Animal Farm Essay, Research Paper
George Orwell?s Animal Farm is a satire on the Russian revolution, and
therefore the novel is full of symbolism. Orwell associates certain real
characters with the characters of the book. For example the two leaders of the
revolution are represented by snowball, who portrays Leon Trotsky and Napoleon
who portrays Joseph. Orwell uses the pigs to surround
and support Napoleon. They symbolize the communist party loyalists and the
friends of Stalin, as well as perhaps the Duma, or Russian parliament. The
pigs, unlike other animals, live in luxury and enjoy the benefits of the
society they help to control. The inequality and true hypocrisy of communism is
expressed here by Orwell, who criticized Marx’s over-simplified view of a
socialist, "utopian" society. Obviously George Orwell doesn’t believe
such a society can exist. Toward the end of the book, George Orwell emphasizes,
"Somehow it seemed as though the farm had grown richer without making the
animals themselves any richer except, of course, the pigs and the dogs." Orwell very
cleverly uses the name Boxer as a metaphor for the Boxer Rebellion in China in
the early twentieth century. It was this rebellion which signaled the beginning
of communism in red China. This communism, much like the distorted Stalin view
of socialism, is still present today in the oppressive social government in
China. Boxer and Clover are used by Orwell to represent the proletariat, or
unskilled labor class in Russian society. This lower class is naturally drawn
to Stalin (Napoleon) because it seems as though they will benefit most from his
new system. Since Boxer and the other low animals are not accustomed to the
"good life," they can’t really compare Napoleon’s government to the
life they had before under the czars (Jones). Also, since usually the lowest
class has the lowest intelligence, it is not difficult to persuade them into
thinking they are getting a good deal. The proletariat is also quite good at
convincing each other that communism is a good idea. Orwell supports this
contention when he narrates, "Their most faithful disciples were the two
carthorses, Boxer and Clover. Those two had great difficulty in thinking
anything out for themselves, but having once accepted the pigs as their
teachers, they absorbed everything that they were told, and passed it on to the
other animals by simple arguments." Later, the importance of the
proletariat is shown when Boxer suddenly falls and there is suddenly a drastic
decrease in work productivity. But still he is taken for granted by the pigs,
who send him away in a glue truck. Old Benjamin, an elderly
donkey, is one of Orwell’s most elusive and intriguing characters on Animal
Farm. He is described as rather unchanged since the rebellion. He still does
his work the same way, never becoming too exited or too disappointed about
anything that has passed. Benjamin explains, "Donkeys live a long time.
None of you has ever seen a dead donkey." Although there is no clear
metaphoric relationship between Benjamin and Orwell’s critique of communism, it
makes sense that during any rebellion there or those who never totally embrace
the revolution those so cynical they no longer look to their leaders for help.
Benjamin symbolizes the older generation, the critics of any new rebellion.
Really this old donkey is the only animal who seems as though he coul
less about Napoleon and Animal Farm. It’s almost as if he can see into the
future, knowing that the revolt is only a temporary change, and will flop in
the end. Benjamin is the only animal who doesn’t seem to have expected anything
positive from the revolution. He almost seems on a whole different maturity
lever compared to the other animals. He is not tricked by Napoleon’s propaganda
like the others. The only time he seems to care about the others at all is when
Boxer is carried off in the glue truck. It’s almost as if the old donkey
finally comes out of his shell when he tries to warn the others of Boxer’s fate.
And the animals do try to rescue Boxer, but it’s too late. Benjamin seems to be
finally confronting Napoleon and revealing his knowledge of the pigs’
hypocrisy, although before he had been completely independent. After the
animals have forgotten Jones and their past lives, Benjamin still remembers
everything. Orwell states, "Only old Benjamin professed to remember every
detail of his long life and to know that things never had been, nor ever could
be much better or much worse hunger, hardship, and disappointment being, so he
said, the unalterable law of life." Orwell uses the dogs to represent
the KGB or perhaps more accurately, the bodyguards of Stalin. The dogs are the
defenders of Napoleon and the pigs, and although they don’t speak, they are
definitely a force the other animals have to abide with. Orwell almost speaks
of the dogs as mindless robots, so dedicated to Napoleon that they can’t really
speak for themselves. This contention is supported as Orwell describes
Napoleon’s early and suspicious removal of six puppies from their mother. The
reader is left in the dark for a while, but later it is made clear when Orwell
describes the chase of Snowball. Napoleon uses his "secret dogs" for
the first time here; before Snowball has a chance to stand up and give a
counter-argument to Napoleon’s disapproval of the windmill, the dogs viciously
attack the pig, forcing him to flee, never to return again. Orwell narrates,
"Silent and terrified, the animals crept back into the barn. In a moment
the dogs came bounding back. At first no one had been able to imagine where
these creatures came from, but the problem was soon solved: they were the
puppies whom Napoleon had taken away from their mothers and reared privately.
Though not yet full-grown, they were huge dogs, and as fierce-looking as
wolves. They kept close to Napoleon. It was noticed that they wagged their
tails to him in the same way as the other dogs had been used to do to Mr.
Jones." The use of the dogs begins the evil use of force, which helps
Napoleon maintain power. Later, the dogs do even more horrible things when they
are instructed to kill the animals labeled "disloyal." Stalin, too,
had his own special force of "helpers". Really there are followers
loyal to any politician or government leader, but Stalin in particular needed a
special police force to eliminate his opponents. This is how Trotsky was
killed. I think most types of human nature
is represented in the book ?Animal Farm? which draws attention to many
different aspects of life. I think I would most likely be a bit like Benjamin
the donkey, but not totally like him. I would probably understand a bit about
what?s going on but would be too scared to rebel against the pigs until it?s
too late.