Discuss the techniques Orwell uses to communicate his attitudes towards soviet Russias political system.

George Orwells novel animal farm is a satirical allegory based on the events of the Russian revolution. While often mislabeled as a fable, animal farm assumes the style of an allegory, having both animal as well as human characters with symbolic references. The text was written by Orwell to warn people or raise awareness to the danger of communism, or Russias political system. As such it is evident that Orwell has a negative attitude towards Soviet Russias political system. Orwell believes that communism is dangerous to the public and is a form of enslaving the population of a free nation. In order to express his attitudes towards Russias political system Orwell wrote the text animal farm in the form of a satirical allegory, and utilized narrative elements such as Plot and Themes to deliver his moral, which elicits his attitudes, or feelings towards communism. In order to increase the target audience of the text and thus further raise awareness Orwell wrote animal farm in the form of a satirical novel. The effect of this decision was that the novel captivated its audience and despite a greater meaning, while still understandable by the younger populace. A satirical allegory is a text that ridicules aspects of something whilst utilizing symbolic characters or references. An example directly from the text itself is Orwells portrayal of Soviet Russias political leaders Stalin and Trotsky. In the text Orwell portrays these men as pigs, which are often associated with greed and selfishness. Such selfishness occurred with Russias political leaders, who oppressed the population and lived the high life while their people suffered. This idea of greed in political leaders is also further reinforced by the progression of the characters through the plot. As mentioned earlier, being an allegory Animal farm symbolically references both people as well as events. The events, or actual plot of animal farm was intended to mirror the events of the Russian revolution, albeit portraying them in a fitting way. As the plot unfolds, and the characters develop we begin to see through events the greed, and slow class stratification that results. We begin to see as Orwell intends, that under the communist system that animal farm assumes after the revolution; that when rivaling parties are chased out, and only one political party remains, a free nation slowly transforms into one of oppression under a totalitarian leader. These events act to elicit the idea of communism being very dangerous to the freedom of society and the general public, which were virtually enslaved by their leaders and worked to death for the sole benefit of their leaders. Another method of communication used by Orwell to display his attitude towards Soviet Russias political system is themes. Orwell makes extensive use of the themes of greed and the control of society through propaganda to show the negative effects of a communist government. In Animal Farm, the greed of the pigs causes them to enslave their fellow animals through the use of a consistent bombardment of propaganda which literally brainwashes the animals into believing they are working for themselves rather than their tyrant leaders. This mirrors communist Russia in the forties where propaganda and even religion

were used to control the population and make them believe that they were all working to benefit themselves, when in reality this was not the case. George Orwells combination of these parallel events in the plot with real events in communist Russia, and use of themes to reinforce his ideas contained within his satirical allegory, act to elicit the idea that communism itself. Whether it be in Russia or elsewhere, it is destructive on the lives of the entire working population of the nation, and even though equality is promoted, greed consumes the leaders. This results in extreme class stratification, which leads to a society by which the population is almost lifeless and where are all working for the benefit of the political leaders.