How does Animal Farm work on three levels?

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'And so, Almost before they knew what was happening the rebellion had been successfully carried through, Jones was expelled and the Manor Farm was theirs.' In 1943 George Orwell wrote the classic novel, Animal Farm, a fairy story. The reason it is appreciated so much is because of the amount of depth Orwell has worked into it. For those young of age, and those who cannot grasp much more, it is a brilliant fable in itself. To those who enjoy history it is an excellent rendition of the Russian revolution. The last but by no means least level is a warning to all who read and comprehend about the dangers of a totalitarian regime. The aim of this essay is to prove that the book does indeed work on all 3 levels.

The first and simplest level of Animal Farm is that of a fable or allegory. When Orwell uses the term, a fairy story, he is being rather tongue-in-cheek. Animal Farm both fable and allegory elements, a fable being a fictional story often using animals as characters and has a moral while an allegory is the story of one subject in the guise of another. As Animal Farm contains both we can assume that Orwell was attempting to make some specific comments about the nature of society and the people who compromise it. Therefore, Animal Farm works on the level of a Fable.

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The second level of the novel is that of a historical dramatisation of the Russian revolution. Many events in the novel coincide with events which occurred in the history of the Soviet Union, which can be seen by anyone well versed in modern history. Simple examples of this include the murdering of the animals for fictitious crimes, which is very similar to the purges led by Stalin. Another example is the building of the windmill, a major undertaking, coinciding with the industrialisation of Russia and the five year plans, which eventually failed. Orwell chose the Russian revolution as a ...

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