Karl Marx, the founder of communism, wrote,“[F]rom each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.” This quote sums up his vision for the ideal political structure; however, it fails to take into account simple human nature. The dichotomy between people’s aspirations and actions are achieved through animal depictions in the novella Animal Farm. Orwell's story shows the communist movement with the personification of animals working toward freedom from human control. Also, Orwell conveys some of Marx’s concepts from this period of time through the use of conflict and irony. Some themes mentioned throughout Animal Farm are that perfection is unattainable, that power can be abused, and that conflict is an unavoidable result of human nature. These themes help to represents truths about the Soviet Union as characters seek to form a utopian civilization …show more content…
Personification is ascribing human characteristics to nonhumans, in this case the animals at Manor Farm. All of the animals are able to speak, drink alcohol, build windmills and perform higher level functions like planning, plotting and interacting with one another. These traits serve to make the animals relate not only to each other, but to help the reader relate to them. Orwell uses personification because he is recounting the Russian Revolution and its historical figures through the representation of animals who are meant to personify figures such as Lenin, Stalin, Karl Marx etc. These characters are a direct comparison of the people from the Russian Revolution. They felt trapped by the brutal leaders and began a rebellion also seeking to create a society of equality and freedom. However, similarly to how the pig Napoleon was harmful to the other animals, the communist leader Stalin mistreated the working class. This relates to Karl Marx’s ideas of creating a utopian society, which is doomed to failure because of inevitable human