Piper Black

Mrs. Ritter

English

3-4-21

Event Analysis of the Russian Revolution to Animal Farm

Animal Farm is a novel that was created to symbolize the Russian Revolution, and the

author does this by creating symbols using the key elements of it. Animal Farm demonstrates an

accurate way of how the rebellion from Mr. Jones and a slow downturn to another dictator is a

reflection off of how Russia sought for a fair country and in turn got manipulated by a political

entity absorbed by political power. Animal Farm and the Russian Revolution have striking

similarities, that include but are not limited character resemblance, and how each character

contributed to the events following the revolution.

Animal Farm showcases an enormous amount of character resemblance with the Russian

Revolution. Each character has a direct correlation in how their role effected the outcome, and

how they contributed to the result. The most important characters that have unique representation

in the Russian Revolution would be Napoleon, Snowball, and Boxer. Napoleon represented

Stalin, who rose to power after Nicholas || was overthrown by the general public. Both Napoleon

and Stalin had both took advantage of the recent revolution had deported or exiled their political

enemies to further expand their political power, and they both also had become dictators that led

a series of murders to invoke fear. Snowball represented Leon Trotsky, who politically opposed

Stalin on majority of their opinions, and also posed as a political threat against Stalin. Both Leon

and Snowball were eventually exiled from opposing Stalin and Napoleon, and they both had
similar belief systems that heavily conflicted with their enemies. Boxer represented the

municipal workers and labor workers because they both played the role of strong and loyal

workers. An example of this would be how Boxer extended his labor hours and had overexerted

himself in order to complete the windmill, and how the labor workers worked extensively in

order to create and produce mass industrialization.

Characters that briefly were introduced into the storyline, but also had important focus

were the nine dogs, Old Major, and Benjamin. The nine dogs were Napoleons body guards, and

how they defended and attacked in the interest of Napoleon. They can be compared to Stalin’s

personal police force, the NKVD, who tailored strictly in the interest of not only protecting

Stalin but acting as an intimidating force on his command. Old Major was the dreamer who

originated the idea of fighting back against rich man’s greed. Old Major represents Karl Marx

and Vladimir Lenin, who sparked the idea of a revolution in the first place. Old Major had begun

the idea of “Animalism”, which focused on the idea that all animals are created equal. This is a

mimic of Karl Marx’s idea of communism, which is the economic policy where the government

owns everything, and all men are economically “equal”. Benjamin was unfazed by the current

political climate, and we see this role-played by intellectuals who recognized the circumstances

yet did not influence action. They contributed to the outcome, by not purposefully trying to top

or revolt against the tyranny that was unfolding.

A few other smaller roles that can be recognized are Mr. Pilkington, who was the

neighboring farmer that Napoleon eventually became in contract with, and he represents the

leader of England. There was eventually a compromise between trading the hen’s eggs and the

wood supplied by Mr. Pilkington’s farm. This is in correlation between the agreement between

Russia and England. On the other side, Mr. Fredrick also represents the Leader of Germany, and
demonstrated the alliance that both nations also possessed. Mr. Jones, who was the farmer that

the animals had overthrown, would represent Nicholas Tsar || because they both were tyrants that

the public had kicked out of power. The sheep that are mentioned briefly throughout the story

represent Stalin’s followers, who were notarized as blindly following through with his own

personal agenda and disregarding the safety for the other animals. This led to Napoleon having

undying support, which gave him even more power and influence do as he pleased.

Animal Farm and the Russian Revolution have been similar in how their characters

reflect, and how each character contributed to the events following the revolution. Animal Farm

created a realistic and simplified version of how the outcomes of the Russian Revolution

happened, and we can tell from the contributions of the characters to strengthen the idea that

Animal Farm is reflection off of the Russian Revolution. We can tell that every character in

Animal Farm had a similarity to a person or group that played a significant role in the real-life

events of the Russian Revolution. Without having these connections, the comparison between the

two would have been flimsy, and not have any direct evidence of being based off of one of

another.