Animal Farm

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Animal Farm is a novel. However, it has a significance. It is not just an ordinary novel. It is actually a political satire and also an allegory to the Russian Revolution.

Now, for those of you who have not read Animal Farm, this is a brief summary on it. There is this farm ruled by a man, Mr Jones. On one night, a respectful old boar, Old Major, who is also the leader of the animals, gathered the animals and told them about a dream which he had. It is about a Rebellion against the humans. Old Major feels that it is unfair that the animals were under control of the humans and tells the animals of a song, which is all about a Utopian society. He also teaches the animals principles of Animalism, which is also communism. Soon, the animals chase out Mr Jones and the pigs rise to power. The prominent leaders among the pigs are Snowball and Napoleon. As there was a power struggle and Napoleon had a thirst for power, he reared newborn dogs and made use of them to chase away Snowball. As Napoleon has total control of the animals, he gradually amends the principles of Animalism without the animals notice except for the pigs and in the end, he becomes just like the humans.

In this book, the main characters represent some prominent people in history, during the Russian Revolution. Old Major represents two people in history, Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin. Karl Marx was the inventor of the principles of communism while Lenin taught the principles of communism to the peasants of Russia. The animals of Animal Farm represent the peasants of Russia, doing all the blue collar work. The more prominent peasant in Animal Farm is Boxer, blindly following the leader, Napoleon. However, he was sent to be slaughtered in the end. He was a very hardworking peasant and was loyal to the farm. Snowball and Napoleon represent Trotsky and Stalin, who fight with each other for power over Russia. Napoleon has the dogs as a backup to chase away Snowball, just like Stalin having the KGB as a backup. Napoleon also has a propaganda tool to make use of to convince the animals on the farm to agree with his plans. The propaganda tool which he uses is none other than the pig, Squealer. In history, Squealer represents Pravda in Russia, getting support for Stalin.

However, after Stalin gains complete control of Animal Farm, he starts to deviate from the original teachings of communism, making decisions which are not in line with the principles of communism taught by Vladimir Lenin and became more equal than the people of Russia. This is similar to how Napoleon makes decisions which are not in line with the original principles of Animalism and became more equal than the other animals. In order to convince the animals that he did not deviate from the teachings, he requested Squealer to change the 7 commandments overnight when the animals were asleep. There was this time when Squealer fell down from a ladder while changing the commandment and caused quite a ruckus which awoke the animals. All the animals did not understand what was happening except for Benjamin, the wise old donkey. Although he understood what was happening, he chose not to do anything. In history, he represents the cynics in society. He has a high level of literacy level but chose not to do anything although he knew what the pigs were doing. This caused the pigs to go into complete control and deviate from the teachings of Animalism, becoming more equal than the other animals without the animals knowing about it. If he was not so apathetic, the animals would have understood and chased away the pigs based on equality as the animals also chased Mr Jones away based on equality. However, the other animals were not to be blamed for the pigs rising to power and becoming more equal than the others without them rebelling due to their ignorance. It was quite obvious right from the start of the Rebellion that the pigs had a higher literacy level than the other animals.

I personally feel that the pigs should not become so "drunk with power". However, it cannot be helped unless you have a really good self-control over yourself. Power corrupts as people become "drunk with power". People usually have a thirst for power and become corrupted and a perfect example would be the incident in Animal Farm and the Russian Revolution.

Well, this is all I am saying about Animal Farm. Perhaps, if you want to know what the other characters represent specifically, you could click here for more information!