Animal Farm: The Loss Of The Bolshevik Family

After the Russian Revolution of 1917, the Bolshevik family came into power. Before the revolution, the nation of Russia was very pro-religion. The government had even given them a few months to restore "its pre-Petrine stature by reestablishing the patriarchate and independent governance of the church," History of the Russian Orthodox Church, factsanddetails.com. In the story of Animal Farm, the church is represented by Moses the raven.

During the tsarist rule, the church was considered to be a very important part of the government. However, their independence was limited. During the revolution, the church had sided with White Movement, the losing side. Afterwards, they continued to support them despite the loss. Because of this, the new leaders, the Bolsheviks, targeted them more than they probably would have had they not supported the new White Army. A few months after the revolution, the government "declared freedom of 'religious and anti-religious propaganda,'"

Moses was the tame raven of Mr. Jones. He often tried to tell the other animals on the farm about Sugarcandy Mountain, or heaven. "The animals hated Moses because he told tales and did no work, but some of them believed in Sugarcandy Mountain, and the pigs had to argue very hard to persuade them that there was no such place," Animal Farm pg12. Once the animals took over the farm, he disappeared for a while. When he returned, though, the pigs ignored him and his rambling.

I think that George Orwell represented the church in Animal Farm very accurately. In the beginning of the story, Moses was Jones's pet. After the animals took over the farm, the pigs ridiculed Moses for trying to tell the others about SugarCandy Mountain. Eventually, they didn't pay much attention to him. Moses's treatment throughout the story is very similar to how the church was treated in real