George Orwell’s Animal Farm is a “historical” fiction novel that is told in the form of an extended metaphor. The setting is post-WWII and the topic is the rise of communism in Russia, an issue ever-present to the society of America at that time. The main characters in the story are the pigs, who are the most intelligent animals on the farm, and take the leadership roles after the drunken farmer, Mr. Jones, and his associates are revolted out of Manor Farm. The two lead pigs are Napoleon, who represents the communist leader Joseph Stalin, and Snowball, who represents Stalin’s opposer, Leon Trotsky. The animals renamed their newly claimed territory Animal Farm, as a symbol of their superiority over the land. They also promise to never live like a human in the home of Mr. Jones. They formulate seven rules, also known as the the Seven Commandments, that no animals are to break. All is good for a short period of time, but the pigs, specifically Napoleon, start to twist the rules for the benefit of the himself and also the pigs. Snowball had many an idea but Napoleon did not see them benefiting him, so he banished Snowball from the Farm using a group of vicious attack dogs. After the exiling of Snowball, life on Animal Farm starts to tumble downhill. Napoleon blames everything that goes wrong on the Farm on Snowball, and indoctrinates a negative image of Snowball in the minds of the animals. One of his fellow pigs, appropriately named Squealer, spreads propaganda all over the Farm to further Napoleon’s message. Tensions escalate to the point where any animal who supported the ideologies of Snowball or disagreed with the ideologies of Napoleon would be put to death. All the while, Napoleon contradicts his original word of never acting like a human by sleeping in the home of Mr. Jones and even drinking whiskey. A battle between human farmers and the animals injures Boxer, one of Napoleon’s most loyal followers. Napoleon tells the animals that he died a calm and painless death, when in reality he was sold by Napoleon to obtain money for alcohol. All in all, Napoleon progresses from a lowly pig to a communist leader with human-like traits, and innocent animals suffer from his greediness.
The overarching theme in the novel is the symbolism of characters. As I mentioned earlier, the main characters, Napoleon and Snowball, represent Stalin and Trotsky. Orwell’s writing was obviously very anti-communist, not only because of the Red Scare viewpoints at that time but also the negative light in which he displays Napoleon. Mr. Jones, the neglectful farmer, represents the last emperor of Russia, Tsar Nicholas II. Lastly, the animals being oppressed represent the working class of Russia. They were virtually forgotten about, and lived an impoverished life while their rulers lived an opulent, wasteful life. The symbolism was not advertently obvious. Rather, you had to do some further research to know who Orwell was alluding to when he wrote Animal Farm, which made it more interesting. Another major theme in the book is the corruption of power hungry leaders. Orwell writes beautifully in conceit, or extended metaphor, about the gradual corruption of Napoleon, which led to the suffering of many animals. The same held true for Stalin. On paper, communism sounds great. Everyone has an equal share of everything, no extreme class gap, and a level playing field for all. However, this is all idealistic. In reality, when leaders like Stalin came into power and their greed increased exponentially with exposure to the vast array of things they were able to embezzle from the people, corruption occurred. The famous line, “All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others” attests to the unfair advantages of those in power compared to the working class of Russia. The symbolism of the characters in Orwell’s Animal Farm not only helped the reader to comprehend the plot, but also told a bigger story about communism in reality.
My favorite character in Animal Farm would have to be Boxer the horse. Even though what he advocated for was detrimental to the society of Animal Farm, he was amazingly committed. He was my favorite because he was so passionate about furthering Animalism. He loyal to Napoleon like a golden retriever is to his owner. Napoleon could not do anything to Boxer to make him no longer follow the revolution. Throughout the entire book, his motto is, “I will work harder”. However, towards the end of the book, his motto becomes, “Napoleon is always right”. He is always willing to go the extra mile, as long as it benefits the farm. Unfortunately, the one negative aspect of Boxer’s personality, the aspect that brought him to his demise, was his ignorance. He was a hard and persistent worker, but he never stopped to think about what he was working hard for. Instead, he blindly followed Napoleon, which eventually led to his selling. If Boxer had the independence to think for himself, he may have realized the cause he worked so diligently for was actually harming himself and the farm, and could have done something to stop the furthering of communism. However, despite his ignorance, I loved the hard-working personality and mindset of the horse Boxer.
Although Orwell’s Animal Farm does not tell the story of the Bolshevik Revolution and the rise of communism directly, it achieves telling the story through a satirically written extended metaphor. The events that occur in the novel, however, are incredibly historically accurate. For example, the removal of Snowball from the Farm is directly related to the exile of Leon Trotsky from Russia. Trotsky was exiled to Turkey in 1929 because his viewpoints disagreed with those of Stalin. Another example of historical accuracy within the book were Napoleon’s nine attack dogs. I interpreted them as the officers who enforced communism and instilled fear in the people’s hearts. The dogs did the same thing. Napoleon warned the people that anyone who opposed him would be put to death by the wrath of the attack dogs. No animal wanted to die a gruesome death, so they suppressed their views. The same holds true for the common people in communist Russia who were scared of being put to death by Stalin’s officers. As a result, they suffered without the vital necessities one needs to live. The events that took place in Animal Farm have a direct correlation with the events that occurred in communist Russia.
I would most definitely recommend this book to any friend of mine who enjoys a good history-based novel. The satire and mocking of Stalin through the antagonistic character of Napoleon made me laugh at times because the mannerisms of Napoleon reminded me exactly of Stalin. Anyone who reads Animal Farm should have some general knowledge of the Cold War and communist revolution that occurred in Russia, because they would not understand any of the metaphors unless they performed extensive research. They should be aware of who the main characters symbolize, because that really helped me to fully comprehend the context Orwell was trying to achieve. Another plus is that the novel was not agonizingly long, and the material was not too heavy for one to be able to process what they are reading. I really appreciated reading this book and the way it was written. I blew through this novel and was able to really comprehend what Orwell was writing about, and that played a role in further developing my appreciation for this novel. I cannot begin to fathom the literary mastermind Orwell must have had in order to write such an intelligent book like Animal Farm so beautifully.
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