Mistreatment Leads to Revolution: A Comparison of the Pullman Strike and “Animal Farm”
One would probably never conder comparing a novel about talking animals rising up against the farmer to an actual historic event such as the Pullman Strike of 1894. There are many differences and similar connections that can be found between the Pullman Strike of 1894 and novel “Animal Farm” in the beginning before the strike and revolution took place, during, and after.
The first connection that can be made between the Pullman Strike and “Animal Farm” can be found in before the uprisings took place. Before the Strike, the American economy was on an upward climb, the agriculture, railroad and mine industries were booming until the Depression of 1893, also known as the Panic of 1893 struck. This was said to be one of the worst depressions in American history(Whitten). All of these industries were brought to a halt because of drought the crippled the crops, the price of metals, primarily silver, plummeted, causing the railroads to stop. As well as a
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The Pullman Strike started because George Pullman, owner of a major company that made railroad carts, made wage cuts and still required his workers to pay full rent because he owned the houses where his workers lived. This caused the workers to go on strike, which later caused the other members of the American Railroad Union(A.R.U) to also strike and refuse to work on any trains that had Pullman carts. In the novel “Animal Farm” the animals had a meeting where they all decided to overthrow Mr. Jones. The animals banned together and managed to run Mr. Jones off of the farm and they decided to appointed leaders(the pigs). The connection between the strike and the revolution is that both of the individuals/animals took action to try and make a change so they would have better living