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Animal Farm is a satirical novel by George Orwell, ostensibly about a group of animals who oust the humans from the farm they live on and endeavour to run it themselves, only to have it corrupted into a brutal tyranny on its own. It was written during World War II and published in 1945, although it was not widely recognized until the late 1950s.
Animal Farm is a thinly veiled critique on the Russian Revolution and analysis of the corruption of Communism under Stalin. (See below.)
Plot
After a revolution on Manor Farm (duly renamed Animal Farm), the pigs, who have developed the doctrine of Animalism and lead the revolution, gradually take over. The two boars, Napoleon and Snowball, engage in a power struggle culminating in the expulsion of Snowball by force. Life on the farm becomes harder and harder for the rest of the animals. The pigs impose more and more controls on them while reserving privileges for themselves, all of which is justified by the pig Squealer, effectively the farm's propaganda minister. With a pack of vicious dogs as enforcers, Napoleon conducts show trials and executions, grants himself glorious titles, and progressively annuls all the principles of Animalism. The pigs finally take to walking on two legs and carrying whips, treating the animals more or less as they were treated when humans had dominion. In the last scene of the book, the animals observe the pigs and men talking together but can see no difference between them.
Characters
- Napoleon - the corrupt pig who becomes leader of the farm. Based on Joseph Stalin.
- Snowball - the well-meaning pig who challenges Napoleon's power. Based on Leon Trotsky.
- Boxer - hardworking horse. The farm's most loyal worker. Represents the spirit of the workers.
- Squealer - Napoleon's "propaganda minister". Justifies Napoleon's actions. Based on Russia's proaganda towards the people.
- Old Major - the old boar who tells his dream of an animal-controlled society. Based on Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin.
- Clover - Boxer's close friend. Blames herself for forgeting the complete seven commandments when Squealer revises them.
- Moses - tame raven who spreads stories of Sugarcandy Mountain, the "animal heaven". Represents how communism exploited religion.
- Mollie - horse who likes wearing ribbons (ribbons represent luxury) and being pampered by humans. Represents people who fled from Russia after the Russian Revolution.
- Benjamin - a donkey who is cynical about the revolution. Said to be inspired by Orwell himself.
- Muriel - goat who reads the commandments.
- Mr. Jones - original owner of Manor Farm. Based on Tsar Nicholas II.
- Mr. Frederick - tough owner of Pinchfield, a neighboring farm. Based on Adolf Hitler.
- Mr. Pilkington - easy-going owner of Foxwood, a neighboring farm. Represents Winston Churchill.
- Mr. Whymper - human whom Napoleon hires to represent Animal Farm in human society.
- Jesse and Bluebell - two dogs who give birth in Chapter III.
- Minimus - poet pig who writes a song about Napoleon.
Significance
The book was an allegory about the events following the revolution in the Soviet Union, and in particular the rise of Stalinism. Many of the characters in the book are identifiable as historical figures. Napoleon and Snowball are direct representations of Joseph Stalin and Leon Trotsky respectively. Their disagreement about the direction the farm should take is meant to represent the ideological disagreement between Trotsky (whose theory of "Permanent Revolution" would have sought to advance the revolution across the world) and Stalin (whose theory was to consolidate the revolution in Russia, commonly referred to as "Socialism in One Country"). Boxer, the ever-loyal cart horse, portrays the ill-educated and unskilled proletariat. Boxer, and the other cart-horse Clover, are manipulated by the persuasive arguments of the pigs but are ultimately taken for granted and fail to reap the benefits of the "Revolution". Comparisons can be drawn between Boxer and Aleksei Grigorievich Stakhanov, after whom the Stakhanovite movement was named.
The Hen's small rebellion, driven by their desire to keep the eggs they lay, draws close comparisons to when many peasants burnt their farms in the USSR, instead of handing them over to the government.
There are many other small references scattered throughout the book. For example, the animals originally sung an anthem called Beasts of England, but later, Napoleon and the other pigs ordered that a new song be sung in its place. This is a reference to the replacement of The Internationale with the Soviet Anthem, probably for the purpose of distancing Soviet state socialism with Trotsky's revolutionary socialism.
Orwell wrote the book following his experiences during the Spanish Civil War which are described in another of his books, Homage to Catalonia. He intended it to be a strong condemnation of what he saw as the Stalinist corruption of the original socialist ideals, in which he believed and continued to believe after he saw a revolution betrayed, as in Spain.
In recent years the book has been used to compare new movements that overthrow heads of a corrupt and undemocratic government or organization, only to become corrupt and oppressive themselves over time as they succumb to the trappings of power and begin using violent and dictatorial methods to keep it. Such analogies have been used for many former African colonies such as Zimbabwe and Democratic Republic of Congo, whose succeeding African-born rulers were as corrupt as the European colonists they supplanted.
References and post-publication views of the book
Orwell originally prepared a preface on freedom of the press (http://orwell.ru/library/novels/Animal_Farm/english/efp_go) for the book which noted "The sinister fact about literary censorship in England is that it is largely voluntary. ... [Things are] kept right out of the British press, not because the Government intervened but because of a general tacit agreement that ‘it wouldn’t do’ to mention that particular fact." Somewhat ironically, the preface itself was censored and is not published with most copies of the book.
The book was the basis of an animated feature film in 1955 (Britain's first full-length animated movie), directed by John Halas and Joy Bachelor and quietly commissioned by the American CIA, which softened the theme of the story slightly by adding an epilogue where the other animals successfully revolt against the pigs. There was also a 1999 live action film directed by John Stephenson. In addition, radical socialist rappers Dead Prez released a song called "Animal in Man" off their debut LP, Let's Get Free, re-telling the story.
Pink Floyd's 1977 album Animals was partially inspired by Animal Farm, categorising people as either pigs, dogs or sheep.
In 2002, the American author John Reed published Snowball's Chance. This book adopts Orwell's allegory in order to conduct a parallel critique of capitalism. This decision reflects a long standing resentment among socialists at what they see as propagandistic exploitation of Orwell's novel by their political opponents. Using Animal Farm to praise capitalism over socialism does indeed change the ideas of the book somewhat, because pigs end up being just the same as farmers, not worse.
However, concentrating on the contrasts of capitalism and socialism, as portrayed in the book, fails to recognize the book's message of the corruption of the ideals of the Russian Revolution and the progressive subversion of the ideals of Lenin (Old Major) and Trotsky (Snowball) by Stalin (Napoleon). The humans (capitalists, fascists, and the Czar) are in no way portrayed sympathetically. Nevertheless, the book was released at a time when Stalin was widely admired by portions of the Western Intelligentsia, partly because the Soviet Union had suffered less from the Great Depression than most western countries, and because Stalin had led the Soviet Union in the successful and dearly-won victory over Nazi Germany. The Destalinization of Russia under Nikita Khrushchev was still more than a decade in the future.
ISBN numbers
- ISBN 0606001026 (prebound, 1946)
- ISBN 0582021731 (paper text, 1989)
- ISBN 0582530083 (1996)
- ISBN 0151072558 (hardcover, 1990)
- ISBN 0582060109 (paper text, 1991)
- ISBN 0679420398 (hardcover, 1993)
- ISBN 0151002177 (hardcover, 1996, Anniversary Edition)
- ISBN 0452277507 (paperback, 1996, Anniversary Edition)
- ISBN 0451526341 (mass market paperback, 1996, Anniversary Edition)
- ISBN 1560005203 (cloth text, 1998, Large Type Edition)
- ISBN 0791047741 (hardcover, 1999)
- ISBN 0451525361 (paperback, 1999)
- ISBN 0764108190 (paperback, 1999)
- ISBN 082207009X (e-book, 1999)
- ISBN 0758778430 (hardcover, 2002)
- ISBN 0151010269 (hardcover, 2003, with Nineteen Eighty-Four)
- ISBN 0452284244 (paperback, 2003, Centennial Edition)
- ISBN 0848801202 (hardcover)
External links
da:Kammerat Napoleon
de:Farm der Tiere
fr:La Ferme des animaux
no:Kamerat Napoleon
pl:Folwark zwierzęcy
pt:O Triunfo dos Porcos
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