What Does George Orwell Teach Us About Russian History

When writing the book Animal Farm, George Orwell had many different main intentions in which one was to teach people about Russian History through a book representation. In my personal opinion, George Orwell has done a fairly good job in accurately representing the history of Russia. This is my opinion because when learning about the Russian Revolution, I was able to easily relate the book with the unit, making my learning process much easier. The level of representation in the book to actual history is similar, when speaking about the fall of the Tsar, the rise of Joseph Stalin and finally when discussing the five year plan. Since the novel is an allegory representing Animal Farm, Tsar Nicholas II was represented through Mr. Jones. Tsar Nicholas II was the last ruler of

In my opinion, the representation was fairly accurate, but it takes a little while to make the connection with the book and the actual history. The first similarity between the history and the book are the living conditions of the Tsar and Mr. Jones before the rebellion took place. During the period of time before the revolution, the Tsar was living in the upmost luxury, whereas unemployed peasants and even employed peasants were struggling to survive. In the book, Mr. Jones lives in comfort because of what his animals make for him, while the animals survive on barely any food and work to the most of their abilities. When the animals are no longer useful, they are sent to the slaughter house. In the novel, Old Major, one of the pigs the animals look up to delivers a speech about how they should rebel against Mr. Jones. During this speech, he says, “He does not give milk, does not lay eggs, he is too weak to pull the plough, he cannot run fast enough to catch rabbits.” (Orwell 4) Old Major also mentions how the animals live on a very minimal amount of food, “The bare minimum that would prevent them from starving” (Orwell 4). Another trait in the Tsar that is portrayed in Mr. Jones is