Aman Anoop

5/17/2020
Period 3A

Anthropomorphism in Animal Farm

Throughout the book of Animal Farm by George Orwell, there are many different literary

elements that Orwell introduces to create a mix of a Fable and a Novel. One way that he does

this is by using Anthropomorphism to convey a somewhat true story. By doing this, he assures

that the reader has his attention, and can convey his point in a much easier matter. This means

that Orwell can turn a political story, into more of a fable/novel, without his audience realizing

that the story may be based on real life.

There are many reasons why Orwell may have chosen anthropomorphism to convey a

story in Animal Farm, but many of them were because he wanted his story to have a moral. This

can be seen throughout the entirety of the book but can be seen especially during the parts where

the pigs are establishing themselves as leaders in front of the other animals. An example of this

can be directly seen in Chapter 10 when Old Major says, “All animals are equal, but some

animals are more equal than others” (Orwell, 112). Orwell uses this to explain the Communist

ideal of having to follow your leaders to make your country succeed. This also helps to explain

how the ideology of communism was inherently flawed because some may have more powers

than others. Since the pigs have higher powers over the other animals, they can exploit them and

use them. This can especially be seen in the character of Napoleon, who uses his power to strike

fear in the farm animals multiple times. There are many times in the book where Napoleon uses

his powers for bad, but this can be seen especially in chapter five, where the narrator explains
“Just as the animals prepare to vote, however, Napoleon gives a strange whimper, and nine

enormous dogs wearing brass-studded collars charge into the barn, attack Snowball, and chase

him off the farm.” (Orwell, 48-49). This quote shows how Napoleon and the pigs were able to

become so powerful, even if the ideologies of the farm were for all animals to be equal.

Orwell explains many of the cons of Communism in a very powerful way, which can be

seen throughout the book. He does this by making the main political animals, Pigs. Usually, in

politics, pigs are used as a derogatory term meant to demean or degrade lawmakers and

politicians and is a term used in more capitalistic environment. Orwell most likely used this to

describe the demeanor of specific politicians in the Russian Revolution and to exemplify the

beliefs that many of the Soviet Communist Party members had. As the story progresses, many of

the animals began to see that the pigs were starting to become like humans, and there was almost

no difference in having a human or pig leader, since they were almost one in the same. This was

also seen during the Russian Revolution, where many of the people living in the Soviet Union

had begun to find out that that the Communist Party was becoming more and more capitalistic in

their tendencies as years went by. This can be seen throughout the book, but can especially be

seen in chapter 10, where the narrator says “The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and

from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was

which.” (Orwell, 118). Orwell could have used these terms to explain the downfall of

Communism in the Soviet Union, and how many Communist ideologies could not be truly

achieved, since there would always be a large amount of corruption.

 To conclude, Orwell is very successful in using anthropomorphism in Animal Farm. He

can simultaneously talk about the pros and cons of communism and is also able to tell the story

of the Soviet Union in a semi-historical fashion. This allows many teachers of history and

literature to use this book to understand the Soviet Union, without having a biased opinion on it.

Orwell also successfully implements a moral into the story, which allows him to help explain

history to younger generations, which helps make sure that it is not repeated in the future.