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Animal Farm
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Animal Farm is a novella by George Orwell, and is the most famous satirical allegory of Soviet totalitarianism. Published in 1945, the book reflects events leading up to and during the Stalin era. Orwell, a democratic socialist, and a member of the Independent Labour Party for many years, was a critic of Joseph Stalin, and was suspicious of Moscow-directed Stalinism after his experiences with the NKVD during the Spanish Civil War.
The book was chosen by Time Magazine as one of the 100 best English-language novels (1923 to 2005) and was number 31 on the Modern Library List of Best 20th Century Novels and won a Retrospective Hugo in 1996.
OverviewThe short novel is an allegory in which animals play the roles of the Bolshevik revolutionaries and overthrow and oust the human owners of the farm, setting it up as a commune in which, at first, all animals are equal; however, class and status disparities soon emerge between the different animal species.
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Animal Farm is a novella by George Orwell, and is the most famous satirical allegory of Soviet totalitarianism. Published in 1945, the book reflects events leading up to and during the Stalin era. Orwell, a democratic socialist, and a member of the Independent Labour Party for many years, was a critic of Joseph Stalin, and was suspicious of Moscow-directed Stalinism after his experiences with the NKVD during the Spanish Civil War.
The book was chosen by Time Magazine as one of the 100 best English-language novels (1923 to 2005) and was number 31 on the Modern Library List of Best 20th Century Novels and won a Retrospective Hugo in 1996.
OverviewThe short novel is an allegory in which animals play the roles of the Bolshevik revolutionaries and overthrow and oust the human owners of the farm, setting it up as a commune in which, at first, all animals are equal; however, class and status disparities soon emerge between the different animal species. The novel describes how a society's ideologies can be manipulated and twisted by those in positions of social and political power, including how a utopian society is made impossible by the corrupting nature of the very power necessary to create it.
Characters and their possible real-life counterpartsThe events and characters in Animal Farm parallel the early history of the Soviet Union; Orwell makes this explicit in the case of the head pig, Napoleon, whom he directly connects to Stalin in this 17 March 1945 letter to the publisher:
The dogs are also important characters in this novel that enabled Orwell to discover and express more of what had happened in Russia. The other characters have their parallels in the real world, but care should be taken with these comparisons, as Orwell's intent was not always explicit and they often simply represent generalised concepts.
PigsOld Major is the inspiration which fuels the Revolution and the book. According to one interpretation, he could be based upon both Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin. As a socialist, George Orwell may have agreed with much of Marx, and even respected aspects of Lenin. According to this interpretation, the satire in Animal Farm is not of Marxism, or of Lenin's revolution, but of the corruption that occurred later. However, according to Christopher Hitchens:
in the book, "the aims and principles of the Russian Revolution are given face-value credit throughout; this is a revolution betrayed, not a revolution that is monstrous from its inception." Though Old Major is presented positively, Orwell does slip in some flaws, such as his admission that he has largely been free of the abuse the rest of the animals have had to suffer. Old Major introduces the animals to the song Beasts of England.
Napoleon, a Berkshire boar, is the main tyrant and villain of Animal Farm and is based upon Joseph Stalin. Napoleon begins to gradually build up his power, using puppies he took from mother dogs Jessie and Bluebell, which he raises to be vicious dogs as his secret police. After driving Snowball off the farm, Napoleon usurps full power, using false propaganda from Squealer he said "hmmm, what have we started?"and threats and intimidation from the dogs to keep the other animals in line. Among other things, he gradually changes the Commandments to allow himself privileges and justify his dictatorial rule such as eating at a table. By the end of the book, Napoleon and his fellow pigs have learned to walk upright and started to behave similarly to the humans they originally revolted against. Orwell modeled him after Joseph Stalin, who set up a dictatorship whose repression and despotism was far worse than that of the Imperial Russian government supplanted by the Bolsheviks. (In the French version of Animal Farm, Napoleon is called César, the French spelling of Caesar.)
Snowball is Napoleon's rival. He is an allusion to Leon Trotsky. He wins over most animals, but is driven out of the farm in the end by Napoleon. Snowball genuinely works for the good of the farm and devises plans to help the animals achieve their vision of an egalitarian utopia but is chased from the farm by Napoleon and his dogs, and rumours are spread about him (by Napoleon) to make him seem evil and corrupt and that he is secretly sabotaging the animals' efforts to improve the farm. It is possible that Snowball's virtues would have been overcome by a lust for power with time as Napoleon was. In his biography of Orwell, Bernard Crick suggests that Snowball was as much inspired by POUM leader Andrés Nin as by Trotsky. Nin was a similarly adept orator and also fell victim to the Communist purges of the Left during the Spanish Civil War.
Squealer, a small fat porker, serves as Napoleon's right hand man and minister of propaganda. Inspired by Vyacheslav Molotov and the Soviet paper Pravda, Squealer manipulates the language to excuse, justify, and extol all of Napoleon's actions. He represents all the propaganda Stalin used to justify his own heinous acts. In all of his work, George Orwell made it a point to show how politicians used language. Squealer limits debate by complicating it and he confuses and disorients, making claims that the pigs need the extra luxury they are taking in order to function properly, for example. However, when questions persist, he usually uses the threat of Mr. Jones's return as justification for the pigs' privileges. Squealer uses statistics to convince the animals that life is getting better and better. Most of the animals have only dim memories of life before the revolution; therefore, they are convinced.
Minimus is a poetic pig who writes the second and third national anthems of Animal Farm after the singing of "Beasts of England" is banned, representing admirers of Stalin both inside and outside the USSR such as Maxim Gorky. As Minimus composed the replacement of "Beasts of England", he may equate to the three main composers of the National Anthem of the Soviet Union which replaced The Internationale – Gabriel El-Registan, Alexander Vasilyevich Alexandrov, and Sergey Mikhalkov.
The Piglets are hinted to be the children of Napoleon (albeit not truly noted in the novel), and are the first generation of animals to actually be subjugated to his idea of animal inequality.
The Rebel Pigs are three pigs who complain about Napoleon's takeover of the farm but are quickly silenced and later executed. This is based on the Great Purge during Stalin's regime. The closest parallels to the Rebel Pigs may be Nikolai Bukharin, Alexei Rykov, Grigory Zinoviev, and Lev Kamenev.
HorsesThere are three horses: Clover, Mollie, and Boxer
Boxer is one of the main characters. He is the tragic avatar of the working class, or proletariat: loyal, kind, dedicated, and physically the strongest animal on the farm, but naïve and slow. His ignorance and blind trust towards his leaders leads to his death and their profit. In particular, his heroic physical work represents the Stakhanovite movement. His maxim of "I will work harder" is reminiscent of Jurgis Rudkus from the Upton Sinclair novel The Jungle. His second maxim, "Napoleon is always right" is an example of the propaganda used by Squealer to control the animals. It was not adopted until later in the book. Boxer's work ethic is often praised by the pigs, and he is set as a prime example to the other animals. When Boxer is injured, and can no longer work, Napoleon sends him off to the knacker's and deceives the other animals, saying that Boxer died peacefully in the hospital. When the animals cannot work, Napoleon tosses them aside, for they mean nothing to him.
Clover is Boxer's friend and a fellow draft horse. She helps and cares for Boxer when he splits his hoof. She blames herself for forgetting the original Seven Commandments when Squealer had actually revised them. Clover is compassionate, as is shown when she protects the baby ducklings during Major's speech; albeit made out to be somewhat vain in the opening of the novel by the narrator, who remarks that she never "recovered" her figure after giving birth to her fourth foal. She is also upset when animals are executed by the dogs, and is held in great respect by three younger horses who ultimately replace Boxer.
Mollie is a self-centred and vain white mare who likes wearing ribbons in her mane, eating sugar cubes (which represent luxury) and being pampered and groomed by humans. She represents upper-class people, the bourgeoisie and nobility who fled to the West after the Russian Revolution and effectively dominated the Russian diaspora. Accordingly, she quickly leaves for another farm and is only once mentioned again.
Other animalsBenjamin is a wise, old donkey that shows slight emotion. The animals often query him about his lack of expression but always answers with: 'Donkeys live a long life. None of you have ever seen a dead donkey.' He is dedicated to Boxer and is sorely upset when Boxer is taken away. Benjamin has known about the pigs' wrongdoing the entire time, though he says nothing to the other animals. He represents the cynics in society. It has also been speculated that Benjamin could also represent the role of Jews in society, although this is unlikely since so many of the early supporters of the Russian Revolution were Jews. Another possibility is that Benjamin is an allegory for intellectuals who have the wisdom to stay clear of the purges.
The Puppies, who were raised by Napoleon to be his security force may be a reference to the fact that a major factor in Stalin's rise to power was his appointment as General Secretary of the Communist Party by Lenin in 1922, in which role he used his powers of appointment, promotion and demotion to quietly pack the party with his own supporters. He did this with such effectiveness that Lenin's Testament eventually called for Stalin's removal from this post. Lenin's request was ignored by the leading members of the Politburo - most notably Trotsky, represented in the novel by Snowball. The puppies represent Stalin's secret police.
Moses the raven is an old bird that occasionally visits the farm with tales of Sugarcandy Mountain, where he says animals go when they die, but only if they work hard. He represents religion, which is banned when the pigs come to power. He represents the Russian Orthodox Church. He leaves after the rebellion, for all animals are supposed to be equal, and religion is not part of equality, but returns later in the novel because he convinces the animals to work harder.
The Sheep represented the masses, manipulated to support Stalin in spite of his treachery.
The Rats may have represented some of the nomadic people in the far north of the USSR.
SignificanceThe allegory that the book employs allows for reader interpretation on a number of levels:
George Orwell wrote the book following his experiences during the Spanish Civil War, which are described in another one of his books, Homage to Catalonia. He intended it to be a strong condemnation of what he saw as the Stalinist corruption of the original socialist ideals. For the preface of a Ukrainian edition he prepared in 1947, Orwell described what gave him the idea of setting the book on a farm:
This Ukrainian edition was an early propaganda use of the book. It was printed to be distributed among the Soviet citizens of Ukraine who were some of the many millions of displaced persons throughout Europe at the end of the Second World War. The American occupation forces considered the edition to be propaganda printed on illegal presses, and handed 1,500 confiscated copies of Animal Farm over to the Soviet authorities. The politics in the book also affected the UK, with Orwell reporting that Ernest Bevin was "terrified" that it may cause embarrassment if published before the 1945 general election.
In recent years, the book has been used to compare new movements that overthrow heads of a corrupt and undemocratic government or organisation, only to eventually become corrupt and oppressive themselves as they succumb to the trappings of power and begin using violent and dictatorial methods to keep it. Such analogies have been used for many former African colonies such as Zimbabwe and the Democratic Republic of Congo, whose succeeding African-born rulers were accused of being as corrupt as, or worse than, the European colonists they supplanted.
The book also clearly ponders whether a focus of power in one person is healthy for a society. The book leaves the ending slightly ambiguous in this regard.
Allusions to history, geography and current science- The refusal of the Humans to refer to Animal Farm by its new name (still calling it Manor Farm) may be indicative of the diplomatic limbo in which the Soviets existed following their early history.
- Mr. Jones' last-ditch effort to retake the farm (The Battle of the Cowshed) is analogous to the Russian Civil War in which the western capitalist governments sent soldiers to try to remove the Bolsheviks from power.
- The Battle of Cowshed is fought with similar tactics to the Battle of Cowpens in the American Revolution.
- When Napoleon and Snowball argue about how Animal Farm should be ruled, Napoleon favours acquiring weapons to defend the farm while Snowball favoured getting other farms (countries) to rebel. This is similar to Stalin wanting "Socialism in one country" and Trotsky's theory of "Permanent Revolution."
- Squealer constantly changing the commandments on Napoleon's orders may refer to the constant line of adjustments to the Communist theory by the people in power. In addition, his lies to animals of past events they cannot remember, refers to the revision of history texts to glorify Stalin during his regime.
- After Old Major dies, his skull is placed on display on a tree stump. Similarly, Lenin's embalmed body was put on display in Lenin's Tomb in Red Square after death, where it remains. It should also be noted that the tomb of Karl Marx is adorned by an extremely large bust of his likeness, which lends more credibility to Old Major being a closer reference to Karl Marx than to Lenin. Marx's tomb is located in Highgate Cemetery, London. However Old Major's skull is eventually buried by Napoleon, unlike Lenin.
- The flag of Animal Farm consists of a green field with a hoof and a horn. According to the book, the green represents the fields of England, with the hoof and horn being an analogy to the hammer and sickle. It also bears resemblance to the Communist Russia flag.
- When Napoleon steals Snowball’s idea for a windmill, the windmill can be considered a symbol of the Soviet Five-Year Plans, a concept developed by Trotsky and adopted by Stalin, who, after banning Trotsky from the Soviet Union, claimed them to be his idea. The failure of the windmill to generate the expected comforts and subsequent search for saboteurs is probably a reference to accusations and a show trial against British engineers who were working on electrification projects in the USSR.
- Moses the raven leaving the farm for a while and then returning is similar to the Russian Orthodox Church going underground and then being brought back to give the workers hope.
- Boxer's motto, "Napoleon is always right" is synonymous with «Il Duce ha sempre ragione» ("Mussolini is always right"), a chant used to hail Benito Mussolini during his rule of Italy from 1922 to 1943.
- During the rise of Napoleon, he ordered the collection of all the hens' eggs. In an act of defiance, the hens destroyed their eggs rather than give them to Napoleon. During Stalin's collectivisation period in the early 1930s, many Ukrainian peasants burned their crops and farms rather than handing them over to the government.
- Napoleon's mass executions, of which many were unfair for the alleged crimes, is similar to Stalin executing his political enemies for various crimes after they were tortured and forced to falsify confessions.
- Napoleon replaces the farm anthem "Beasts of England" with an inane composition by the pig poet Minimus ("Animal Farm, Animal Farm / Never through me / Shall thou come to harm"). In 1943, Stalin replaced the old national anthem "The Internationale" with "the Hymn of the Soviet Union." The old Internationale glorified the revolution and "the people." The original version of the Hymn of the Soviet Union glorified Stalin so heavily that after his death in 1953, entire sections of the anthem had to be replaced or removed. Orwell could have also been referring to Napoleon Bonaparte's banning of the French national hymn, La Marseillaise in 1799.
- Napoleon works with Mr. Frederick, who eventually betrays Animal Farm and destroys the windmill. Though Animal Farm repels the human attack, many animals are wounded and killed. This is similar to Stalin’s Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact with Nazi Germany in 1939, which was later betrayed in 1941 when Hitler invaded the Soviet Union. Though the Soviet Union won the war, it came at a tremendous price of roughly 8.5-15 million Soviet soldiers (unconfirmed) and many civilians, resulting in an estimated 20 million dead, as well as the utter destruction of the Western Soviet Union and its prized collective farms that Stalin had created in the 1930s. The demolition of the windmill and the battle that ensued there could also be a reference to the Battle of Stalingrad. The selling of the farm's excess timber supply could represent the offering of raw materials to the United States in exchange for weapons of war under the Lend-Lease or could be the Stalin-Hitler treaty.
- Napoleon changing Animal Farm back to Manor Farm echoes the Red Army’s name change from the "Workers' and Peasants' Red Army" to the "Soviet Army" to appear as a more appealing and professional organisation rather than an army of the common people.
- The dogs may be an allegory to the NKVD, the elite police force who ruled by terror under Stalin's hand.
- The character of Boxer could be an allusion to the financial state of Russia at the time of publication.
- The term "four legs good, two legs bad" could be symbolic for the simplification of the April Theses, for workers to understand it better.
- Napoleon once creates and awards himself with the Order of the Green Banner, a reference to the Soviet Union's Order of the Red Banner.
- Napoleon receives titles such as Father of all animals, and Terror of humankind. This is a reference to Stalin's many grandiloquent titles.
- "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others". A proclamation by the pigs who control the government. The sentence is a comment on the hypocrisy of governments that proclaim the absolute equality of their citizens but give power and privileges to a small elite.
British censorship and suppressed prefaceDuring World War II it became apparent to Orwell that anti-Russian literature was not something which most major publishing houses would touch — including his regular publisher Gollancz. One publisher he sought rejected his book on the grounds of government advice — although the assumed civil servant who gave the order was later found to be a Soviet spy.
Orwell originally prepared a preface which complains about British government suppression of his book, self-imposed British self-censorship and how the British people were suppressing criticism of the USSR, their World War II ally. "The sinister fact about literary censorship in England is that it is largely voluntary. ... [Things are] kept right out of the British press, not because the Government intervened but because of a general tacit agreement that 'it wouldn't do' to mention that particular fact." Somewhat ironically, the preface itself was censored and is not published with most editions of the book.
Controversies- The estate of Orwell declared itself "hostile" to the publication of Snowball's Chance, a 2002 parody of Animal Farm by U.S. author John Reed.
Adaptations
- 1954 animated film — The book was the basis of an animated feature film in 1954 (the UK's first full-length animated movie), directed by John Halas and Joy Batchelor and quietly commissioned by the American CIA. This version softened the theme of the story slightly by reducing the role of Moses, the character representing religion. It also added an epilogue where the other animals successfully revolt against the pigs immediately after the novel's iconic concluding imagery is depicted.
- 1996 stage adaptation — Popular stage adaptation by renowned British theatre director and playwright Ian Wooldridge. "Ian Wooldridge's adaptation makes the text as engagingly relevant as ever", London Evening Standard. Originally performed in 1996 by Newcastle Playhouse and first published in 2003 by Nick Hern Books, London. The production has seen recent performances in 2003 by The Wild Rice Theatre Company at The Jubilee Hall, Raffles Hotel, Singapore, on 2004 by Northern Stage at the Courtyard Theatre, West Yorkshire Playhouse and in 2006 by Eglesfield Players at Queen's College, Oxford.
- 1999 live-action film — A live action film directed by John Stephenson, with voices by Kelsey Grammer as Snowball, Patrick Stewart as Napoleon, and Ian Holm as Squealer. Despite a few differences (such as completely different songs), the plot generally resembles that of the book. In the film, Jessie, one of the dogs, is now the main character, protagonist, and narrator. The film also diverges from the book with an additional epilogue in which Jessie the dog and several animals escape and return years later to a post-Napoleon era Animal Farm. This update could be seen as an analogy to the fall of the Soviet Union, or it may be an effort to create a 'happy ending' that would be more audience-friendly.
Editions- ISBN 0-582-02173-1
- ISBN 0-15-107255-8
- ISBN 0-582-06010-9 (paper text, 1991)
- ISBN 0-679-42039-8 (hardcover, 1993)
- ISBN 0-606-00102-6
- ISBN 0-15-100217-7 (hardcover, 1996, Anniversary Edition)
- ISBN 0-452-27750-7
- ISBN 0-451-52634-1
- ISBN 0-582-53008-3 (1996)
- ISBN 1-56000-520-3
- ISBN 0-7910-4774-1 (hardcover, 1999)
- ISBN 0-451-52536-1 (paperback, 1999)
- ISBN 0-7641-0819-0 (paperback, 1999)
- ISBN 0-8220-7009-X
- ISBN 0-7587-7843-0 (hardcover, 2002)
- ISBN 0-15-101026-9 (hardcover, 2003, with Nineteen Eighty-Four)
- ISBN 0-452-28424-4 (paperback, 2003, Centennial Edition)
- ISBN 0-8488-0120-2 (hardcover)
- ISBN 0-03-055434-9 (hardcover) Animal Farm with Connections
- ISBN 0-395-79677-6 (hardcover) Animal Farm & Related Readings, 1997
See also
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