Animal Farm Compared To The Russian Revolution Essay, Research Paper
All of the characters in Animal farm have counterparts in real life. This book was based on the Russian Revolution, and all the important populace of the revolution are symbolized. Some of the animals represent individuals in the Russian Revolution, and some types of animals represent different types of Russian citizens. The book carries out much like the actual revolution. It starts out with hopes of an empire where all are equal and the unfair unjust leader is thrown out. Then it moves on to where some individuals begin to take more power than is rightfully theirs. At the end the rulers have completely taken over and the kingdom is as it was under the original rulers. I will compare the animals from top of the social class to the bottom. At the top were the pigs. Each pig represented someone different in the revolution. Old Major is compared to Lenin. He was an ideologist who dreamed up a wonderful government where all the animals were equal and the humans, or the czars, !
were pushed out. Unfortunately his dream would never materialize. Then we are left with his predecessors. The first is Snowball. Snowball believed one hundred percent in Old Majors ideals. He wanted all the things Old Major wanted, such as the welfare of the animals. In the Russian Revolution his counterpart would be Trotsky. Trotsky believed and wanted the same things as Lenin, and wanted to continue what Lenin had started. Then comes Napoleon. Napoleon was selfish and greedy. He did not want to share the
power or the decision making with any other individual. This was the same for Stalin. At first Napoleon and Snowball shared the decision making and had debates about what course of action they would take. This worked for awhile. Then Napoleon grew weary of long debates, and he thought he could make the decision by himself. He then forced Snowball out of the farm and started to spread lies about Snowball to get the entire farm against him. Stalin did the same thing against Trotsky and forced Trotsky into hiding into Mexico, where he was eventually assassinated. Both Stalin and Napoleon ruined any hopes of equal and fare government and instead set up dictatorships. Then comes the final important pig, Squealer. Squealer did not make the decisions in the government but acted more like the controlled media as in the Russian government. His job was to influence the people by exaggerating and re-writing history and sometimes telling plain lies all together. The people would listen t!
o him, and he would always listen to Napoleon. Other animals were the worker class type citizens. The types of citizens range from hard working to selfish and lazy. Molly, for instance, only cared about her ribbons, and wasn’t much of a thinker. All she wanted to do was eat sugar, and look pretty.
Benjamin was a critic who always said “I’ve seen that before” and I’ll never work.” The cat was just plain lazy, and was always disappearing whenever work had to be done. The ducks were weak and did not get much done. Then there were other donkey?s which worked much harder and never thought of their own needs. The pigeons acted as message carriers spreading propaganda between farms, spreading Napoleon?s words from farm to farm, or in the actual Russian Revolution, country to country. Although all these animals are very different, they all shared one common trait. They were all weak. They all let Napoleon take over without much resistance. Just like Stalin took over Russia. These animals were too weak, too scared, or just lacked the intelligence required to do something about it. This is where it is the fault of the people. They should have stood up to Napoleon for what they fought for in the first place. The people must stand up to those who would destroy the system or else al!
l is lost. I think that this story was a good representation of the actual Russian Revolution. But it is even more than that. It shows how people can let certain individuals get away with anything just because they do not feel like standing up to them. If you tried, this story could also be compared to other times in history when the people let dictatorships form in their own country. I enjoyed this book a lot but I do not think that it should be just compared to the Russian Revolution.nd greedy. He did not want to share the
power or the decision making with any other individual.
Animal Farm
The novel, Animal Farm by George Orwell, is a satire of human nature
that uses animals to ridicule certain human traits and characteristics.
The novel depicts man’s selfishness and greed as part of human nature
and how many “innocent bystanders” are swept under and destroyed by
these selfish and greedy people. In the novel, these naive bystanders
are the animals of the Manor Farm who succumb to their masters, first
the humans and then the pigs. Orwell’s transformation of the pigs into
humans and vice versa shocks the reader who finally realizes the
tremendous similarity that our race has with that of the pigs in
Orwell’s novel.
There is much symbolism in Orwell’s choice of the pig to be the animal
to transform into a human. By reading between the lines, we can see that
he is trying to tell us that humans are the equivalent of pigs. A pig is
characteristically seen as a greedy, selfish, dirty animal. This is what
Orwell is calling the human race. The author’s choice of the pig over
the other animals begins at the very start of the novel. It is a pig
that instills the hope of a Rebellion against Mr. Jones in all the other
animals. Pigs plan for and carry out the Rebellion. Pigs are the ones to
take charge after the Rebellion. The leadership that is shown by the
pigs, is also another example of human nature. The pig leadership is
seen many times throughout the novel, but particularly after the
Rebellion when Napoleon and Snowball compete for the role of ruler
supreme, as well as when Napoleon changes the Sunday meetings from
debates into a time when orders were given and punishment doled out.
Humans naturally feel that they are worthy to, and therefore should be,
leaders. When reading the novel, we are quick to accept the pig as a
logical choice to transform into the human, but only after an
examination of ourselves do we realize why they were the chosen animal.
At the end of the novel, the animals of Animal Farm are portrayed
differently than they were with Mr. Jones as their master. With a human
as their master, all of the animals’ plights were caused by humans’
cruelty. If they were hungry, it was because their human master didn’t
feed them. When the pigs wethey were with Mr. Jones as their master.
With a human as their master, all of the animals’ plights were caused by
humans’ cruelty. If they were hungry, it was because their human master
didn’t feed them. When the pigs were masters, the animals themselves,
unawares, permitted their own downfall. Though they were hungry, they
still trusted the pigs who told them that they were being fed twice as
much as Mr. Jones had fed them. By trusting in the pigs, their “fellow
comrades”
The prosperity that the animals had hoped to achieve after the Rebellion
was reached but in a different way than they had planned. The animals
had hoped to make Animal Farm the most productive in the county, which
they did, but they had planned to keep all the benefits of their labors
for themselves and to work only for the sake of knowing that they were
working for themselves. But this was not to be so. The farm’s new and
bigger productivity was reached, but in the same way that it was reached
under Mr. Jones. Both man and pig used the animals to their benefit,
took advantage of them and then denied them the fruits of their labors.
With the pigs as masters, the increased productivity was reached at the
full expense of the animals – excluding the pigs, of course. The animals
worked harder than ever before, received less food than ever before, and
existed under worse conditions than there had ever been before. All of
the profit that the animals worked their bodies and souls for went
entirely to the pigs. Yes, the farm was the most prosperous in the
county, but the pigs were the only ones who benefitted from it.
At the conclusion of the novel, the pigs become so much like humans that
the reader is unable to tell the two apart. The pigs, with their greed,
selfishness and lust for power, have become exactly like the humans.
They cheat, drink, intimidate, kill and carry on like humans. The
tranformation is now complete. Orwell best sums it up in his final
paragraph, ” … No question, now, what had happened to the faces of the
pigs. The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig,
and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which
was which.” The attempt by the animals to reach utopia has failed. They
have returned to the same place from whence they came.
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Animal Farm by George Orwell
The novel, Animal Farm, was written by George Orwell and was published
in 1946. The story is about a farm in England around the time of the
Russian revolution. The animals on Manor Farm are irritated with the way
they are being treated, so they start a revolution. The pigs, who were
the smartest animals on the farm, took control of the farm while the
other animals worked. Throughout the novel the pigs lie to the other
animals and change the rules, of the farm to accommodate themselves.
George Orwell?s real name was Eric Blair. He was born in 1903. He went
to school at Eton, and after service with the Indian Imperial Police in
Burma, he returned to Europe to earn his living writing novels and
essays. He was a political writer who wrote of his own times. He was a
man of intense feelings and fierce hates. He hated cant and lying and
cruelty in life and in literature. He was critical of communism but was
himself a Socialist.
The setting for Animal Farm is Manor Farm in England during the time of
the Russian revolution. The farm is enourmous. The farm has been
enlarged by two fields bought from Mr. Pilkington, and various new
buildings had been added.
One of the major characters in the novel, Animal Farm, is Nepoleon.
Napoleon, after driving Snowball, another pig who was trying to take
over the farm, off the farm, took over. Nepoleon says one thing, and
does the other, takes other peoples ideas, and he is the biggest liar on
the farm. Nepoleon took the freedom of the animals, that they had gained
from the revolution, and twisted it so that now instead of being
enslaved by the farmer, they were enslaved by him.
In the novel, Animal Farm, the animals speak with a Russian accent. For
instance, the word “comrade” is used often. The pigs mostly use a
Russian accent, but the other animals mainly use an American accent.
Animal Farm is about a farm in England during the Russian revolution.
The animals on Manor Farm are fed up with the way they are being
treated. Inspired by a speech given to them by a late animal named
Major, the animals revolt. The animals drive the owner off the farm and
take over. The pigs who were the smartest animals took control, set up
rules, and kept the farm together.
Throughout the years on the farm the pigs lie to the other animals
about, if they work hard, all the luxuries they would receive. The years
pasted and the animals worked harder and harder, but they never received
their benefits. The pigs on the other hand did not work at all but lived
in comfort. The pigs also lie to the animals and change the rules to
accommodate themselves. For instance, in the beginning of the novel no
animal was allowed to walk on two legs, drink alcohol, or sleep in human
beds, because those were human luxuries and humans were considered evil.
After the pigs discovered the pleasures of these luxuries, then the
rules were animals were not allowed to drink excessively, to sleep with
sheets, and walking on two legs was better than walking on four. At the
end of the story, one could not tell if the pigs were human or not.
One the themes of Animal Farm is Communism. Throughout the book the pigs
who represent the communists, enslave the animals. They make them
believe by working hard they will be rewarded, but they never got
rewarded. Another theme could be selfishness. Throughout the novel the
pigs have the animals do all the work and they take all the food. The
pigs change the rules to accommodate themselves.
The moral consideration of Animal Farm is that power corrupts people.
After the farmer was overthrown the pigs took power. After the power
shift the pigs changed, they started to become more like the humans .
They used beds and clothes, drank liquor, and made money. They went
against everything they first said they stood for.
The novel, Animal Farm, expressed the concept of communism well. The
writer uses the element of for shadowing in a way that, every time the
pigs changed a rule or lied to the other animals, one could tell that
they were becoming more and more like the humans, and eventually at the
end of the story they practically did.