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Realism And Ideology In George Orwell's Animal Farm

748 Words3 Pages
Animal Farm, published in 1945, is an allegorical fable in which animals are trying to create a utopia. Their utopia is overrun by tyranny and corruption in the end. Several levels of meaning make this novel an allegory and because of its clear moral, it is a fable. The novel is actually a critique of Stalinism and totalitarianism presented through the characters of the pigs, who violate the principles established during the revolt against humans and gradually introduce a system of oppression and exploitation of which the other animals are victims.
On the surface, Animal Farm appears to be just a tale about the animals on Manor Farm but the novel has much deeper meaning. George Orwell wrote this story as a representation of the humankind and the different ideologies of the time. But, his ideas can be applied to any time period, even today. The battle of man vs man is a part of human existence.
By using examples from the novel, this paper will be dealing with the difference between idealism and ideology, the gradual transformation of idealism into ideology, and it will compare some characters from the novel with the persons’ whose name is written in the history.

SHIFT FROM IDEALISM TO IDEOLOGY
In order to understand the novel, Animal Farm, one must first distinguish between the terms idealism and ideology. “Idealism is the theory that nothing exists except minds and ideas in minds.” (Brock, Stuart, and Mares) “Ideology is characterized as a body of ideas upon which
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