Animal Farm, by George Orwell (Eric Blair), was published in 1945 and is a political satire on Soviet Russia. The author wanted people to think about brutality, injustice and the way to bring about true socialism. The theme of this novel is frustration of human ideals and challenges. The story may be read at various levels; as an attack on Russian dictatorship, interpreted as a warning against the corrupting force of power or as a children’s story. Orwell also points to the errors of valuing intelligence above character. The satire in this novel takes the form of an animal fable. Orwell used allegory, when he tells us that the pigs slowly gathered all kinds of rights, he really means that the Communist Party leaders developed into a superior and advantaged sort.
The book is full of symbolism. Orwell associates certain real characters with characters of the book. For example, Snowball was very similar to Napoleon in early stages: both Snowball and Napoleon wanted leadership in the “new” economic and political system. As time goes on both eventually realise that one of them will have to step down. They were always arguing. When differences become bigger Napoleon decides to eliminate Snowball. Napoleon tells all the animals on the farm that Snowball ruined their windmill, on which they had worked for ages. Snowball is exiled from the farm. Snowball represents Trotsky, the archrival of Stalin (Napoleon in Orwell’s novel). Trotsky was also exiled from Russia to Mexico where he was murdered by the NKVD (the Russian internal police.)
