are similar in that they both speak of forming a rebellion. Subtle symbolism, such as creating a song, makes Orwell’s book very interesting, his symbolism may even amuse readers when they put together his connections between Animal Farm and the Russian Revolution. Another example of symbolism that