Point of View - Animal Farm

In literature, a work's point of view (POV) refers to who is telling the story. There are three
categories of point of view: first person, second person, and third person. Third-person narration
is the type most important for this lesson; it means the narrator uses ''he'' or ''she'' to refer to all
the characters in the story but still knows the thoughts and feelings of one or more characters.
This is the type of point of view used in George Orwell's novella, Animal Farm.

Third Person Omniscient

Third-person omniscient POV is the specific type of narration Orwell uses in this particular
novella. With third-person omniscient storytelling, the reader is privy to the thoughts and feelings
of several characters, maybe even all of them (hence the ''omniscient'' tacked on the end). The
narrator moves from person to person and is able to see into the heads of multiple characters,
meaning you, the reader, can understand the thoughts of many characters throughout the book.

The narrator of Animal Farm, like most third-person omniscient narrators, is kind of a nonentity.
You don't know who it is, whether it's a person or another animal, but that's okay because it
doesn't really matter for the storyline. The narrator has no feelings about the proceedings one
way or another, and you can tell this by the passive way the narrator phrases things, like, ''The
work of teaching and organizing the others fell naturally upon the pigs, who were generally
recognized as being the cleverest of the animals.''
Well, that's cool, but who's recognizing the pigs as being clever? The narrator? The animals?
With this type of narration, the narrator discerns the inner feelings of the ones who matter in this
work: the animals of Animal Farm, not the narrator.
Why Use This POV?

Orwell used this particular point of view for this novella as the narrator is impartial and merely
relays information to you, the reader, who can then make your own assessment of the
proceedings. Here's another example of the narrator's passive impartiality:
''So the animals trooped down to the hayfield to begin the harvest, and when they came back in
the evening it was noticed that the milk had disappeared.''