Secondly, Animal Farm is a work of a famous political satire, being an allegory of the Russian Revolution and Soviet totalitarianism and has a parallel historical plot and characters symbolising specific groups of the revolution. The author has chosen an allegory to convey his message and also through symbolism and a historical plot. The book compares the Russian political movement which overthrew a corrupt and undemocratic government, only to end up with one more corrupt and oppressive than the government it replaced. The characters in Animal Farm symbolise specific characters from the revolution. The pig, Napoleon the main villain in Animal Farm, is modelled after Joseph Stalin, who was the head of the Communist Party of the USSR. He set up an identical dictatorship and totalitarianism like Napoleon, whose corruption was much worse than that of the government he replaced and had the same personal history as Napoleon. Napoleon's rival pig, Snowball, was inspired by Leon Trotsky. Trotsky was the commander of ‘Russian Red Army’ and fought bravely at the Russian Civil war (Battle of the Cowshed) for revolution, but then got expelled from the communist party by Stalin (driven out of the farm by Napoleon) and also got blamed for everything after he was exiled. Other characters symbolised include Squealer, Old Major, Farmer Jones and Mr. Pilkington. The pig Squealer represents Vyacheslav Molotov, a Soviet politician and special protégé of Joseph Stalin. He like Squealer was in charge of all the propaganda to excuse, justify, and praise all of Stalin’s actions. Old Major represents Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin both communist politicians and revolutionists, but Marx was the one who started the philosophy of communism. Old Major represents Marx and Lenin’s revolutionary inspiration, and how Marx’s power of speech was used to inspire people. Apart from pigs, Farmer Jones represents Nicholas II, the last emperor of Russia until overthrown by the 1917 Russian Revolution and Mr. Pilkington the Foxwood farmer represents the western powers, such as Britain and the U.S in general. The farm animals represent the gullible Russian public. Orwell conveys his message about communism being evil and transforming into totalitarianism, by using symbolism and writing the book as an allegory of the Russian Revolution.
On the other hand, another main idea in Animal Farm includes the Betrayal of revolutionary ideals showing the fall from idealism (communism) to corruption and oppression (totalitarianism), which is done by symbolising the breaking of the seven commandments as the betrayal of the actual revolutionary ideals. George Orwell’s purpose is to convey the message that in politics, revolutionary movements always betray these actual ideals and after they overthrow the corrupt and undemocratic government, they only end up with a much worse government than the one replaced. In Animal Farm the breaking of the Seven Commandments shows how this done. Napoleon used false propaganda to gradually change the Commandments to justify his dictatorial rule. The commandment ‘No animal shall sleep in a bed’ was changed by the pigs to ‘No animal shall sleep in a bed with sheets’ when they moved in the farmhouse and started sleeping in beds, using propaganda that ‘brainworkers’ needed a quiet place to work in. Then the commandment ‘No animal shall kill another animal’ was broken when some pigs, hens and sheep were forced to confess of rebellion against Napoleon. The pigs changed it to ‘No animal shall kill another animal without cause’ and all these animals were slaughtered on the spot by Napoleon’s dogs. Consequently all these seven commandments were ‘altered’ or changed to be replaced by the seven sins. ‘No animal shall drink alcohol’ was made to ‘No animal shall drink alcohol to excess’ and ‘Four legs good, two legs bad’ (which was shortened for the animals) was changed to ‘Four legs good, two legs better’. But the commandment which conveys the real message of George Orwell was when the pigs completely betrayed the most important commandment of ‘All animals are equal’ to ‘All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others’. This satire in Animal farm is conveying the message that the politicians betray the actual revolutionary ideals and end up with more corrupt and wrong ideals to suit them.
The most obvious idea that the book revolves around is of course, Corruption, and is the corruption of the pigs from revolutionists to dictators, which is done through the use of symbolism and irony. George Orwell writes the story so it is in an orderly manner showing how the pigs started to become corrupt and then entered the worst state of corruption- to look like a man. The corruption of the pigs is in terms of betrayal and decline into the seven sins including pride, lust (possibly rape), envy, gluttony, anger, laziness and desire for neighbor’s possessions. These have been symbolised for corruption in politics by following a parallel plot. The corruption started when Napoleon decides that only pigs are allowed to have milk and apples instead of distributing them equally and this shows gluttony, pride and greed. This continues when Napoleon announces that he will engage in trade with the neighboring farm, consequently moves into the farmhouse and breaks the commandment ‘No animal shall kill another animal’ by having his dog slaughter a number of animals accused of rebellion. This represents pride, laziness, desire for neighbor’s possessions, envy and anger (on the animals). The most corrupt state is shown when the pigs have come to look like humans by standing on their hind legs and acquiring all human habits. The message and the irony in the end, is that the pigs have become exactly like the government they replaced. The irony is also present because of all of the pigs being civil and friendly to the humans, defying all for which they had fought.
Similarly, Animalism and totalitarianism being evil is one of the very significant idea presented by George Orwell and is done through symbolism and use of character development. The author has symbolised different political issues and terms into altered terms in the book. Communism is symbolised as Animalism and has identical principles to it. Orwell had shown in the book that through corruption and betrayal of revolutionary ideals and the seven commandments, this took the shape of fascism, socialism and totalitarianism. The old Major’s inspired idea of communism, freedom and happiness that benefited everyone, transformed to the dictatorship of the pigs. The characters in the book are shown to readily develop qualities of totalitarianism especially Napoleon, his dogs and the pigs. They decline into the seven sins and train the dogs the same way that suits them and benefits their rule, and keeps the animals oblivious of this development and under their control. George Orwell used Animal Farm to show how man's greed can lead to the corruption and destruction of good intentions, such as a communist government. The idea is similar to corruption, showing that totalitarianism is evil through an allegory of the Russian Revolution and symbolism of the characters, and has the objective of criticizing the idea of a communist, totalitarian government and those who unintentionally support it.
George Orwell has emphasized on the fact that politicians use Propaganda into persuading people to accept certain beliefs without question, through the use of techniques like assertion, twisting and abusing language, lying, repetition and selection of complex facts. The pig Squealer was in charge of all the propaganda used for Napoleon to make the animals believe everything is going alright. His basic method was to twist and abuse the language to excuse, justify, and praise all of Napoleon's actions. For example he says that the pigs take all the milk and apples because the pigs are brainworkers and they are taking them to preserve their health for animals’ sake, as the pigs watch over their welfare day and night. This also includes use of difficult reasoning. Squealer limits debate by complicating it and he confuses and disorients the animals, for example by selecting complex statistics and use ‘documentary evidence’ that the animals could not argue against, to convince them that their life is getting much better. E.g. saying that the rations had doubled and they used half strength to work. Squealer also used lying as a major technique, which is clear in the book, like when he created false statistics and said that Boxer was being taken to hospital in real. He used assertion and repetition, like persisting that Farmer Jones will come back if the pigs failed in their ‘duty’ to do what they were doing. By asserting and constantly repeating, the affect was that the animals eventually believed him. Orwell’s main purpose is to prove that Stalin’s politicians used propaganda to justify his arguments.
In conclusion, the ideas that are presented in Animal Farm include representation of human behaviour in terms of use of power, representation of universal political themes like betrayal of revolutionary ideals, corruption, convincing that animalism becomes totalitarianism and is evil, and the use of propaganda. The assorted blend of techniques that convey these ideas comprise of the story being in simple but formal language, a fable, having a historical plot and use of Anthropomorphism to show human behaviour towards power. The book is also an allegory and uses symbolism to represent people from the Russian Revolution. The breaking of the seven commandments and use of irony and satire shows fall from idealism to corruption, and symbolism and character development are used to determine how communism and totalitarianism is evil. Use of propaganda by politicians is conveyed through techniques like assertion, twisting and abusing language, lying, repetition and selection of complex facts.
The language, techniques and structure used in Animal Farm is very suitable for George Orwell’s purpose to convey his message that man’s greed for power leads him to such corruption that instead of the aimed revolution (communism), it turns into a dictatorship and betrayal and becomes much worse than the government it replaced (totalitarianism). The language of the book is very easy and simple and can be read by people of all cultures without knowing anything about the Russian Revolution. It fascinates adults and easily achieves the understanding of children. Animal Farm is one of the most important works of fictional political satire that is still taken in view in discussions about communism and revolution, is a book that is recommended to all ages and carries a moral for children, adults and politicians.
