Bionic Jean's Reviews > Animal Farm

George Orwell's Animal Farm is undeniably one of the best short novels ever written in the English language. It is a deceptively simple tale, which even older children could read. About an animal uprising, it is written in the style of a fable, and yet it can be read on so many levels. It is clearly both a satire and an allegory, a dystopian tale, and its author George Orwell made no secret of what regime, and which politicians, he was so mercilessly parodying. Yet as with all great novels, it speaks to us today and holds many timeless truths. It is the sort of novel where a reader will find new depths in each rereading.

The inspiration for the novel came from a real-life episode. Orwell had just left the BBC, in 1943, and was uneasy about some propaganda he could see distributed by the then "Ministry of Information". He says,

"I saw a little boy, perhaps ten years old, driving a huge carthorse along a narrow path, whipping it whenever it tried to turn. It struck me that if only such animals became aware of their strength we should have no power over them, and that men exploit animals in much the same way as the rich exploit the proletariat."

George Orwell wrote Animal Farm between November 1943 and February 1944, but the novel was not published straightaway, because of the USSR's status as an ally in the Second World War. George Orwell was a socialist writer, so the fact that he chose to do such a savage critique of the Soviet Union may come as a bit of a surprise to a present-day reader. One might have expected him to choose the far right, rather than the far left. But he personally felt that the Soviet Union (now Russia) of that time had itself become a brutal dictatorship, and that its original ideals had become perverted.

Animal Farm was subsequently published in England in 1945, just after the war, and ironically it quickly became a great commercial success when it did finally appear, partly because the Cold War so quickly followed the Second World War. However the book was immediately banned in the USSR and other communist countries. To this day it is still banned or censored in some places; the United Arab Emirates, Cuba, North Korea - and China, until almost the beginning of the 21st century.

In his story George Orwell chronicles the rising to power of Joseph Stalin, who is depicted by the pig "Napoleon" in the novel. The story parallels his emergence as a natural leader, and gradually follows his rise to power as a dictator. Near the beginning of the novel, the farm animals overthrow their oppressor, the farmer "Mr Jones". This is a direct analogy to the Bolshevik Revolution of October 1917, when the Russian Tsar Nicholas II, who had abdicated in February, was executed by the Bolsheviks along with the rest of his family, in July 1918. Interestingly, Orwell said the drunken farmer Jones, who neglects his animals, was based on the real life Tsar Nicholas II.

But their democratic coalition of animals, all with a vision of independence, comfort and freedom from constraints, is gradually broken down. There is straightaway a consolidation of power among the pigs, who do no work because they are the "brainworkers" with what is tacitly agreed as superior intelligence. Just as the Soviet intelligentsia did, the pigs establish themselves as the ruling class in the new "free" society. In Animal Farm they then immediately begin to manipulate and control the new state for their own benefit.

At the start of the novel, "Major" a middle white boar, has a dream, which he relates to all the animals, in a lengthy impassioned speech. It is a dream of the future, and of freedom for all creatures. It captures their imaginations, and inspires their actions from then on. Major is based on a combination of Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin. Just as Lenin's embalmed body was put on display for the people,(view spoiler)[ Major's skull is initially mounted as an emblem for the animals to revere, although by the end this is removed, and the animals are expected to worship Napoleon. (hide spoiler)] Major's principles provide the foundation for the code of the revolution and the philosophy of "Animalism".

The other main character at the start of the novel is the pig, "Snowball" who is based on Leon Trotsky. Just as in the Soviet Union, these two characters vie for power, with "Napoleon" using subterfuge and manipulation to his own ends. He arranges false confessions, show trials and executions to enforce his power, frequently changing history as the story unfolds. "Squealer" is a pig who works on behalf of Napoleon, employing various devious means to misrepresent and confuse the animals. He is apparently based on Molotov. Squealer speechifies, using elaborate philosophical ideas which the animals cannot really follow, often using the Socratic dialogue to get the answer he desires. And this is always used to justify the pigs' greedy and unprincipled behaviour; anything which is self-serving and goes against the original ideas of fairness. George Orwell is keen to show the corruption of "Animalist" ideals by those in power, not that the ideals themselves were wrongly held. In 1947, George Orwell wrote,

"For the past ten years I have been convinced that the destruction of the Soviet myth was essential if we wanted a revival of the socialist movement ... I thought of exposing the Soviet myth in a story that could be easily understood by almost anyone and which could be easily translated into other languages."

For instance, Squealer works on the animals so that they accept a slogan which is almost the direct opposite of its original, "Four legs good, two legs bad" becomes "Four legs good, two legs better" overnight, as bleated by the impressionable, keen to follow, sheep. The reason for this is clear from the story. And "Snowball" (based on Trotsky) is (view spoiler)[thus expelled from the revolutionary state (hide spoiler)] by a malicious comrade eager to dominate, using any violent means available to achieve his ends. Nobody knows who they can trust any more.

The irony is at its highest in the depiction of corruption; the tyranny and hypocrisy of the pigs as led by Napoleon. The food rations get increasingly smaller, yet it is "proved" to them that they are all much better off than they were formerly under Farmer Jones. The animals' ideology of liberation and equality gradually disintegrates. The rules change secretly, slowly and silently, so nobody is sure what is really the truth any longer. History is rewritten; memories become unreliable; the brainwashing is slow and subtle. The animals can read, but there is little documentation, except for seven commandments, painted on the barn wall,

(view spoiler)[1. Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy.
2. Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend.
3. No animal shall wear clothes.
4. No animal shall sleep in a bed.
5. No animal shall drink alcohol.
6. No animal shall kill any other animal.
7. All animals are equal. (hide spoiler)]

Yet over time, each of these is amended, to the advantage of the pigs, until in the end there are no words showing at all, and the final famously nonsensical maxim is spouted without question,

"All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others."

(view spoiler)[The rousing song "Beasts of England", which all the animal took as their National Anthem at the beginning of the story, is banned. The symbol depicting the horn and hoof, on their green flag, which indicated their Animalism philosophy and power, is obliterated. (This was similar in real life to the hammer and sickle on the Soviet flag.) (hide spoiler)]The novel is a dual critique against the Stalinist regime of violence, but also against the imposed rhetoric, against the language employed, logic and ideals.

Another character indicated by George Orwell is his depiction of Adolf Hitler, as one of the farmers, "Mr Frederick", who wants to take over the renamed "Animal Farm". But there are many minor characters whom we all recognise in our own lives. Take the cat, who votes for both sides at the same time. Who has never come across a "two-faced" person? Or the pony "Mollie", the stereotypically vain and lazy original Essex girl, with her penchant for wearing ribbons in her hair and looking at herself in a mirror, regardless of any greater good which may come about by a little hard work. The story of the carthorse "Boxer" will break your heart. His courage, his steadfastness; with his personal motto, "I will work harder!" he is the archetypal salt of the earth. But he is naïve and gullible, and the reader fears that he will be taken advantage of to a devastating conclusion. You will cry, internally at least, but you will also laugh with this book. Here is an extract from the pompous poet pig, Minimus's, eulogy about Napoleon.

"Friend of the fatherless!
Fountain of happiness!
Lord of the swill-bucket!"

The conclusion of the book is predictable, but perhaps not in quite the simple way the reader expects. Yes, the oppressees become the oppressors, but in a fiendishly clever denouement.

All the political manipulations of the novel are recognisable today. Wherever you live, you will not have to look very close from home to find such a regime. And also, the brilliance of this novel is that those characteristics of scheming, dishonesty, cynicism, and underhanded ways of achieving a particular end, are not confined to politics. Who has never watched a skilled manipulator diverting attention from one major problem by concentrating on a minor one? It may have been in politics - or it may have been in a committee meeting - or even, dare it be said, around your own dinner table. Large or small scale, these observations by George Orwell are, sadly, truths about the human condition and human behaviour. They are timeless, and present in any institution, cooperation, business, family - in fact any group of people. One critic has even suggested that Orwell has put himself in the novels as Benjamin, the donkey, a wise old creature who is the only one who pessimistically repeats, "Life will go on as it has always gone on - that is, badly."

Have you actually read Animal Farm? No? Then please do. You read it years ago? Then try reading it again. It is an outstanding novel, with the hallmarks of a true classic; it is both entertaining and profound.