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ANIMAL FARM
By GEORGE ORWELL
Submitted to:
Submitted by:
TUPLANO, ENALEEN D.C.
BS ARCHITECTURE V-2
ABOUT AUTHOR
George Orwell was an English novelist, essayist and critic. He was born as Eric Arthur Blair in
Motihari, Bengal, India, in 1903. Orwell addressed some of the major political movement of his
times. This includes imperialism, fascism and communism. He is best known for his novels
Animal Farm (1945) and Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949).
Animal Farm brought George Orwell great acclaim and financial rewards. The novel is a satire
of the Russian revolution, and therefore full of symbolism. It featured two pigs as its main
protagonists that were said to represent Josef Stalin and Leon Totsky. Orwell himself explained:
it is the history of a revolution that went wrong.
Although the writing is simple and may seem inconspicuous, the novel presented all the horrors
of communism by conceiving a book that can be understood by both children and adults in
different ways. It tells a good story that aims to prove that human nature and diversity prevent
people from being equal and happy, or at least equally happy.
Animal Farm is a simple and heart-rending story about the farm animals aiming for a utopian
sort of communism. Being oppressed by Mr. Jones, the farmer, the animals attempted to rule
the farm themselves, on an equal basis. Each would work according to his capacity while
respecting the needs of other animals. However, the Animal Farm ended up being a
dictatorship of the pigs that were the brightest, yet indolent amongst animals.
BOOK SUMMARY
The story takes place on England. The action of the novel starts when the farm animals had a
secret meeting held by Old Major, the oldest pig on the farm. He tells the animals about his
dream of a revolution against the cruelty of Mr. Jones. After Major dies, the speech gives the
more intelligent animals a new perspective in life. The pigs were considered the most intelligent
animals in the farm. They instruct the other animals, and during their preparation, two pigs
(Napoleon and Snowball) distinguish themselves. The big one is Napoleon. Although he isnt a
good speaker, he can establish himself. While Snowball the other one is a better speaker that
has a lot of ideas and clear images in mind. There is also Squealer, a pig that is a very good
speaker. Together, Napoleon, Snowball and Squealer, work out the theory of Animalism. They
start the rebellion some months later, when Mr. Jones came home drunk one night. Mr. Jones
failed to defend his authority on the farm. The animals destroyed all the things that have been
used to suppress them. The animals celebrate their victory, while the pigs make up the seven
commandments, and they write them above the door of the big barn.
During thiscelebration, all the other animals meet at the window of the farm, and when theylook inside they can't distinguish
between man and animal
In his self-proclaimed "fairy-story," Orwell uses his allegorical farm to symbolize the
communist system. Though the original intention of overthrowing Mr. Jones (who
represents the Czars), is not inherently evil in itself, Napoleon's subsequent
adoption of nearly all of Mr. Jones' principles and harsh mistreatment of the animals
proves to the reader that indeed communism is not equality, but just another form
of inequality. The pigs and dogs take most of the power for themselves, thinking
that they are the best administrators of government. Eventually the power corrupts
them, and they turn on their fellow animals, eliminating competitors through
propaganda and bloodshed. This is of course a reference to Stalin, who murdered
many of his own people in order to maintain his dictatorship of Russia.
Significant people on that era are imaginatively and metaphorically represented by the farm
animals. This novel exhibits how good intentions could turn into domination.
Mr. Jones is the farmer in the story who runs the Manor Farm. Mr. Jones is obviously a wicked
master. He coddles himself while the animals, which he is supposed to take care of, lack
food. After experiencing years of oppression by Mr. Jones, the animals have decided
to stand up for themselves and rise up into rebellion. They chased Mr. Jones away from the farm
and planned to manage the farm on their own. This act was led by a wise pig named Old Major. He supported
the idea of running the farm themselves with a requirement that everyone should be equal. At first, the
animals were able to run the farm well by working and supporting each other. However, as time
passed by, the pigs started to bombard the other animals with suggestions on how the farm should be run. Not
later then, the equality envisioned by Old Major was no longer visible on the farm. The pigs were put up on the
top of the social ladder and the other animals were left into bewilderment on how things turned out that way.
Relating the story as a human creature in this world who by nature, cannot standalone and has the need to
interact and communicate with other humans, I could say that this story has much emphasis on equality. Looking
at our society nowadays, we could not deny the fact that social stratification is evident wherein people are
classified in classes in terms of economical sense as upper, upper middle, lower middle, upper lower and lower.
Animal farm depicts the failure of pursuing total equality in the society not only in economical terms but also
through a division of those who are exceptionally gifted intellectuals and those who are capable of doing physical
work. In the novel, pigs are portrayed as intellectually superior over other animals. The pigs didnot actually work,
but directed and supervised the others. With their superior knowledge it was natural that they should assume the
leadership (Orwell, 1945). This novel illustrates how despite the urge of all people to stand for equality, there
would still come a time wherein class structures would be established. Moreover, he conveys through the Animal
Farm that having divisions in our society could be a factor in hindering others in living in democracy and total
freedom. Another good thing about this novel is that it portrays not only those people who have
powers or those who are on the top of the social ladder. It also shows the people who belongs to the lower class
of the society or the oppressed people. Orwell was able to show that tyranny in the society does not solely arise
because of the strategies and tactics of those on the top of the ladder. He was able to show that one factor that
thelower class suffers oppression is the refusal to question those who are in authority. Moreover, symbols are
evident in this novel. Historically, Animal Farm could clearly be seen as a piece of work which symbolizes the
situation of Russia and theSoviet Union under Communist Party rule. Nevertheless, Animal Farm could be
generally seen as any human society no matter what form of regime they are in. The structure of a nation is
clearly depicted in the story. Pigs symbolize the government, dogs characterize the army and the other animals
portray the working class. Another striking symbol is the windmill. The windmill in the story basically symbolizes
the manipulation of the pigs (government) of the other animals (working class) for their own benefit and
enrichment.
George Orwell objectives were shown in an interesting manner. He didnt simply capture an event from the real
world and put it into paper by changing the names of the real people involved. It was creative of him to use
animals to symbolize people. Also, through his tone of writing, it was like being taught without fully realizing that he
has already been teaching you a vital lesson the moment you opened his creation.
It is also remarkable for George Orwell to fill the Animal Farm with songs, poems and slogans. The use of this
technique could be evaluated as a means of social propaganda which could be used to control the people in the
society at large. Propaganda can be seen in many forms such as name-calling, card stacking, common folks,
glittering reality and repetition. Considering the use of repetitive lines in his work, I could conclude that he used
repetition form of propaganda. It is brilliant of George Orwell to be able to incorporate this form of social factor
subliminally in his work. Now, looking at George Orwells technique in writing, I could say that it was pleasant of
him to use simple words which make the novel easy to understand in a way that even children could understand
it in literal sense. Also, he used adjectives in an uncomplicated manner. Some novel authors nowadays tend to
use brimful and profound adjectives to make their work more creative and easier to imagine but forgetting that
some readers prefer simple and plain words. I would complement George Orwell on this aspect since his choice
of words could be easily understood by anyone. His work can capture a large number of audiences and not
limited into the intellectual group of people.
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