Chung 1

Audrey Chung

鍾雅茹

S08120108
Seminar: George Orwell and the Idea of Europe
Instructor: Henk Vynckier
Research Paper

Symbolism and Metaphors: Character Analysis in Animal Farm and Exploration

in Current Politics

Animal Farm is an allegorical, anti-utopian, and satirical novella by the

British writer, George Orwell, officially published in England on 17 August
1945 (Britannica). The story opens with Old major’s speech about rebellion, he
led animals to sing Beasts of England. There was a group of animals plotting to
rebel their farm master for freedom. They hoped to create a society of equality
and peace. The Rebellion was successful, they banished the master, Mr. Jones,
finally. They lived what they imaged to live. They set up the Seven
Commandments as the law of the society. The brutal leader named Napoleon
turfed Snowball away and established a Republic eventually. He became the
president of the Republic. To consolidate his power, he used filthy ways to
control and cheat other animals.
George Orwell wrote this novella during World War II (WWII), the
biggest global war in history. Every detail in this novella has a strong connection
to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR/ the Soviet Union), a socialist
state of federation existing from 1922 to 1991. He described himself as a “Tory-
anarchist”. According to Jacques Charpier, in his article “George Orwell, a ‘Tory
anarchist’”, he described Orwell’s ideology, “a contradiction in terms which can
be seen as reflecting the personal ambiguities of someone whom the experiences
of life and certain personal fantasies had pushed towards socialist theories
(UNESCO).” Orwell’s ideology didn’t belong to any party. He had his own mind
to the English society, but his ideas were similar to those of the left parties. He
didn’t join any party at that time, he insisted his own ideas and expressed them in
his works.
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The Animal Farm was a real society that had happened in the world, the
Soviet Union. All the characters, events, revolutions were based on real history
in Russia. The purpose of writing this novella was to taunt people who supported
right-wing politics. Starting with the characters, George Orwell used pigs to
present the higher educated people in society. Pigs have negative meanings like
greedy, lazy, and gluttonous, but pigs are smart among many animals. In the
story, Old Major (pig) proposed the idea of revolution (5). He presented
Vladimir Lenin, a communist politician in the Soviet Union, the influential
figure behind the communist ideology. He represented the motivation of the
rebellion and sets up the principles of “Animalism”, which symbolized the ideas
of Leninism. Leninism advocates that revolution must be led by a well-organized
party to establish a proletarian dictatorship. Napoleon (pig) represented Joseph
Stalin, a brutal Soviet political leader. After expelling Snowball, Napoleon held
leadership to force other animals to labor. The name, Napoleon, is interesting.
When we mention Napoleon, the first image that comes to our mind is Napoléon
Ⅰ in French history. Napoléon Ⅰ was the general in France and later led the Coup
d'état of 18 Brumaire to the Coronation of Napoleon as Emperor (Wikipedia).
His pride motivated him to have more power, but he failed and excelled in Saint
Helena (Wikipedia). The most difference between those two figures is we don’t
know the end of Napoleon in Animal Farm, NapoléonⅠ eventually lost his power.
Maybe George Orwell implied Napoleon’s future. Napoleon’s opponent,
Snowball (pig), was described as the opponent of Joseph Starlin, Lev Davidovich
Trotsky, a key figure in the Russian Revolution. He was portrayed as an
idealistic and intelligent leader, advocating for the improvement of the animals'
lives. However, he was eventually expelled from the farm by Napoleon, who
thought of him as a threat to his success to rule the animal farm. Because he
strongly opposed Stalin and believed that Stalin was a dictatorial and
bureaucratic policy, he was expelled from the party. On August 20, 1940, an
NKVD secret agent Assassinated Trotsky by gouging into the back of the head
with an ice pick, he died the next day (Wikipedia). NKVD is an abbreviation of
Narodnyy Komissariat Vnutrennikh Del. It was the main political police
organization of the Soviet Union during the Stalin era, and it was also the main
executive organ of the Soviet Union's great purges in the 1930s (Wikipedia).
And then, Napoleon’s blind follower, Squealer (pig), used cunning words to
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justify Napoleon’s policies. He manipulated animals’ minds and falsified the

truth to maintain the pigs’ recognition. He presented political propaganda to
make people believe that everything the party did was right like the Ministry of
Truth in Nineteen Eighty-Four. Additionally, the four young pigs who
complained about the policies of Napoleon were executed later. They were the
first animals to be killed after the purge. Critiques suggested that those four pigs
were presented as Grigory Zinoviev, Lev Kamenev, Nikolai Bukharin, and
Alexei Rykov. They were assistants of Lenin in October Revolution. After the
assassination of Sergei Mironovich Kirov, they were considered opposing Starlin
and executed in the Moscow Trails in August 1936 to eliminate dissents by the
orders of Starlin (Wikipedia).
Humans served as important elements in Animal Farm. The original
master, Mr. Jones presented as the last emperor of Russia, Nicholas II of Russia.
He abdicated the throne after February Revolution in 1917 and he and his family
got murdered in 1918. Mr. Frederic symbolizes Adolf Hitler in particular
(LitCharts). Mr. Frederic's attack on the animal farm can be considered as Hitler
launching Operation Barbarossa to invade the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941.
Not only do pigs and human have historical symbols also the other
animals do as well. The hard-working horse, Boxer, was represented the hard-
working working class in society. When he questioned Napoleon, Napoleon sent
his dogs to attack him, but boxer is strong enough to defend the attack. And then,
he got a serious injury, Napoleon sent him to slaughterhouse. Benjamin was the
oldest animal on the animal farm. Some people said that Benjamin was George
Orwell himself, but the others thought that the old donkey would be the
intellectuals who had chosen to ignore politics. The other animals, such as sheep
and poultries, were described as workers and farmers in society. Works and
farmers might not be educated enough, so they were easily manipulated by the
communists and blindly followed them.
The Seven Commandments and Beasts of England were redefined and
forgotten by Napoleon and the animals. Later, Napoleon and his pigs secretly
amended some commandments to clear themselves of breaking the law. Seven
commandments were represented as communism (16). The original Seven
Commandments had been tampering with the new slogan. The slogan differed
from “Four legs good, two legs bad” (22) to “Four legs good, two legs better
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(87).” This was irony to the pigs that they became humanized. They lived like a
human (88), their children studied like a human (76), and walked their hind legs
like a human (86).
“No animal shall sleep in a bed with sheets.
No animal shall drink alcohol to excess.
No animal shall kill any other animal without cause.
All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others.”
Similarly, communism was changed by the different leaders of the Soviet Union.
For example, Leninism was proposed by Lenin and Stalinism was implemented
by Starlin. The pigs also had privileges to show priorities. As for Beasts of
England, it was considered of The Internationale, the standard idea of
communism. Additionally, the Windmill symbolized the massive instructions of
Starlin’s Five-year plans of the Soviet Union. They forced workers to work
harder than ever in order to finish the projects; those who rebelled or failed to
persevere to finish their work are considered traitors.
The main theme in Animal Farm is the corruption of the communist
government. George Orwell used many symbols to represent the people and
events of the Soviet Union. The whole novella is a satire of the Soviet Union
during WWⅡ. After reading the novella, the story is full of absurdities, but this is
real. Also, we could know that the author is really against communism.
When the pigs got humanized, the corruption of the government was easily seen
in the story. The school was built only for the piglets, and only pigs could eat
wheat. This phenomenon showed that pigs had privileges like human society.
Moreover, the pigs started to wear ribbons and clothes, to eat and drink at tables,
and to sleep in beds. It was ironic to the original Seven Commandments because
all these actions were like humans. With the cunning words of Squealer, the pigs
escaped from criticism. This event could count as an abuse of language.
An efficient way to let people follow the policies is to use violence and severe
punishments. Napoleon executed the four young piglets, who protested against
and questioned him (54~55). He also used cruel punishments to the chickens,
which were unwilling to give the eggs to him (49~50). These are the abuses of
violence to achieve the control of the animals.
We also can see how totalitarianism effect a country and its people’s
lives. By definition, totalitarianism is a political system that prohibits opposing
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parties, revolutions, groups and progresses dictatorship. Napoleon set up

committees to watch animals’ every actions. They were not freely discussed
about Snowball, freedom, and especially the revolution. The Soviet Union had
been dissolved, but the Russia government still keeps his power over the east
European countries. The reason why Russia invades Ukraine is that Russia made
a false flag to Ukraine for ethic cleaning to the Donetsk People's Militia and
Lugansk People's Militia. Russian government also prohibited Ukraine to join
the NATO. Russian government announced that they recognized the
independence of Donetsk People's Militia and Lugansk People's Militia on
February twenty-second, 2022. Russian government was willing to support them
to defense Ukrainian military. On February twenty-fourth, 2022, the Russian
president, Putin, authorized the military action as a special operation and aimed
the operation “demilitarization and de-Nazification of Ukraine.” Ukrainian
soldiers are defending their homeland to the death not to become part of the
Russian power. Many refugees are forced to leave their homes to get away the
harm from Russian attack. Russia government desperately wanted its power over
the Europe and try to control east European countries.
The Chinese government also did the same thing as the Soviet Union.
Like Animal Farm, China has a centralized system of government, and at times
corrupt and abused by officials. In addition, Chinese propaganda has largely
influenced the flow of information and public ideology. Similar to the
propaganda tools in Animal Farm, the Chinese government maintains its power
through strict media control and regulation and shapes a public opinion
consistent with its official ideology. The government brainwashes people with
false information and bans and deletes the comments against them on internet.
The Chinese government recently claims, “One China Principle”, which means
only China in the world, the government of the People's Republic of China is the
only legal representative of China, and Taiwan is China's inalienable territory.
PLA (People's Liberation Army) routinely harasses Taiwan with military drills.
In the spring of 2019, the Anti-Extradition Law Amendment Bill Movement
occurred in Hong Kong. The Hong Kong police used tear gas and rubber bullets
to attack the people of Hong Kong, causing the conflict to last for several
months. After millions of Hong Kong people took to the streets to demonstrate,
Beijing government was determined to take tough actions to suppress it. After
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this event happened, many Taiwanese people consider Taiwan will be the next
Hong Kong, motivating more Taiwanese people support and defend Taiwan’s
sovereignty. The Soviet Union was once one of the superpowers during the Cold
War, and it has launched a long-term confrontation with the United States.
However, after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, its international status
declined rapidly. In contrast, China has risen rapidly in recent decades to become
the world's second largest economy and a country with significant geopolitical
influence. The Soviet government was considered as strong control and
suppression of basic rights such as the freedom of speech. The Chinese
government has also been criticized for human rights issues in some areas, such
as speech control, surveillance, and treatment of ethnic minorities.
To summarize, this novella is a satire of the Soviet Union. The author,
George Orwell, put Soviet history into the novella. This story portrayed the
corruption of communism and the Soviet Union vividly. George Orwell strongly
condemned the corruption of the Soviet Union. This novella also gave the
message of anti-communism and thought it greedy for the high authority. It also
depicts the gradual erosion of the revolution's ideals, with the pigs becoming
increasingly similar to their human oppressors. The manipulation of language,
the abuse of power, and the presence of totalitarianism are prominent themes
throughout the story. The novella serves as a critique of communism and
totalitarian regimes, highlighting the dangers of corrupt leadership and the
suppression of individual freedoms.
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Work Cited
Orwell, George. Animal Farm. Taipei: Bookman Books, 2000.
Britannica. "Animal Farm". Encyclopedia Britannica, 27. Mar. 2020,
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Animal-Farm.
“Animal Farm.” CliffsNotes, www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/a/animal-
farm/animal-farm-at-a-glance.
Napoleon. Wikipedia, 2023, June 8, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon
Leon Trotsky. Wikipedia, 2023, June 14. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leon_Trotsky
NKVD. Wikipedia. 2023, June 5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NKVD
Charpier, Jacques. “George Orwell, a ‘Tory Anarchist.’” UNESCO, 25 June 2019,
en.unesco.org/courier/enero-1984/george-orwell-tory-anarchist.
“KGB.” Wikipedia, 7 June 2023, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KGB.
Florman, Ben. "Animal Farm Characters: Mr. Frederick." LitCharts. LitCharts LLC,
22 Jul 2013.
https://www.litcharts.com/lit/animal-farm/characters/mr-frederick