Controversial is the word to describe Animal Farm by George Orwell and what impact it had

when it first came out. The whole idea of the book was to criticize the actions and dictatorship of
Joseph Stalin during the era of the Soviet Union and the many different hardships and people
during this time. So what animal is a good point for the many points symbolism in the book?
There are certainly many animals but the one that is the most intriguing yet the least mentioned
is Moses the raven. At first is the obvious points made in the beginning, then the strangely
convenient reentrance at the end, and lastly the many different inferences that can be made on
Moses.
First off, his name is already and interesting point. He is first mentioned in the first page
in the scene where Old Major assembles all the animals. All the animals were now present
except Moses, the tame raven, who slept on a perch behind the back door. (Ch. 1 Pg. 2) He is
again mentioned in only a paragraph later with even more intriguing information on him. He
claimed to know of the existence of a mysterious country called Sugarcandy Mountain, to which
all animals went when they died. (Ch. 2 pg. 6) In this same paragraph, he is described as being
very clever and a sort of a spy like figure. The animals all state that they dislike him due to him
not ever doing anything and just telling tales. Its also stated that the pigs often have a very
difficult time disproving the raven and his claims of Sugarcandy Mountain. And then Moses
just disappears for a while.
Next, we see him again a massive jump forward into the story when Napoleon has taken
over Animal Farm and is making the lives of the other animals miserable. In the middle of the
summer Moses the raven suddenly reappeared on the farm, after an absence of several years. He
was quite unchanged, still did no work, and talked in the same strain as ever about Sugarcandy

Mountain (Ch. 9 Pg. 35) However, at this point we know that the pigs have been using birds to
spread news around whether it be about Animal Farm or whats going on. Its never stated that
the pigs use Moses and its said that they still argue against the existence of Sugarcandy
Mountain. But, its also said at the end of the paragraph that Moses is given a gill of beer a day
and still does no work at all. And this time, most of the animals start believing in his tales and
how he even saw a field of this place on one of his flights and how they will all go there after
their hard work. So what exactly does this all mean?
In conclusion, there can be many different assumptions and theories as to what Moses is
really in Animal Farm and what his purpose is. In the beginning, no animal really believes in his
tale and greatly dislikes him and yet around the end his stories are believable to the animals and
they tolerate him a bit more. Moses obviously represents religion in Animal Farm by how he
preaches and such. The attitude towards him in the beginning portrays how people are adverse to
something when they already have other things they may believe in. At the end when all of these
animals are so tired, hungry, and miserable, Moses comes and tells them more about Sugarcandy
Mountain since its one of the few things they can hold onto. But of course, the pigs are actually
using Moses to calm the animals down so they are more controllable and dont revolt against
their dictatorship. And after that, the raven is never mentioned again.
To put it all to a close, George Orwell used Moses in the story Animal Farm to
demonstrate religion and how Communist Governments used religion to pacify the crowds
against total rebellion after losing so much hope. People who usually have hope for the future are
less inclined to rebel when they believe things will get better. Other aspects on Moses are also
displayed in real life such as how the animals view him in the beginning and how he never does
anything. During a dictatorship or poor conditions under another government, people are very

likely to despise religious preachers due to the fact that in their eyes, they dont do anything
resourceful and just tell stories, much like Moses. But later on people want to cling onto hope
for a better future and may eventually start to believe the religious preachers while not realizing
that the government is using them to keep the masses docile. And that is exactly how George
Orwell uses Moses the Raven in Animal Farm to describe some of the events during the era of
the Soviet Union and the dictatorship of Joseph Stalin.