![]() ![]() ğrom Chapter 3, this slogan is based off of Old Major’s speech before his death about the need for animals to unite in the face of human oppression and tyranny. Thus, Animal Farm depicts the idea that alliances formed in a tyrannical dictatorship are merely veneers of camaraderie, which hide each person’s capability to destroy others in their path towards control. Just as the pig rulers of the rebellion eventually betray their own idealistic visions, the theme of alliance is shattered between Frederick and Napoleon when the latter learns that the former has been forging banknotes while buying firewood from him. Orwell accurately exhibits treacherous aspects of the human condition in his portrayal of dramatised relationships between humans and animals. Thus, Orwell presents to his readership that the working class may suffer not only due to dictators’ abuse of power, but also from their own naive unwillingness to question the intentions of the authority. Animal Farm explores the need for the working class to be educated, as the inability of the farm animals to question Napoleon’s authority directly leads to the perpetuation of his oppression. This is epitomised by the deceitful methods Napoleon uses to gain support, such as lying to the other animals that Snowball is a political traitor in order to banish him from the Farm. ěy allegorising in Napoleon dictator Joseph Stalin, Animal Farm is first and foremost a satirical critique of politicians’ tyrannical misuse of power. Major’s death creates a political vacuum in the farm, leaving Napoleon and Snowball in a power struggle for control of his followers. ěased on the socialist revolutionary Karl Marx, as well as Russian revolutionary leader Vladimir Lenin, Old Major’s dream of a socialist utopia acts as a major motive for the Rebellion. ![]() Orwell uses the character of Squealer to warn against politicians’ deliberate manipulation of mass media in order to gain social and political control. Manipulative and highly persuasive, he spreads Napoleon’s propaganda throughout the farm to intimidate uneducated animals into supporting Napoleon’s ideas and policies. ![]() However, he simultaneously suffers from typical weakness of the working class, such as a naive trust in the intelligentsia and a slow-witted oblivion to political corruption, represented by his other motto of ‘Napoleon is always right’. Ğxtremely devoted to the farm and the Rebellion, Boxer symbolises what Orwell believed to be the best qualities of the proletariat, or the exploited working class, such as loyalty, strength, camaraderie and hard work, perceivable by his personal motto of ‘I will work harder’. Similar to the leader he is modelled after, Snowball is eloquent, charismatic, intelligent and persuasive - thus, he wins the loyalty and support of other animals easily. ěased on Soviet rebel Leon Trotsky, he challenges Napoleon for control of the Farm after he takes control of the leadership. He never contributes to other animals’ efforts at revolution, as he is only a corrupt individual who seeks to take advantage of opportunities created for him by others. He consolidates his control over the farm with the violent force of his nine attack dogs, having raised them as puppies these directly symbolise Stalin’s military force. ěased on Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin, he emerges as the leader of the Farm after the Rebellion. Thus, the act of the animals cooperating to cast the humans out of the farm symbolises a workers’ revolution against their oppressive leadership. Orwell’s use of a farm as the main setting is also notable, as farms represent nations in Animal Farm both require a vast amount of work in order to function properly. Ěs the events of Animal Farm symbolise the power struggle of early 20th century Russia, this ambiguity of time is intended to prevent Orwell’s warning against repressive tyranny from becoming dated. The novella is set in Manor Farm, located in Willingdon, England at an undisclosed time. Thus, Orwell wrote Animal Farm as a satirical fable against Stalin’s tyrannical control, stating that he wrote it with the intention of ‘fusing political purpose and artistic purpose into one whole’. Ěs a democratic socialist, Orwell was an adamant critic of Joseph Stalin and his totalitarian dictatorship over Russia. Written in 1945 by George Orwell, Animal Farm is an allegorical novella about the 1917 Russian Revolution and the repressive Stalinist period which followed. Video Transcription Introduction to Animal Farm: ![]()
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