Animal Farm Essay

¨I have a dream. That one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.¨ This was the underlying message of Old Major’s speech which starts off the novel ¨Animal Farm: A Fairy Story¨ by George Orwell. The fairy story elements seem slim to none in this novel; however, the presence of good and evil characters and talking animals create the basis of the fairy tale. The author, George Orwell, lived through two world wars, and saw many things in his life. Animal Farm was written solely for the purpose of symbolizing the Russian Revolution that took place in the early part of the twentieth-century. Everything Orwell placed into this novel holds

This parallels to that of the Russian Revolution because Vladimir Lenin was the key contributor to their rebellion by the speeches he gave. The use of symbols by Orwell allows for the underlying story to become evident, only if one has studied the history of early twentieth century Russia. To parallel the proletariat revolt that resulted in the change of leadership in Russia, the animals rebelled against their leader in order to take over the farm. Following the takeover, the animals set up a system of equality, as well as a form of a constitution. The two most important ideologies were ¨Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy,¨(Orwell 33) and ¨Whatever goes upon four legs is a friend,¨(Orwell 33). The significance of these rules renders the relevance of the Russian Revolution, because the uprising was in large part due to the tyrannical system of government. Following the fall of Jones, the pigs took the role of leader because they were the most intelligent of the animals. Even though the animals wanted to have a system in which all animals were equal, the division had been clearly

The leadership had been at the top, and the security forces were close behind. Both of these groups were treated special in Russian society, which parallels to the fairy tale of Animal Farm. On top of the pigs’ special treatment, the dogs were treated differently than the majority of the masses, because they helped to keep control, because the pigs were the ¨brainworkers¨ not the muscle. At the beginning of the novel, Napoleon the pig takes care of multiple puppies because he claims to be better fit to raise them. Even if Napoleon is more intelligent than the majority of the farm, he is not the mother or father of the pups. The ominous objective of Napoleon became clear later on. Because the pigs became the leaders of Animal Farm, a security force was necessary to maintain this leadership. Napoleon not only uses the dogs as a security force, but also uses them to overtake his fellow comrade, Snowball. The social structure had been set, but Napoleon skewed the structure even farther, because he was power-thirsty, while Snowball had been inclined to work for the interests of the majority. Orwell uses this to symbolize the difference of the two revolutionary leaders in Russia: Lenin and Stalin. Vladimir Lenin had hoped that the revolution would bring forth social equality in Russia; however, after his death, oppression ensued. Stalin used his position as a way to move