Compare and contrast the themes of revolution in Animal Farm by George Orwell and A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

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Compare and contrast the themes of revolution in Animal Farm by George Orwell and A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

This essay will look at ‘Animal Farm’ by George Orwell and ‘A Tale of Two cities by Charles Dickens.’ It will include a look at the way the authors present the revolutions. It will also look at the historical context and what caused them. It will also look at the progress of the revolution and the consequences of the revolution. This essay will also compare characters, events and the style of language used by both the authors. It will also look at the themes of revolution.

 A direct comparison can be seen from both the novels. These two novels are based on revolutions. Both novels warn the reader about how power can be abused by individuals. Animal Farm is based on the Russian revolution whereas A Tale of Two Cities is based on the French revolution. Both of the authors describe the revolutions in great depth. Orwell uses animals instead of humans in his novel which is highly unusual. This is known as an allegory. Orwell gets his ideas and opinions out to the audience better then Dickens as his novel is more concise and straight to the point. Animal Farm uses animals as its main characters, therefore it is anthropomorphic and a satire. In Animal farm Orwell uses anthropomorphism to capture the nature of the relationship between the oppressed and the oppressor. He compares the aristocracy towards the working class with the attitude humans hold toward cattle and other farm yard animals.                                                                          Both authors gained inspiration from history, what they described, interpreted and dramatized it from their own viewpoint. Both George Orwell’s Animal Farm and Charles Dickens’ Tale of Two Cities express their disillusionment with society and human nature. Orwell wrote Animal Farm in 1944 as a social criticism and a satirical comment on the Bolshevik Revolution showing farm animals revolting against their human masters “Farmer Jones”. Dickens’ Tale of Two Cities uses the French Revolution to show how human nature is vengeful and often too ambitious. Both books describe how ambition get the best of us and that violence and the deceitful attitude of the “the ends justifying the means” are unforgivable.

As the title of “Animal Farm” suggests that the novel is set on a farm. The animals are anthropomorphic although they do behave in their characteristics as species. The dogs and the sheep’s are the perfect example, sheep’s always follow each other and this is shown in Animal farm. Dogs most of the time obey their masters and this is shown clearly, as the dogs do whatever Napoleon tells them to do.

Looking at Animal Farm and A Tale of Two cities a direct link can be seen between the way Jones treated the animals on the farm and the way the French people were treated by Monseigneur. Both the animals and the French people were being exploited to benefit the person who was in power, e.g. Jones uses the animals to make money but does not see the needs of animals, “He sets them to work, he gives them the bare minimum that will prevent them from starving. He does not feed them properly, It can be clearly seen that the person in power is greedy and shellfish as he uses others to do his work but he gives them nothing. The French people were not governed properly by Monsiegnuer who only wanted money from the poor peasants, the Monseignuer did not think about the poor peasants and he does not even regret the fact that he killed a little boy, “one of the wheels came to a sickening little jolt…, they had been mere rats come out their holes”. This shows us that Monseignuer was very greedy and shellfish just like Jones. Monseignuer kills a boy and doest not feel sorry, this shows us that he has no feelings and does not care about his people. From both sides great injustice can be seen and both the animals and the French people want change to be brought in. Changes that will change their lives.

Animal farm is based on the 1917 Russian revolution whereas A Tale of Two Cities is based on the 1859 French Revolution. The Russian revolution was a spontaneous revolution. Orwell may have used animals in his novel to show that revolution is not worth it and that far more consequences have to be paid than gained. Orwell is trying to tell us that greed and ambition will achieve nothing and to achieve things in life you must work hard.

The Russian revolution in 1917 took place because the poor peasants in Russia suffered great injustice. Under the Tsar the Russian ruling class lived in luxury in comparison to the rest of the population. Food shortages were often very common. They lived in the worst conditions imagined. This led to a revolt which overthrows the Tsar and it established a communist society which Orwell tries to show in Animal Farm by Old Majors speech “All animals are Equal”. A communist society is where everyone is treated equally. Old major was the driving force for the rebellion against Farmer Jones. Old major can be compared to Lenin as they both wanted to establish a communist society where everyone was treated equally.

Both authors had these events in mind when they were writing the novel.

Orwell or Eric Arthur Blair was born in Bengal, India on the 25th of June 1903 whereas Charles Dickens was born Portsmouth in 1812. This shows that Dickens was born in an English society and Orwell wasn’t. Orwell was born after Dickens which might suggest that time had changed and for this reason their opinions might be varied. Orwell’s father was an official in the Indian Civil service but Dickens father who was tied up with lots of debt which eventually forced him to prison. This greatly affects their views on society. Orwell then returned to England with his mother and two sisters. Orwell had a great education, he gained a scholarship. Orwell was brought up by an upper-middle class family. He later joined Indian Imperial police in 1922 rather than tale the conventional path to Oxford. This shows us that Orwell was prepared to do things differently. His first popular book that was published was Animal Farm. This novel was a satire on political tyranny. Overall Orwell’s childhood was a happy one whereas Dickens childhood was not a particularly happy one. After Dickens father’s imprisonment, he was sent to work in a blacking warehouse. Dickens’s later became a clerk in a solicitor’s office. Unlike Orwell Dickens did not get educated.  He later became a reporter. Dickens became immensely popular with his work. Dickens then wrote many novels such as ‘Oliver Twist’ ‘Dombey and son’.

This clearly shows that both authors were brought up differently and their views of society were greatly different. Notice that Dickens worked really hard to achieve his goals as he came from a poor family and had received no education. Dickens grew more and more popular from his novels. Readers loved his work and this might be in inspiration that he needed to write novels. Dickens last book was never completed and was later published posthumously. Dickens died at the age of 58.

Similarly Orwell also had to work, Orwell was influenced by the police to go to Paris, where he did menial jobs. Orwell’s and Dickens life is quite similar at some point. They both write about revolution and they were both prepared to do things differently from others. Like Dickens, Orwell also became a journalist. It is this job which starts of both of these authors. Orwell later died of tuberculosis. Orwell based his work on communism and is explained in the novel as Animalism but Dickens doesn’t really talk about communism and he merely describes it but doesn’t explain it.

Orwell based his work on the Russian revolution and Dickens based his work on the French revolution. Both authors did never visit the country that they wrote about. This suggests that their views from the book purely came from the society in which they lived in. During the French revolution the king of France was Louis XVI, situation in France in 1859 was very similar to the situation in Russia in 1917. The French people wanted change, they wanted justice. The French people were treated very poorly. They were paid low wages and were exploited by their masters, just like situation in A Tale of Two Cities. It can clearly be seen that both authors wanted to show the atmosphere and the tension growing between the poor peasants. Both authors describe an atmosphere which is very similar to the actual revolutions that took place. Both the French revolution and the Russian revolution were sparked off by a desire to see justice. This is portrayed in both novels. The animals wanted change which could only have been achieved by a revolution and similarly the French people wanted change. Both authors’ views are very similar and they both want the reader to realise that revolution is bad.  Although their views are similar and their aim is the same, but there is a difference between their work, Orwell write about animals in a farm in England whereas Dickens uses two countries and compares them. Dickens plot in his novel change. In one chapter Dickens is writing about a court case in London but in the next chapter the story is in France and writes something completely different. Dickens is trying to show the reader a comparison between countries, one with revolution and one without revolution but he also shows that there are problems in every country.

Animal farm is novel about animals rebelling against their masters for justice since he does not take care of them. The pigs who are the cleverest of all the animals. The animals carry a rebellion in which they exile their master. Farmer Jones is kicked out of the farm and now two pigs Snowball and Napoleon take charge. The animals start their usual work o the farm. They find it hard but with Snowball who was quick to solve any problems. The pigs actually did no work on the farm. Boxer was the strong horse who worked exceptionally hard o the farm and his motto was “I will work harder”. Boxer worked harder when Jones was around. Jones and his men try to recapture the farm but they are defeated by the animals who were led by Snowball and Napoleon. Snowball organised everything and his tactics proved to be crucial. Snowball and Napoleon disagreed on every issue and never got on. As winter approached the animals found it harder to work on the farm and it was getting colder and colder. Snowball thought of a way to solve their problem. Snowball planned to make a windmill that would generate electricity and save work for the animals. Napoleon does not agree with Snowball and decides to exile him. His loyal dogs chase him off the farm. Napoleon then has complete control over the farm. He makes the animal believe that the windmill was his idea all along obviously it wasn’t. The animals start building the windmill with Boxer leading the way. The pigs were not doing any work but were breaking the tem commandments. But Squealer brainwashes the animals in to believing that they did not break them. There is another rebellion in which Boxer is badly hurt but also the windmill collapsed. Snowball got the blame for this. The animals defeated the humans. Again the work for the windmill continued. Boxer was sold and the money was used by the pigs to buy more whisky. Now under Napoleon the animals suffered more injustice and food shortages increased. Benjamin soon convinced the other animals of Napoleons truth.                                                    A Tale of Two Cities is a novel about two countries. On a dark and wet November night, a mysterious horseman stops the mail-coach to Dover. He asks for a passenger named Jarvis Lorry, and he gives Lorry the message from Tellson's Bank in London. After giving the messenger, Jerry, the response "Recalled to Life," the mail-coach drives away. When the coach arrives in Dover, Lorry enters a hotel and passes the day waiting for someone there. Finally, a young lady named Lucie Manette arrives, and wants to know what Tellson's Bank wants from her. Lorry eventually tells her that her father, Dr. Manette, whom she thought dead for almost eighteen years, is actually alive and held in Paris. He agrees to take her and her nurse, Miss Pross, to Paris to retrieve her father. When Lorry and Lucie arrive, Defarge takes them to a small room. There they find a shrivelled old man making shoes. The man answers to the name "one hundred and five, north tower” his cell in the Bastille Prison. He sits at a handmade shoemaker's bench and makes shoes. After her initial fear, Lucie finally hugs and weeps for her father, who has become such a frail and senile old man. Lucie and Lorry take Dr. Manette away from Paris to live in London.

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A treason case is being held there. The defendant is a young handsome Frenchman named Charles Darnay, and he is accused of being a French spy. Lorry, Lucie and Dr. Manette are called upon to testify against Darnay, and they do so unwillingly. Suddenly Darnay's lawyer, Mr. Stryver, asks another witness if Darnay couldn't be mistaken for his clerk, Sidney Carton. To the court's astonishment, the two men look exactly alike. The case is dropped, setting Darnay free.                         Meanwhile, in Paris, a nobleman known as Monseigneur lives sumptuously. He ignores another courtier, the Marquis St. Evremonde. This angers the Marquis ...

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