George Orwell

GEORGE ORWELL

Animal Farm

° George Orwell was born in India° He studied in England°Orwell fought for the Spanish government against Francisco Franco’s Nationalist uprising, in the Workers’ Party of Marxist Unification°During the second world war he worked as a journalist for BBC

ANIMAL FARMANIMAL FARMAnimal farm is a satirical novel published in 1945 after the Second World War. George Orwell writes this story after his experiences during the Spanish Civil War. He exposes and condemns what he sees as the Spanish corruption of the original socialist ideals.

It tells the story of a revolution and its failure in which the animals, the protagonists, are used as a symbol for real historical characters.

Clearly Orwell shows an iron Russian Revolution and its betrayal by Stalin, all described as animals

The plotThe plotOld Major, the old boar on the Manor Farm, calls the animals on the

farm for a meeting, where he compares the humans to parasites and teaches the animals a revolutionary song, ‘Beast of England'. When Major dies, two young pigs, Snowball and Napoleon, assume command of the factory. The animals revolt and drive the irresponsible Mr. Jones from the farm, renaming it "Animal Farm".

Seven Commandments of Animalism are written on the wall of a barn. The most important is the seventh, "All animals are equal’’.

But at the end of the story the pigs, that are more intelligent and organized than the other animals, gradually become leaders of farm like human beings. Especially Napoleon assumes all the control of the farm and Snowball is declared an enemy and a traitor.

The Seven Commandments , so, are reduced to a single sentence: "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others".

THE CHARACTERSTHE CHARACTERSMr. Jones : the farmer, appears as a drunkardHe symbolizes corrupt government.He represents Tsar Nicholas II. Old Major is a pig respected by the other animals.He represents both Marx and Lenin.

Pigs : most important beings on the farm.They represent dictators.

Napoleon represents Stalin: he wants to increase his power and does not seek the common good.

Snowball represents an idealist leader as Trotsky.

All the other characters in the novel symbolized real historical figures : dogs, cats, horses donkeys and goats.

THE MESSAGETHE MESSAGEThis story is definitely a satire on Soviet

communism. Although Orwell believed strongly in socialist

ideals, he felt that the Soviet Union realized these ideals in a terribly perverse form

Orwell in Animal Farm does not criticize revolution in itself but the corruption, wickedness, indifference, ignorance, greed and myopia of leaders, who in fact, in real life, ignore the horror of a revolution

The gradual disintegration and perversion of the Seven Commandments illustrates this hypocrisy of tyrannies with vivid force.

In fact if initially laws are supposed to keep order and equality, later the pigs corrupted by the absolute power, modify the Commandments only for their interests.

"All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others", and "Four legs good, two legs better!" as the pigs become more human.