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Animal Farm is a novel by George Orwell, and is regarded in the literary field as one of the most famous satirical allegories of Soviet totalitarianism. Orwell based the book on events up to and during Joseph Stalin's regime. Orwell, a democratic socialist, and a member of the Independent Labour Party for many years, was a critic of Stalin, and was suspicious of Moscow-directed Stalinism after his experiences in the Spanish Civil War.
The novel was chosen by TIME Magazine as one of the 100 best English-language novels from 1923 to the present. [1]
Old Major, the old boar on the Manor Farm (or "Willingdon Beauty" as he is called when he is exhibited) calls the other animals on the Farm for a meeting, where he compares the humans to parasites, and then proceeds to teach the animals a revolutionary song: "Beasts of England."
When Major dies three days later, two young boars - Snowball and Napoleon - assume command, and turn his dream into a full-fledged philosophy. The animals revolt and drive Mr. Jones from the farm, renaming it "Animal Farm."
The Seven Commandments of Animalism are written on the wall of a barn for all to read. The most important is "all animals are equal." All animals work, but the workhorse, Boxer, does more than others and adopts the maxim — "I will work harder."
Snowball teaches the other animals to read and write (though few besides the pigs learn to read well), food is plentiful, and the entire farm is organized and runs smoothly. Meanwhile, Napoleon takes the pups from the farm dogs and trains them privately. When Mr. Jones tries to retake the farm, the animals defeat him at what they call the "Battle of the Cowshed." Napoleon and Snowball begin a power struggle for leadership. When Snowball announces his idea for a windmill, Napoleon quickly opposes it. Snowball makes a passionate speech in favour of the windmill, then Napoleon summons his nine attack dogs, which chase Snowball away. In Snowball's absence, Napoleon declares himself leader and makes changes. Meetings will no longer be held because a committee of pigs alone will decide what happens with the farm. Napoleon, using Squealer as a mouthpiece, announces that Snowball stole the idea for the windmill from him. The animals work harder with the promise of easier lives with the windmill. After a violent storm, the animals find the fruit of their labor annihilated. Though neighboring farmers scoff at the thin walls, Napoleon and Squealer convince everyone that Snowball destroyed the windmill. Once Snowball becomes the scapegoat of the story, Napoleon begins to purge the farm, killing many animals he accuses of consorting with Snowball. Meanwhile, Boxer takes a second mantra, "Napoleon is always right."
Napoleon abuses his powers, and life becomes harder and harder for the animals; the pigs impose more and more controls on them while reserving privileges for themselves. The pigs rewrite history to villainize Snowball and glorify Napoleon(i.e stating that Snowball fought for the humans in the Battle of the Cowshed, and that Napoleon bit Snowball, when Snowball was actually hit by a pellet from Jones' gun.) Squealer justifies everything, even the occasions when the pigs alter the Seven Commandments— for example, "No animal shall drink alcohol" becomes "No animal shall drink alcohol to excess." The song "Beasts of England" is banned as inappropriate (as the dream of Animal Farm has been realized), and is replaced by an anthem glorifying Napoleon, who begins to live more and more like a human. The animals, though cold, starving, and overworked, remain convinced that they are still better off than when they were ruled by Mr. Jones, the previous (human) owner of Manor Farm. Squealer abuses the animals' poor memories and invents numbers to show their improvement.
Mr. Frederick, one of the two neighboring farmers, swindles Napoleon by buying lumber with forged money, and then attacks the farm, using blasting powder to blow up the recently restored windmill. Though the animals of Animal Farm eventually win the battle, they do so at a great cost, as many of the animals, including Boxer, are wounded. (Squealer, however, was mysteriously absent from the fight). However, Boxer continues to work harder and harder, until he finally collapses while working on the windmill. Napoleon sends for a van to take Boxer to the veterinarian, explaining to the worried animals that better care can be given there. However, Benjamin notices as Boxer is loaded up that the van really belongs to "Alfred Simmonds, Horse Slaughterer and Glue Boiler", but the animals' last desperate attempts are futile. Squealer quickly reports that the van with the old writing had been purchased by the hospital and had simply not been repainted yet. He then recounts a dramatic and tear-felt tale of Boxer's death in the hands of the best medical care. In reality, the pigs sent Boxer to his death in exchange for more whiskey.
Many years pass, and the pigs learn to walk upright, carry whips, and wear clothes. The Seven Commandments are reduced to a single phrase: "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others." Napoleon holds a dinner party for the pigs and the humans of the area (in the adjacent Foxwood Farm, run by Mr. Pilkington), who congratulate Napoleon on having the hardest-working animals in the country on the least feed. Napoleon announces his alliance with the humans, against the labouring classes of both "worlds". He then abolishes practices and traditions related to the Revolution, and renames the farm "the Manor Farm".
The animals, overhearing the conversation, notice that the faces of the ruling pigs have begun changing. During a poker match, an argument breaks out between Napoleon and Mr. Pilkington when they both play the Ace of Spades, and the animals realize that the faces of the pigs now look almost exactly like the faces of humans and they can no longer easily tell the difference between them.
The events and characters in Animal Farm are similar to the history of the Soviet Union; Orwell makes this explicit in the case of Napoleon, whom he directly connects to Stalin in a letter of 17 March 1945 to the publisher.
...when the windmill is blown up, I wrote 'all the animals including Napoleon flung themselves on their faces." I would like to alter it to 'all the animals except Napoleon." If that has been printed it's not worth bothering about, but I just thought the alteration would be fair to JS [Joseph Stalin], as he did stay in Moscow during the German advance.
The other characters have their parallels in the real world, but care should be taken with these comparisons as they do not always match history exactly and often simply represent generalised concepts.
Napoleon, a Berkshire boar, is the main villain in Animal Farm. After Napoleon begins to gradually build up his power, using puppies he raised to be vicious dogs as his de facto secret police. After driving Snowball off the farm, Napoleon usurps full power, using false propaganda from Squealer and threats and intimidation from the dogs to keep the other animals in line. Among other things he gradually changes the Commandments to allow himself privileges and justify his dictatorial rule. By the end of the book Napoleon and his fellow pigs have learned to walk upright and started to behave similar to humans. Orwell modeled him after Joseph Stalin, while giving him the name of the French military leader Napoleon, both of whom set up dictatorships whose repression and despotism was similar to or worse than that of the governments they supplanted. In the French version of Animal Farm, Napoleon is called 'César' (the French spelling of Caesar).
Snowball, a white boar, is Napoleon's rival. He is inspired by Leon Trotsky. He agrees the pigs can have the apples. He wins over most animals. He gets driven out of the farm in the end by Napoleon's dogs (like Trotsky). He is blamed for everything after he is exiled, and though he fought bravely at the Battle of the Cowshed, Napoleon convinces everyone he was a coward and a double agent for the humans.
Squealer, a small fat porker, serves as Napoleon's public speaker. Inspired by Vyacheslav Molotov and the Russian paper Pravda, Squealer twists and abuses the language to excuse, justify, and extol all of Napoleon's actions. He represents all the propaganda Stalin used to justify his actions. In all of his work, George Orwell made it a point to show how politicians used language. Squealer limits debate by complicating it, and he confuses and disorients, making claims that the pigs need the extra luxury they are taking in order to function properly, for example. However, when questions persist, he usually uses the threat of Mr. Jones's return as justification for the pigs' privileges. "If this doesn't happen Jones will come back etc. etc.". Squealer uses statistics to convince the animals that life is getting better and better. Most of the animals have only dim memories of life before the revolution so they are convinced.
Minimus is a poetical pig who writes the second and third national anthems of Animal Farm after the singing of "Beasts of England" is banned, representing admirers of Stalin both inside and outside the USSR such as Maxim Gorky.
Old Major is based upon both Lenin and Marx — Old Major is the inspiration which fuels the rest of the book. Though it is a positive image, Orwell does slip some flaws in Old Major, such as his admission that he has largely been free of the abuse the rest of the animals have suffered. As a socialist, Orwell agreed with some of Karl Marx's politics, and respected Vladimir Lenin. However, the satire in Animal Farm is not of Marxism, or Lenin's revolution, but of the corruption that occurred later. Old Major not only represents Karl Marx in the allegory, but also the power of speech and how it can and was used to evoke and inspire people. Old Major also represents the generation who were not content with the old regime and therefore inspired the younger generations to rebel against the regime under which they were living.
Pinkeye is a small piglet who tastes Napoleon's food for poisoning.
The Piglets are hinted to be the children of Napoleon (albeit not truly noted in the novel), and are the first generation of animals to actually be subjugated to his idea of animal inequality.
The Rebel Pigs are pigs who complain about Napoleon's takeover of the farm but are quickly silenced and later executed. This is based on the Great Purge during Stalin's regime. The closest parallels to the Rebel Pigs are Nikolai Bukharin, Alexei Rykov, Grigory Zinoviev, and Lev Kamenev.
Mr. Jones represents Nicholas II of Russia, the deposed Tsar, with a nod towards Louis XVI,who had been facing severe financial difficulties in the days leading up to the 1789 Revolution. There are also several implications that he represents an incompetent and autocratic capitalist, incapable of running the farm and looking after the animals properly.
Mr. Frederick is the tough owner of Pinchfield, a well-kept neighbouring farm. He represents Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party in general.[1]
Mr. Pilkington is the easy-going but crafty owner of Foxwood, a neighboring farm. He represents the western powers, such as Britain and the U.S. The card game at the very end of the novel is a metaphor for the Tehran Conference, where the parties flatter each other, all the while cheating at the game. The irony in this last scene is present because of all of the Pigs being civil and kind to the humans, defying all they had fought for. This was present in the Tehran Conference with the Alliance that the Soviet Union formed with the United States and Britain, capitalist countries that the Soviet Union had fought so hard against in the early years of the revolution.[1] At the end of the novel, both Napoleon and Pilkington draw the Ace of Spades (which in most games, is the highest-ranking card) at the same time and begin fighting loudly, symbolizing the beginning of tension between the U.S and Soviet superpowers.
Mr. Whymper is a man hired by Napoleon to represent Animal Farm in human society. He is loosely based on George Bernard Shaw who visited the U.S.S.R. in 1931 and praised what he found.
The three horses, Boxer, Clover and Mollie represent the three social classes. Boxer represents the lower class, Clover the middle and Mollie the upper. In the end, Boxer, or the lower class, is the one that gets the most exploited by the pigs, a criticism of how the proletariat was most exploited by the Communist Party in the Soviet Union.
Boxer is one of the most popular characters. He is a Shire horse. Boxer is the tragic avatar of the working class, or proletariat: loyal, kind, dedicated, and the most physically-strong animal on the farm, but naive and not clever, never progressing beyond the fourth letter of the alphabet. His ignorance and blind trust towards his leaders led to his death and their profit. In particular, his heroic physical work represents the Stakhanovite movement.
Clover is Boxer's mate and a fellow draft horse. She helped and cared for Boxer when he split his hoof. She blames herself for forgetting the original Seven Commandments when Squealer revises them. She represents the academic class who were sympathetic toward the workers. Clover is kind and good as is shown when she protects the baby ducklings during Major's speech. She is also upset when animals are executed by the dogs, and is held in great respect by three younger horses who ultimately replace Boxer.
Mollie is a white mare who likes wearing ribbons and eating sugar cubes (which represent luxury) and being pampered by humans. She represents upper-class people, the Bourgeoisie who fled from the U.S.S.R. after the Russian Revolution. Likewise, she quickly leaves for another farm and is only once mentioned for the rest of the story.
Benjamin is a donkey who is cynical about the revolution — and just about everything else. More specifically, he represents the Jewish population, (as well as authors and poets, due to his cynical and cryptical nature) in Russia who were there before the Revolution and fully expected to be there after the Soviet Union fell (which they were). Though he is as wise or wiser than the pigs and is the only animal who sees the pigs for the tyrants they are, he doesn't make an attempt to change anything, replying to questions only with the cryptic response of "Donkeys live a long time. None of you have ever seen a dead donkey".
Moses is a tame raven who spreads stories of Sugarcandy Mountain, the "animal heaven." These beliefs are denounced by the pigs. Moses represents religion (specifically the Russian Orthodox Church), which has always been in conflict with Communism. It is interesting to note that, while Moses initially leaves the farm after the rebellion, he later returns and is supported by the pigs. This represents the cynical use of religion by the state to anaesthetise the minds of the masses. Moses also shows some characteristics of Grigori Rasputin. The acceptance of Moses by the pigs could be seen to represent Stalin's relaxed attitude towards the Russian Orthodox Church during WWII, as the Church was a way to raise funds for the Russian war effort.
Muriel is a goat who reads the edited commandments. She may represent intelligent labour. It is also possible she serves as a Deus Ex Machina, because she is the only non-pig (excluding Benjamin) that will read. The fact that she dies near the end of the book may imply that her generation of intelligent labour was ultimately extinct.
Jessie and Bluebell are two dogs who give birth in Chapter III. Their puppies are nurtured by Napoleon to inspire fear, representing the formation of the NKVD.
The Hens represent the Kulaks, peasants who did well under the NEP in the 1920s but later were persecuted by Stalin during the collectivisation drive that followed. They had refused to give up their eggs, the way the Kulaks had strongly resisted surrendering their lands in the Soviet Union of the 1930s. Napoleon promptly starved the hens to death — the exact same punishment Stalin had inflicted upon the Kulaks.
The Dogs are Napoleon's secret police and bodyguards (inspired by Cheka, NKVD, KGB, OGPU, MVD).
The Pigeons symbolise Soviet propaganda to European countries and the U.S.. The communist government raved about technological advances but never let outsiders check the validity.
The Sheep show the blind loyalty of the proletariat in the midst of the Russian Civil War, and the masses during Stalin's reign. (“Four legs good, two legs bad!” eventually becomes "Four legs good, two legs better!" after Squealer privately teaches them this saying).
The Cat shows the unethical, silent rejections of the new order — unwilling to work, yet encouraging others to do so, and acting bravely in the face of threats, but disappearing when there is actual danger. Some say the cat represents the flaws in Animalism or Communism. The fact that she attends Old Major's meeting at the beginning "without listening to a word he is saying" also implies that she is unwilling, or ignorant, of how else to live.
The allegory that the book employs allows it to be read on a variety of different levels.
Orwell wrote the book following his experiences during the Spanish Civil War, which are described in another of his books, Homage to Catalonia. He intended it to be a strong condemnation of what he saw as the Stalinist corruption of the original socialist ideals. For the preface of a Ukrainian edition he prepared in 1947, Orwell described what gave him the idea of setting the book on a farm.[2]
..I saw a little boy, perhaps ten years old, driving a huge carthorse along a narrow path, whipping it whenever it tried to turn. It struck me that if only such animals became aware of their strength we should have no power over them, and that men exploit animals in much the same way as the rich exploit the proletariat.
This Ukrainian edition was an early propaganda use of the book. It was printed to be distributed among the Soviet citizens of Ukraine who were just some of the many millions of displaced persons throughout Europe at the end of the Second World War. The American occupation forces considered the edition to be propaganda printed on illegal presses, and handed 1,500 confiscated copies of Animal Farm over to the Soviet authorities. The politics in the book also affected Britain, with Orwell reporting that Ernest Bevin was "terrified"[3] that it may cause embarrassment if published before the 1945 general election.
In recent years the book has been used to compare new movements that overthrow heads of a corrupt and undemocratic government or organization, only to eventually become corrupt and oppressive themselves as they succumb to the trappings of power and begin using violent and dictatorial methods to keep it. Such analogies have been used for many former African colonies such as Zimbabwe and the Democratic Republic of Congo, whose succeeding African-born rulers were accused of being as corrupt as, or worse than, the European colonists they supplanted.
The book also clearly ponders whether a focus of power in one person is healthy for a society. The book leaves the ending slightly ambiguous in this regard.
During World War II it became apparent to Orwell that anti-Russian literature was not something which most major publishing houses would touch — including his regular publisher Gollancz. One publisher he sought to sell his book but rejected it on the grounds of government advice — although the assumed civil servant who gave the order was later found to be a Soviet spy.[4]
Orwell originally prepared a preface which complains about British government suppression of his book, self-imposed British self-censorship and how the British people were suppressing criticism of the USSR, their World War II ally. "The sinister fact about literary censorship in England is that it is largely voluntary. ... [Things are] kept right out of the British press, not because the Government intervened but because of a general tacit agreement that ‘it wouldn’t do’ to mention that particular fact." Somewhat ironically, the preface itself was censored and is not published with most copies of the book.[5][6][7]
References to the novella are frequent in other works of popular culture, particularly in popular music and television series.