Deterioration of Society and Symbolic Characters in Orwell’s Animal Farm

Written by: Nera Martinović (FFOS)

Issue 2 (April 2018)

George Orwell was an English novelist, essayist, journalist, and literary critic who lived and wrote during the twentieth century. Some of his most famous works are Animal Farm, Nineteen Eighty-Four, The Road to Wigan Pier, and Burmese Days.

Most of Orwell's novels have a similar theme, and that is the development of socialism and its inevitable deterioration. He mostly focused on the Soviet Union and the rise of Stalinism and often criticized totalitarian societies in his works. His most famous novels with such themes are the allegorical novel Animal Farm and the dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. Hopkinson stated that Animal Farm is "manifestly an attack on Stalinism" (Hopkinson 29) and "a short satire on dictatorship" (Hopkinson 27).

Animal Farm displays some of the main principles of socialism, the principle of equality and the conversion of private property into public property. In addition, the idea of the common enemy or the enemy of the state emerges. In Animal Farm, the enemy of all animals is man. They see him as the cause of their suffering and they feel that man does not deserve to be the lord of all animals:

Because nearly the whole of the produce of our labour is stolen from us by human beings. There, comrades, is the answer to all our problems. It is summed up in a single word – Man. Man is the only real enemy we have. Remove Man from the scene, and the root cause of hunger and overwork is abolished for ever.

Man is the only creature that consumes without producing. He does not give milk, he does not lay eggs, he is too weak to pull the plough, he cannot run fast enough to catch rabbits. Yet he is lord of all animals. (Orwell 4)

The character of Old Major uses the idea of the common enemy to connect the animals and to make them realize that they are fighting for the same cause. He makes a powerful speech about how animals should stay united: "Man serves the interests of no creature except himself. And among us animals let there be perfect unity, perfect comradeship in the struggle. All men are enemies. All animals are comrades" (Orwell 5). Animal Farm presents a principle of equality among animals and Old Major tells them that they should never be like their enemy, Man: "And remember also that in fighting against Man, we must not come to resemble him. Even when you have conquered him, do not adopt his vices…All the habits of Man are evil. And above all, no animal must ever tyrannize over his own kind. Weak or strong, clever or simple, we are all brothers. No animal must ever kill any other animal. All animals are equal" (Orwell 6).

Another idea was also subtly inserted into the book, specifically the idea that it is easier to control and manipulate uneducated people, by instilling in them a simple sentence that represents an entire ideology. Snowball and Napoleon used this when they told the animals that they do not have to learn all Seven Commandments, but only a simple maxim: "After much thought Snowball declared that the Seven Commandments could in effect be reduced to a single maxim, namely: ‘Four legs good, two legs bad’. This, he said, contained the essential principle of Animalism" (Orwell 21). In the end, when Napoleon was corrupted by the power given to him, all the principles of Animalism were adapted according to his desires and the way he behaved, and a new sentence was added to the sign from the beginning of the book saying that all animals are equal. The new sign said: "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others" (Orwell 90). This perfectly describes how most totalitarian regimes came to be and how easy it is to get corrupted by power and greed. Considering the historical setting in which this book was written, Orwell was quite courageous to talk about the downfall of socialism and to mock Stalinism, because at the time the Western countries accepted Stalin as an ally (Karl 163). In addition, one of the reasons why the book was so successful was the fact that "Orwell did not have to write about people as such, and therefore could avoid the confrontation between the personal problem and the social sickness" (Karl 162). Orwell displayed his personal beliefs throughout the book, and he emphasized just how powerful propaganda was in controlling the masses. According to Pritchett, Orwell’s nightmare was propaganda. He saw it as the destruction of not only the truth, but also the freedom of truth and of an indispensable mercy. (Pritchett 229).

P. H. Newby stated in his work The Novel 1945-1950 that Animal Farm as a novel "interpreted the Russian Revolution in terms of the farmyard" (Newby 25), which is probably the most accurate description of the book. Animal Farm shows us the rise and the fall of socialism through animal characters. Certain parallels can be drawn between the characters in the book and real historical figures. to the point of some characters represent certain historical events. Snowball and Napoleon are the main characters in the book. Napoleon is described as "a large, rather fierce-looking Berkshire boar, the only Berkshire on the farm, not much of a talker but with a reputation for getting his own way" (Orwell 9). He is a representation of Joseph Stalin, the most famous leader of the Soviet Union, although he also shares certain characteristics with the French leader Napoleon. He represents Stalin "in his willingness to desecrate and in his corruption" (Bloom 17), both of which are signs of extreme political tyranny. Snowball is portrayed as "a more vivacious pig than Napoleon, quicker in speech and more inventive, but was not considered to have the same depth of character" (Orwell 9).

Snowball represents a person for whom Orwell had respect, Leon Trotsky. Trotsky was a Soviet politician and a Marxist revolutionary. Like Trotsky, Snowball has charisma, but he does not have the sheer force necessary to defend himself from Napoleon (Bloom 17). Stalin exiled Trotsky, just like Napoleon exiled Snowball. Old Major is a prize Middle White boar and he is a metaphorical combination of Karl Marx, one of the creators of communism, and Lenin, the communist leader of the Russian Revolution. Displaying Old Major’s skull proved his connection to Lenin, whose embalmed body was put on display. Even though Snowball and Napoleon did not attend Old Major’s speech, they adapted his ideas to suit their capitalist goals (Bloom 18).

Napoleon’s loyal assistant and second-in-command is Squealer, a very eloquent pig, who helped Napoleon manipulate the animals: "He was brilliant talker, and when he was arguing some difficult point he had a way of skipping from side to side and whisking his tail which was somehow very persuasive. The others said of Squealer that he could turn black into white." (Orwell 9). He holds a similar position to that of Vyacheslav Molotov, Stalin’s minister of propaganda. Squealer might represent the Russian newspaper of the 1930’s called Pravda. The paper served as a link between Stalin and the Russian people, just like Squealer was the link between Napoleon and other animals (Bloom 18).

The animal that works the most on the farm is the horse Boxer. His name is a reference to the Boxer Rebellion, which marks the beginning of Communism in China (Bloom 17). The raven Moses is a metaphor for established religion. He leaves the farm, but Napoleon eventually brings him back, just as Stalin brought back the Russian Orthodox Church. Also, the four young pigs that complain about Napoleon’s takeover of the farm, and which are later executed, are based on the Great Purge of four rebels against Stalin’s regime, Grigori Zinoviev, Lev Kamenev, Nikolai Bukharin, and Alexei Rykov. Even the human characters in the book are references to historical figures or events. Mr. Jones, the owner of the farm, is an allegory of Russian Tsar Nicholas II, who was forced to abdicate after the Russian Revolution, and was executed by the Bolsheviks. Bloom thinks that Mr. Jones’s financial fall at the beginning of the novel symbolizes the Great Depression of the 1930s and his overthrow at the beginning represents Stalin’s revolution (Bloom 19). Mr. Frederick, owner of the neighboring farm, represents Germany. Some scholars suggest that his name refers to Frederick the Great, the founder of the Prussian military state and Hitler’s hero (Bloom 19). Mr. Pilkington, the owner of the other neighboring farm, represents the English ruling classes who eventually align themselves with Russia. His meeting with Napoleon is a metaphor for the Teheran Conference of 1943. The reference is also visible in the fact that something is brewing between Napoleon and Mr. Pilkington at the end of the book. It refers to the fact that the relationship between the Soviet Union and its Allies was not solidified in the time this book was written, 1945.

In conclusion, the book Animal Farm is an allegorical novel, which requires the reader to actually think about what he is reading. In addition, the book must be read with the historical context in mind. It is an excellent representation of totalitarian regimes of the time, and it conveys a powerful message about how power corrupts people, or in this case, animals. The best conclusion to this research paper would be the conclusion of the book: "No question, now, what had happened to the faces of the pigs. The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again: but already it was impossible to say which was which" (Orwell 95). This quote sums up Orwell’s criticism of Stalinism and also teaches us that no matter what the person says, everyone gets corrupted when power is given to them; they become the people they fought against. Orwell can teach us important life lessons, but only if we read his books carefully and let him speak to us from the pages of his books.

Works Cited

Bloom, Harold. George Orwell's Animal Farm. Infobasepublishing, 2006.

Hopkinson, Tom. A reader’s guide to George Orwell. Longman, 1977.

Karl, Frederick R. A reader’s guide to the contemporary English novel. Thames and Hudson. 1972.

Newby, P. H. The Novel 1945-1950. Longmans, Green and Company, 1951.

Orwell, George. Animal Farm. Penguin Books, 1989.

Pritchett, V. S. "George Orwell: An Appreciation". Highlights of modern literature : a permanent collection of memorable essays fromt he New York Times Book Review. Edited by Francis Brown, The New American Library, 1954, pp. 227-229.