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| Orwell, George: Animal Farm
Orwell, George: Animal Farm
Animal Farm – An
Allegory
1. Characters and events that are interesting
1.1 The characters
- Old Major
- Mr. Jones
- Napoleon
- Snowball
- Boxer
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- Ü Mollie
- the nine dogs
- Squealer
- Benjamin
- the
sheep
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1.2 The events
- the pre-rebellion
meeting
- the
rebellion
- the principles of
Animalism (seven commandments)
- leadership (Napoleon
↔
Snowball)
- Napoleon’s nine
dogs
- neighbour farms have
fear and there are unrests
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- Ü Jones try to
recapture the farm
- Snowball’s
ideas (example: put their dung directly into the field)
- power struggle
(Napoleon ↔
Snowball)
- putsch (Napoleon
becomes dictator)
- the building of the
windmill
- suppression
(Napoleon!)
- Execution of the
‘criminal’ Animals
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2. Our results
We came to the result, that this story describes
the happenings in USSR after 1917.
2.1 Who could the characters be in reality?
2.1.1 Old Major
We think Old Major is the personification of Karl
Marx and Lenin. Marx was the first who had the idea of communism. Lenin
is like the father for the Russians. He spread his idea of the new world to the
other people. (Just as Old Major did.)
2.1.2 Mr. Jones
Jones represents the old imperial power, the lost
czar, who had to abdicate the throne.
2.1.3 Snowball
Snowball must be Trotsky, the intellectual, gifted
leader. With all his plans and new ideas for a better life.
2.1.4 Napoleon
Napoleon reflects the iron man – J. Stalin
– who expelled Trotsky (Snowball) from the farm respectively from the
party. He’s a clever and determined organizer. He’s the military
type of leader.
2.1.5 Boxer
We don’t think that Boxer only stands for
one (wo)man. He could stand for the whole working class – the
”untiring proletariat”. Like that, it makes more
sense.
2.1.6 Mollie
She could represent that part of the people which
already had had a nice life before the revolution and – because of that
– preferred to escape.
2.1.7 The nine dogs
The dogs – Napoleon‘s proper army
– stand for the red army which defends Stalin from his
enemies.
2.1.8 Squealer
He could stand for the general manipulation of
facts with the help of the media and the whole propaganda of the Bolsheviks. He
is a sort of Radio in the story, isn’t he? He always turns black to white
and persuades all the others.
2.1.9 Benjamin
Benjamin could represent the old, resigned and
experienced part of the people.
2.1.10 The sheep
We think the sheep stand for a less intelligent
part of the people. They can be easily manipulated to Napoleon’s
(Stalin’s) advantage. They are in one way a tool for him.
2.2 What about the events on the farm?
2.2.1 The pre-rebellion meeting
It means the general unhappiness of the people
influenced by the pressure of the opposition parties which predicated the
inefficiency of the government.
2.2.2 The rebellion
Because of all the previous reasons and because of
the food shortage (in the book: Jones doesn’t feed the animals) the
rebellion happened in USSR (October revolution).
2.2.3 A new organization
A new government was formed after the rebellion.
The leader was Lenin. He called Stalin and Trotsky to his side. (This is a point
where our ”Animal Farm” is incorrect: Lenin alias Old Major was
already dead in the story – but not in history!)
They made a constitution (the seven commandments).
Everything became nationalised (industry, banks,...).
Now the reconstruction began (in Animal Farm: the
assembly of all the animals and the work schedule). The Bolsheviks could count
on the help of the devoted and euphoric working class
(ð[1]animals
were happy, it was better than before, nobody stole, they were happy to work),
the real revolutionaries. So the nationalism became more and more stronger
(ðAssembly:
the animals hoist the flag and sing ”beasts of England”). The most
of them (especially the working class) saw only that communists were good and
all the others bad
(ðthe
sheep’s maximum).
2.2.4 Jones try to recapture the farm
Where were the big landowners, who saw their own
land shared to the workers?
(ðJones’
farm was now the animal’s farm) They’d had time to organize several
troops and tried – supported by France and England – to reconquer
the power. Their try didn’t succeed.
(ðthe
”battle of the cowshed”)
2.2.5 Improvements
The economic revolution could now go further. The
USSR began to commerce with other countries
(ðMr.
Whymper!), and it was also finally acknowledged by the others
(ðThe farmers
called now the farm ”Animal Farm”)
A new economy began in 1928 with the inauguration
of the first Five-year plan. The plan wanted to convert the USSR from an
agricultural country to a leading industrial power. (This whole process
is shown in the idea of the windmill in our story.) But Lenin died and the power
struggle between Stalin and Trotsky began.
(ðNapoleon
↔
Snowball)
2.2.6 The power struggle and the putsch
Trotsky dreamed of a worldwide revolution –
Stalin wanted this only in one country
(ðSnowball
was the one who sent the pigeons to the other farms to spread the ideology of
Animalism).
Stalin didn’t want to have a bilateral
government. He wanted to be the one and only leader. In the end he expelled
Trotsky and became the leader.
His power was guaranteed by the red army
(ðthe nine
dogs). Helped by it, he suppressed every kind of revolts and
unrests.
2.2.7 The purge
The middle of the 1930s were marked by a drastic
purge from the Communist party and the government of all elements alleged to be
in opposition to the policies of Stalin.
(ðThe
executions of the ‘criminal’ animals by Napoleon’s
dogs)
2.2.8 The farms around ”Animal Farm”
We guess the two neighboured farms
(ð”Foxwood”
and ”Pinchfield”) show the two states Great Britain and France. They
are “not best friends”. (Like in the book!) Both of them were afraid
because of communism.
3. Statement
The described story in “Animal Farm”
is very complex. There are a lot of parallels between the story and the history.
The fact that not every animal stands for one single person and not every
happening describes exactly one in history makes it very interesting to search a
solution or an explanation for them. We think that there are further parallels
in the story which we haven’t noticed. Also there will be more in the rest
of the book.
Martin Schaad, Christian Pacek, Nils
Link, Vito Piraino, Simon Schlachter
[1]
ð
= ”in ‘Animal Farm’:”
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