Napoleon and Snowball, the two pig leaders of the Rebellion, represent Joseph Stalin and Snowball respectively (Fitzpatrick 3). As the pigs were the most intelligent animals on the farm, they assume the position to supervise the survival of the farm. Subsequently, just as Stalin coerced Trotsky and his followers out of Russia through death warrants, Napoleon drives Snowball from Animal Farm using the vicious farm dogs as his personal police. Using Squealer, an extremely persuasive speaker, Napoleon convinces the rest of the farm animals that Snowball was destructive to the state. Likewise, Stalin had the Pravda, the soviet propagandist press, defame Trotsky as a common enemy (Fitzpatrick 3).
The novel did not only refer to Russia but also included political views and references towards other countries. Animal Farm was surrounded by two neighbor farms, Foxwood and Pinchfield. According to George Orwell, the author,
Foxwood was a large, neglected, old-fashioned farm much overgrown by woodland. It was owned by Mr. Pilkington, an easy-going gentleman farmer who spent most of his time in fishing or hunting . . . Pinchfield was smaller and better kept. Its owner was a Mr. Frederick, a tough, shrewd man, perpetually involved in lawsuits and with a name for driving hard bargains. (Orwell 55)
Mr. Pilkington and Mr. Frederick are described as being "on permanently bad terms," representing the leaders of England and Germany respectively. Pilkington is representative of the allies' lackadaisical attitude toward their neighbors, while Frederick carries with him elements of German aggressiveness and bellicosity (Fitzpatrick 3). Later in the novel, “terrible stores were leaking out from Pinchfield about the cruelties that Frederick practiced upon his animals. He had flogged an old horse to death, he starved his cows, he had killed a dog by throwing it into the furnace” (Orwell 102). Undeniably, these referred to Adolf Hitler’s dictatorship in Nazi Germany and the Holocaust (Fitzpatrick 3).
Old Major’s naïve, but theoretically perfect government, is initially a huge success but is destined to fail in the end. The animal’s first harvest without the aid of Farmer Jones’ authority is much more productive than ever. They “finished the harvest in two days’ less time … and not an animal on the farm had stolen so much as a mouthful (Orwell 46). Since The Rebellion marked a transition from capitalism to communism, the “quarrelling and biting and jealousy which had been normal features of life in the old days had almost disappeared (Orwell 47). As time went on, though, it proves corruption is inevitable. The beginnings of misinterpretation of “Old Major’s ideal that the rebellion is to be accomplished through honesty, innocence, and passive determination” are clear even from the start. Napoleon and even Snowball rise to power prematurely by using death and destruction, the very system Jones used on them (Novel 2). Sadly, the “remainder of Animal Farm is a chronicle of the consolidation of Napoleon’s power through clever politics, propaganda, and terror” (Greenblatt 4). From this moment on, it is clear that from the initial creation of Animal Farm, “Napoleon never shows interest in the strength of Animal Farm itself; only in the strength of his power over it” (Phillips 3). Napoleon is not the only guilty one in the novel. Certainly, Snowball, who some see as a symbol of “altruism, the essential social virtue and his expulsion as the defeat of his altruistic laws for giving warmth, food, and comfort to all the animals,” falls to fraud. (Greenblatt 4). There is no indication that Snowball is any less corrupt or power-mad than Napoleon. According to the novel, “it is remarked, concerning the appropriation of the milk and apples, that “All the pigs were in full agreement on this part, even Snowball and Napoleon” (Orwell 78). Stephen J. Greenblatt, a literary critic, views the occurrence as typical. He states that “the initial spark of a revolution, the original intention of a constitution may have been an ideal of the good life, but the result is always the same – tyranny” (Greenblatt 4).
The danger of a naïve working class is presented very clearly in Animal Farm. Orwell himself testified that he got the idea for the novel from seeing
A little boy, perhaps ten years old, driving a huge cart-horse along a narrow path, whipping it whenever it tried to turn. It struck me that if only such animals became aware of their strength we should have no power over them, and that men exploit animals in much the same way as the rich exploit the proletariat. (Williams 348)
The inability or unwillingness to question authority condemns the working class to suffer the full extent of the ruling class’s oppressors, as demonstrated in Animal Farm (Philips 2). Boxer and Clover gave the reader a view from the proletariat’s perspective to answer the question, “Why didn’t they do anything?” It seems as though they were drawn to Napoleon because it seems as though they will benefit most from his new system. Since Boxer and the other low animals are not accustomed to the “good life” they can’t really compare Napoleon’s government to their old life” (Novel 3). As a result, Boxer’s “two slogans, ‘I will work harder’ and ‘Napoleon is always right’ seemed to him a sufficient answer to all problems” (Orwell 75). Indeed, the truth is not realized until it is too late. Boxer mindlessly offers his unceasing labor to the pigs, who, as has been noted, send him to the knocker when he has outlived his usefulness. As Boxer’s hoofs drumming weakly on the back of the horse slaughterer’s van grows fainter and dies away, the reader senses that in that dying sound is the dying hope of humanity. (Greenblatt 5)
George Orwell, neither afraid of political leaders nor religious ones, made a daring and provocative symbolic reference to the church in Animal Farm. In the novel, the raven, Moses, “claimed to know of the existence of a mysterious country called Sugarcandy Mountain, to which all animals went when they died” (Orwell 37). Undoubtedly, Orwell was referring to the Christian belief of Heaven. Proved correct in Animal Farm, it has been interpreted that “religion is merely a toy of the oppressors and a device to divert the minds of the sufferers” (Greenblatt 4). The church is criticized in the novel because, according to Orwell, it is the institution that inspires the animals to work using lies and manipulation (Novel 3).
The ultimate theme of the novel, as believed by most, is that “we cannot eliminate government corruption by electing individuals to roles of power; it is power itself that corrupts” (Phillips 4). In the final sentence of the novel, Orwell states that “the creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which” (Orwell 139). Instead of gaining freedom, they have only exchanged one set of masters for another, proving the serious theme of Nostromo: that once in power, the revolutionary becomes as tyrannical as his oppressor” (Meyers 353). Greenblatt contends that the horror of Animal Farm is “precisely the cold, orderly, predictable process by which decency, happiness; and hope are systematically and ruthless crushed” (Greenblatt 5). It is amusing that reviews made by Western critics astutely observe the attacks aimed at Russia but fail completely to grasp Orwell’s judgment of the West. In the last sentence, “Orwell does not claim that Napoleon or Stalin is worse than Farmer Jones or capitalists but that there is an ultimate identity between the two” (Fitzpatrick 4). Orwell is trying to teach the reader that Communism is no more or less evil than Fascism or Capitalism – they are all illusions which “are inevitably used by the pigs as a means of satisfying their greed and their lust for power” (Greenblatt 4).
One might wonder, after reading Animal Farm, if whether the current governments are corrupted. It may not seem so since the Cold War was “won”. Without a doubt, there are many corrupted officials in the numerous governments set up globally. Greenblatt concludes, “There have been, are, and always will be pigs in every society and they will always grab power” (Greenblatt 5).
Works Cited
Fitzpatrick, Kathleen. “An Overview of Animal Farm”. http://infotrac.galegroup.com. 9 Dec. 2002.
Greenblatt, Stephen J. “George Orwell”. http://infotrac.galegroup.com. 9 Dec. 2002.
Meyers, Jeffery. “A Reader’s Guide to George Orwell”. (1975): 192. Rpt. In Twentieth – Century Literary Criticism. Ed. Sharon K. Hall. Detroit: Gale Research, 1982.
“Novel Analysis Animal Farm”. http://www.novelguide.com/animalfarm/metaphor analysis.html. 9 Dec. 2002.
Orwell, George. “Animal Farm”. New York: Signet Books, 1996.
Phillips, Brian. “Sparknotes on Animal Farm". http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/animalfarm. 9 Dec. 2002.
Williams, Raymond. “George Orwell”. (1991): 192. Rpt. In Twentieth – Century Literary Criticism. Ed. Sharon K. Hall. Detroit: Gale Research, 1982. 348 – 349. Vol. 6.
