Todd

Polansky

Animal Farm: A Fable to Change Our Ways

Animal Farm, was written by George Orwell and published in nineteen forty-

six. Animal Farm is a fable; which is a story that provides the reader with some type of moral or lesson. Fables also include animals that possess human qualities such as walking and talking. This is also called anthropomorphism. George Orwell uses an interesting narration technique so that the reader is able to see all viewpoints of the story. The technique that Orwell uses to narrate the story is third person omniscient. Instead of having one point of view in the story, the reader is able to see all points of view. This is important because there are several different animals in Animal Farm, so we get to see the view of all of the animals equally. The most important part about Animal Farm is that it is an allegory. An allegory is a symbolic representation of another event, or an event that directly alludes to something else. The event that Animal Farm is an allegory for is the Russian Revolution of 1917. Animal Farm also alludes to many of the key figures in the Russian Revolution too. Animal Farm begins with Old Major, an old Berkshire Bore giving a speech

in the barn. He gathers all of the animals and then gives a speech to the animals about how they have been mistreated and that they deserve better than the way that their owner: Mr. Jones, had been treating them. Old Major is an allusion to possibly two figures in the Russian Revolution.

One is Karl Marx, who wrote the Communist Manifesto, and Vladimir Lenin who led the Russian Revolution before his death. Karl Marx is the father of Communism, and Old Major eventually develops Animalism, which is symbolic of communism.

Vladimir Lenin returns from Germany and leads the Russian Revolution, but dies in 1924, similar to Old Major, who dies right before the revolt begins? The revolt on the farm begins, and then Mr. Jones is removed from being the

leader of Manor Farm. Mr. Jones is an allusion to Nicholas II. Nicholas II was the leader of the Romanov Dynasty in the Soviet Union. He had been a capitalist leader who had cared little about the workers welfare. Mr. Jones is an allusion to Nicholas II because he possesses these same traits. As the novella progresses, there are some other very important figures that

allude to the Russian Revolution. Napoleon is a fierce Berkshire Bore who represents Joseph Stalin. Napoleon begins in Animal Farm as a character that is relatively non-aggressive. He eventually manipulates his way into being the leader, and removes all others who stand in his way. He does this through using his vicious dogs that he steals from Jessie and Bluebell, two dogs with whom he steals their pups. He raises the pups to become vicious, and then uses them to attack Snowball and remove him from the farm. Snowball is another pig that similar to Napoleon, lead the farm. Snowball is a pig of great ideas and is an allusion to Trotsky of the Russian Revolution. Trotsky led the Bolsheviks in the Russian Revolution, and was eventually assassinated by the KGB, Joseph Stalins secret police who had assassinated Trotsky. These events are directly related to the Russian Revolution. This is the purpose of Fables, they teach us very important life lessons in an entertaining way. By reading Animal Farm, we are able to look at events in history and help us understand our world better.

To conclude, Fables are a way to teach us a life lesson about real events that

happen. They are fiction, and include animals that walk and talk, but they are allegorical and represent real life characters. Fables are fun literary genres that can help us analyze our world.