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Animal Farm by George Orwell, is a book that relates to many of the events within the Russian Revolution. Animal Farm is an allegory, which when in which concrete and specific characters and situations from an event make a point about them. Orwell uses the genre of allegory to show his certain and opinions views of the Russian Revolution. As Britain and Russia were allied during the War, Orwell was not allowed to express his opinion of Stalin and the Russian Regime so he used animals as their representations instead.
The novel, Animal Farm, which demonstrates many allegorical significances the two most important ones being animalism and the Russian Revolution.
Orwell’s goals in writing this was to prove that the Russian Revolution of 1917 resulted in the government more oppressive and totalitarian than the one that it overthrew. Quinn wrote, “As the collapse of the Soviet system in 1989 recedes into history, this allegorical dimension of the story may appear to be less compelling, offering merely historical interest (Quinn).” Even the serfs revolted against the aristocracy, the animals revolted against the farmers.
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The rebellion comes when Mr. Jones forgets to feed the animals and a fed-up cow pushes her way into the store-shed to look for food. The rest of the animals go in to help themselves and Mr. Jones and his men try to get the animals back in line but the animal chases them off the farm- it belongs to them now. Quinn wrote, “His neighboring farmers, Mr. Pilkington and Mr.
Frederick, commiserate with him while privately thinking how they might use these events to their own advantage (Quinn).” Nevertheless, the behavior at Animal Farm reflected on other farms too. Thus, the revolution did not end well. They failed because the characters are taking advantage of their position in the social hierarchy by placing their interests first of all. The desire that these characters have for power goes beyond the ideals that created this Revolution, to begin with.
In the book, the animals follow a philosophy called animalism. Animalism is the communist philosophy of all the animals being treated equally and sharing equally in both the responsibilities and rewards of the farm which is supposed to represent Karl Marx’s philosophy of communism. It celebrates equality among all animals with no class distinctions between, say, pigs and horses, just like Marx’s vision of the collapse of class distinction between the owner of capital and the proletariat. Without rules and laws put in place, it is possible that civilization will fail. Unfortunately in the pig’s advantage, most other animals could not read or write. Orwell wrote, “These Seven Commandments would now be inscribed on the wall; they would form an unalterable law by which all the animals must live forever after (Orwell 24)”. One commandment is, Orwell wrote, “All animals are equal (Orwell 24).” This quote ties right into what animalism is. There was a problem in the original commandments: they placed too much restriction on Napoleon’s power so he changed them to his advantage. Quinn wrote “Standing at the wall of the main barn, Clover, whose eyes are failing, asks Benjamin to read the commandments, as they appear to be different. Benjamin reads what is now the one and only commandment on the wall: ALL ANIMALS ARE EQUAL BUT SOME ANIMALS ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS.” The pigs are practically forced to walk on two legs. This is from the quote “Four legs good, two legs better.” The pigs end up thinking that if they don’t walk on two legs they are inferior to the other ones. This shows Napoleon´s hatred for the humans in a slogan created by the sheep. Eventually, the pigs become more and more like humans.
Overall, the book features significance to the reality of the history of the 1917 Revolution. Animalism takes a big part in how the commandments were used. The Russian Revolution and animalism were just one of the many significant allegorical references in this novel. Orwell demonstrates historical events in many ways to assist readers to better understand this novel with a better plotline.
Allegory Significance in Animal Farm. (2021, Mar 05). Retrieved from https://studymoose.com/allegory-significance-in-animal-farm-essay
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