George orwell - animal farm

GEORGE ORWELL

George Orwell, pseudonym of Eric Arthur Blair, was born in Motihari, India, as the second child of Richard Walmesley Blair and Ida Mabel Limonzin. His father was a civil servant in the opium department and his mother was the daughter of a tea-merchant in Burma. In 1904 Orwell moved with his mother and sister to England, where he attended Eton. His first writings Orwell published in college periodicals. During these years Orwell developed his antipathy towards the English class systems. Also Orwell's years at St. Cyprian's Preparatory School in Eastbourne were not happy. His bitter, barely disguised attack on St. Cyprian's, Such, such were the Joys, was not published until 1968 for fear of libel action. In the 1930s Orwell had adopted socialistic views. Like many other writers, he travelled to Spain to report on the Civil War. He fought alongside the United Workers Marxist Party militia and was shot through the throat by Francoist sniper's bullet. When Stalinist on their own side started to hunt down Anarchists and his friends were thrown into prison, Orwell escaped with his Eileen Blair from the chaos. The war made him a strong opposer of communism and an advocate of the English brand of socialism. Orwell's book on Spain, Homage to Catalonia, appeared in 1938 after some troubles with its publication. In Orwell's lifetime Homage to Catalonia sold only about fifty Orwell had opposed a war with Germany, declaring that the British Empire was worse than Hitler, but during World War II Orwell served as a sergeant in the Home Guard and worked as a journalist for the BBC, Observer and Tribune, where he was literary editor from 1943 to 1945. Toward the end of the war, he wrote Animal Farm, which depicted the betrayal of a revolution. The biting satire of Communism ideology in The Animal Farm made Orwell for the first time prosperous.

Animal Farm

SUMMARY

The story takes place on a farm somewhere in England. The story is told by an all-knowing narrator in the third person. The action of this novel starts when the oldest pig, Old Major on the farm calls all animals to a secret meeting. He tells all the other animals about his dream of a revolution against the cruel Mr. Jones. Three days later Major dies, but the speech gave the more intelligent animals a new outlook on life. The pigs, who were considered the most intelligent animals, instructed the other ones. During the period of preparation two pigs could distinguish themselves, Napoleon and Snowball. Napoleon is big, and although he isn't a good speaker, he could assert himself. Napoleon is a better speaker, he has a lot of ideas and he is very vivid. Together with another pig called Squealer, who is a very good speaker, they work out the theory of 'Animalism'. The rebellion starts some months later, as one night Mr Jones comes home drunken, and forgets to feed the animals. They break out of the barns and run to the house, where the food is stored. As Mr Jones recognises this he takes out his shotgun, but it is to late for him, all the animals fall over him and drive him off the farm. The animals destroy all whips nose rings, reins, and all other instruments that were used to suppress them. The same day the animals celebrate their victory with an extra ration of food. The pigs have made up the seven commandments, and they have written then above the door of the big barn. They run thus:

Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy.

Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings is a friend.

No animal shall wear clothes.

No animal shall sleep in a bed.

No animal shall drink alcohol.

No animal shall kill another animal.

All animals are equal.
 

The animals also agreed that no animal shall ever enter the farmhouse, and that no animal shall have contact with humans. This commandments are summarised in the simple phrase: 'Four legs good, two legs bad'. After some time Jones came back with some other men from the village to recapture the farm. The animals fight brave, and they manage to defend the farm. Snowball and Boxer received medals of honour for defending the farm so bravely. Also Napoleon who had not fought at all takes a medal. This is the reason that the two pigs, snowball and Napoleon are often arguing. As Snowball one day presented his idea to build a windmill, to produce electricity to the other animals, Napoleon calls nine strong dogs. The dogs drive off Snowball from the farm, and Napoleon explains that Snowball in fact was co-operating with Mr Jones. He also explains that Snowball in realty never had a medal of honour, that in Snowball was always trying to cover up that he was fighting at the side of Mr Jones. The animals then started with the building of the windmill, and as time went on the working-time went up, whereas the food ration went down. Although the 'common' animals had not enough food, the pigs grow fatter and fatter. The pigs tell the animals that they need more food, for they are managing the whole farm. Again some time later the pigs explain to the other animals that they have to trade with the neighbour farms. The common animals are very upset , because after the revolution, there has been a resolution that no animal shall make trade with a human. But the pigs ensured that there never has been such a resolution, and that this was a evil lye by Snowball. Short after this decision the pigs moved to the farm house. The other animals remembered that there was a commandment that forbids sleeping in beds, and so they go to the big barn to look at the commandments. As they arrive there they can't believe their eyes, the 4th commandment has been changed to: 'No animal shall sleep in bed with sheets'. And also the other commandments were changed: 'No animal shall kill another animal without reason', or 'No animal shall drink alcohol in excess'. Some months there is a heavy storm that destroys the windmill, that is nearly ready. Napoleon accuses Snowball of destroying the mill, and he promises a reward to the animal who gets Snowball. The rebuilding of the mill takes two years. Again Jones attacks the farm, and although the animals defend the farm the windmill is once again destroyed. The pigs decide to build the mill again, and they cut down the food ration. And some day Boxer breaks down. He is sold to a butcher, whereas Napoleon tells the pigs that Boxer was brought to a hospital where he has died. Three years later the mill was finally ready. In this time Napoleon deepens the relations with the neighbour farm, and one day Napoleon even invites the owners of this farm for an inspection. They sit inside the farmhouse and celebrate the efficiency of his farm, where the animals work very hard with the minimum of food. During this celebration all the other animals have meet at the window of the farm, and as they look inside they can't distinguish between man and animal

SETTING

As its title implies, Animal Farm is set on a farm. But Orwell uses the farm to represent a universe in miniature. It sometimes seems idyllic, peaceful, fresh, spring-like. Usually moments when it is perceived in this way contrast ironically with the real situation of the animals. The setting suggests an attitude: 'this could be utopia, but' It does not really interest Orwell in itself. Sometimes he sketches a wintry, bleak, cold decor, a perfect backdrop for hard times. Here you could think of the setting as a metaphor, a way of representing hard times.

POINT OF VIEW

Orwell uses point of view in Animal Farm to create irony. Irony is a contrast or contradiction, such as between what a statement seems to say and what it really means, or between what characters expect to happen and what really happens. The story is told from the naive point of view of the lower animals, not from that of the clever pigs or an all-seeing narrator. Thus, when there's a crash one night and Squealer is found in the barn sprawled on the ground beside a broken ladder, a brush, and a pot of paint, it is 'a strange incident which hardly anyone was able to understand.' A few days later the animals find that the Fifth Commandment painted on the barn wall is not exactly as they remembered it; in fact there are, they can now see, two words at the end that 'they had forgotten.' No comment from the narrator. The irony (the contrast between what the animals believe, what the narrator actually tells us, and what we know to be the truth) fills us with more anger than an open denunciation could have done.

FORM AND STRUCTURE

Animal Farm successfully combines the characteristics of three literary forms--the fable, the satire, and the allegory. Animal Farm is a fable (a story usually having a moral, in which beasts talk and act like men and women). Orwell's animal characters are both animal and human. Each animal character is a type, with one human trait, or two at most--traits usually associated with that particular kind of animal Clearly, Animal Farm is a story about a revolution for an ideal, and about how that ideal is increasingly betrayed until it disappears altogether from the new society after the revolution. Since Orwell attacks that new society, and since, despite the grim, bitter picture he paints of it, he attacks it with humor (the humor of the beast fable), we can also call Animal Farm a satire. The immediate object of attack in Orwell's political satire is the society that was created in Russia after the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917. The events narrated in Animal Farm obviously and continuously refer to events in another story, the history of the Russian Revolution. In other words, Animal Farm is not only a charming fable ('A Fairy Story,' as Orwell playfully subtitles it) and a bitter political satire; it is also an allegory.

SYMBOLISM

The novel Animal Farm is a satire on the Russian revolution, and therefore full of symbolism. General Orwell associates certain real characters with the characters of the book. Here is a list of the characters and things and their meaning:

• Mr Jones the farmer Mr Jones stands for the Russian Tsar Nicolaii the second who was forced to abdicate after the successful February-revolution. But Mr Jones also somehow stands for the moral decline of men in a capitalist or feudalist type of society.
• Old Major Old major on the one hand represents the workers of the Putilow factory, who started the February-revolution, and on the other hand Old Major is representing the Russian intelligentsia. But it is also possible that Orwell made Old Major a symbol for Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, who somehow invented the communist ideology. Another possibility is that Old Major represents Wladimir Iljitsch Lenin, the leader of the October revolution.
  
  
• Napoleon Without doubt Napoleon stands for Josef Wissarionowitsch Stalin, one of the most cruel dictators in worlds history.
• Benjamin in communist Russia, or the USSR, would be an old intellectual or professor. Someone that has a good education and that has read about similar revolutions, which have not worked. He is smart in the sense that he knows about Napoleon's tyranny enough to keep quiet. He knows that if he speaks or acts against Napoleon he might get hurt. He knows that Napoleon would not tolerate opposition.
• Squealer This pig is an excellent speaker. Squealer convinces all animals to follow the revolution. Squealer convinced the animals that Napoleon was a great leader that all of the animals should defend and be proud of him, but what truly was happing was that Napoleon wasn't actually doing anything unless breaking the animal farm rules. He is also the one who makes all the changes in the Seven Commandments. In human terms he is the propaganda apparatus that spreads the 'big lie' and makes people believe in it.
• Snowball Snowball is a symbol for Leo Dawidowitsch Trotsky. Trotsky participated in the revolution and he was seen as Stalin's opponent for the leader of the Soviet Union and as a result Stalin expelled him.
• Boxer & Clover These two animals are a sing for the Russian working-class, which was convinced of the necessity of the Revolution. The Russian working-class then has build up the industry, which was forty years behind the western countries.
• Pigs Orwell has chosen the pigs to represent the communist Party. Before and short after the revolution the acted like being loyal to the working-class, or common animals, but later they have became just like, the tsar family. They just exploit the working-class, an they live in luxury and abundance.
• Dogs The dogs were recruited by the pigs to protect their own power and might. The dogs were also used to evict and to intimidate political enemies within their own rows (for example: Snowball-Trotsky). So one can say that the cruel dogs stand for the army and the secret-police.
• Moses The raven Moses is a symbol for the orthodox church, that was somehow an allied of the Russian Tsar. Moses always told stories of the 'Sugar Candy Mountain' where all dead animals live on. Moses tries to persuade the animals that there is no need for revolution.
• Rats & Rabbits The rats and the rabbits, who are regarded as wild animals, somehow represent the socialist movement, the so-called 'Menscheviki'. In the very beginning of the book the animals vote if rats and rabbits should be comrades.
• Pigeons The pigeons, who fly out each day to spread out he message of the victory, represent the 'Communist World Revolution".
• Farm buildings The farm stands for the Kremlin. In the early days of the USSR there were sightseeing tours trough the Kremlin. Later it became the residence of Stalin; Windmill: The Windmill for example stands for the Russian industry, that has been build up by the working-class.
• Humans The humans stand for the capitalists, who exploit the weak.
• Fredericks Stands for Hitler. There also has been an arrangement.
• Fox wood Fox wood farm is representing England.
• Pinch filed Pinch filed symbolises Germany.

WHAT THE STORY WANT TO TELL US

The story starts with a good intention: The animals take action against men and fight against all bad things they had to suffer. But the animals aren't equal. There are more and less intelligent ones, and step by step, the pigs, that were the most intelligent animals, took over leadership, which leaded under Napoleon to a dictatorship. Why did it came to this point? Mostly, it was the fault of every other animal on farm. The pigs could do what they wanted to, because no animal realised what happened to their farm. At first, they didn't try hard enough to learn reading and writing, then they just followed the leaders instead of taking any actions. Even when Snowball was expelled from the farm, they took no action. The author wants to teach us, that you should always think for yourself what is good and what is bad. But to do this, it is necessary to have a good education. Reading and writing is important, and look at the history and learn from the bad things that happened.