Essay, Research Paper: On Animal Farm

ANIMAL FARM by George Orwell George Orwell's novel Animal Farm does an excellent job of drawing parallels from the
situation leading up to the Russian Revolution of 1917. Animal Farm is a satire that uses its characters to symbolize
leaders of the Russian Revolution. The animals of "Manor Farm", the setting of this novel, which symbolizes Russia,
overthrow their human master after years of mistreatment. Led by the pigs, the farm animals continue to do their work,
only with more pride, knowing that they are working for themselves, as opposed to working for their human master, Farmer
Jones. Slowly over time the pigs gain power and take advantage of the other animals. They gain so much power that they
become just as power hungry and corrupt as their human master. The theme in the novel being that in every society there
are leaders who will, if given the chance, likely abuse their position. Old Major is a prize white boar who helps point
out to the animals that no animal in England is free. He continues to tell the animals that the their labor is stolen by
man, who benefits alone. The animals in return get near nothing, just enough to keep them away from starvation. Old Major
gave many speeches to the farm animals about hope and the future. He is the main animal who got the rebellion started
even though he died before it actually began. Old Major's role compares to Lenin and Marx whose ideas would spark the
communist revolution. Lenin became the leader and teacher of the working class in Russia, and their determination to
struggle against capitalism. Like Old Major, Lenin and Marx wrote essays and gave speeches to the working class poor. The
working class in Russia, as compared with the barnyard animals in Animal Farm, were a laboring class of people that
received low wages for their work. Old major tells the animals that the source of the problem is man, they must overthrow
man to abolish tyranny and hunger. Soon Old Major does die, but his words still echo in the hearts of all the animals.
With the leadership of the pigs, the smartest animals, they repel against the human and gain complete control of the
farm. This would symbolize the Russian Revolution. Another parallel represented in the book is Farmer Jones. His
character is similar to the politician Czar Nicholas who treated his people similar to how Farmer Jones treated his
animals. The animal rebellion on the farm was started because Farmer Jones was a drunk who never took care of the
animals. This made them very angry, fed by the words of Old Major the animals decided to rebel like the Russians. Czar
Nicholas was a very weak man who treated his people similar to how Farmer Jones treated his animals. The Czar made his
working class people very uneasy with the way he used his authority and preached all the time, and the people suffered
and finally demanded reform by rebelling. The animal Napoleon can be compared as a character representing Stalin in
Russia. Both were very mean looking, didn't talk very much but always got what they wanted through force. In one part of
the book Napoleon had the dogs charge Snowball, another animal, as soon as he thought that the pigs were becoming
corrupt. Stalin became the Soviet Leader after the death of Lenin. He was underestimated by his opponents who always
became his victims, and he had one of the most ruthless, regimes in history. In was not till very many years later that
the world found out about the many deaths that Stalin created in Russia during the Revolution. Another strong parrael
would is the character of Snowball with the Russian leader Trotsky. Snowball was very enthusiastic and was a leader who
organized the defense of the farm. He gave speeches and instructions but was not very beneficial. All the other animals
liked him, but he was outsmarted by Napoleon. Trotsky and Stalin's relationship was very much like Snowball's and
Napoleons. Trotsky organized the Red Army and gave speeches and everyone in Russia thought he would win power over
Stalin. After Lenin's death Trotsky lost all his power to Stalin and was expelled from the communist party. George Orwell
has created a masterpiece which is excellent if it is read without any prior knowledge to the situation in Russia.
However the added element does wonders for this novel. Orwell is a genius and he has cleverly hidden the satire in such
an excellent way, that everything fits into the picture like a jigsaw puzzle. I give this book five stars. This rating is
given for many reasons. It is a very easy read and quite enjoyable to many levels of education.


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