George Orwell\'s Novel Animal Farm

Animal Farm

An Analysis of Orwell's Animal Farm

George Orwell's Animal Farm is a highly symbolic "fantasy" in which modern day revolution, ideologues, working class members, media and human nature are represented by the animals of Jones' Farm, the setting for the staged rebellion and the institutionalization of Totalitarianism. This paper will analyze Animal Farm from the perspective of plot, character, setting, theme, point-of-view, style and symbolism and show how Orwell's novel satirizes major players of his day and age.

The plot of Animal Farm is simple: Old Major calls the animals together one evening to tell them of a dream he has had. It is the dream of a Romantic, in which equality and class elevation are the ideals. He represents the ideals of the Romantic/Enlightenment era. When he dies, his ideals are pushed forward by the equally romantic Snowball, who encourages the animals to unite against Farmer Jones, whom the less intelligent animals are led to believe is a tyrant. With the violent overthrow of Jones, the animals take the farm into their own possession and rename it Animal Farm. But soon, the animals discover that life was better under Jones. The pig Napoleon seizes control and becomes an even greater tyrant than Jones ever was believed to be. Napoleon accuses Snowball (the hero of the revolution) of being a criminal and a spy for Jones. He executes any animals who disagree with his rule. He changes the laws to reflect his wishes and by the end of the tale has committed the cardinal sin of walking on two legs (which he, Squealer, and the rest of his regime justify by changing the maxim, "Four legs good, two legs bad!" To "Four legs good, two legs better!") (Orwell 122). Thus, the pig leaders of Animal Farm become like the very real humans they initially appeared to despise.

Napoleon's character is different from Snowball's in that it is more of an authoritarian than a visionary. Snowball's plans for guiding Animal Farm are utopian, Napoleon's militaristic. Napoleon trains the dogs to be attack dogs that they might shield him. He enlists Squealer to be his public relations man, to trick the dumber animals into submitting to his authority. If Napoleon has any virtues at all, it might be his overall tenacity: he does not allow anyone else to reign alongside him and will do anything to keep power all to himself. His flaws, however, are his willingness to deceive and even rewrite history in order to maintain power. He promotes false doctrine and is perfectly willing to murder dissenters.