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How Does Orwell Use Satire In Animal Farm

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Satire is loosely defined as the use of humour, irony or exaggeration to ridicule specific topics. It is a notoriously difficult literary technique for authors to employ successfully and often ends up being either a “hit or miss” with its intended audience. One such example of satire being utilized both effectively and skilfully is within the highly acclaimed novel, Animal Farm. First published in 1945 by George Orwell, Animal Farm was written in reaction to the events of the Russian Revolution and its totalitarian regime. Deeply perturbed by the total dictatorial control Stalin had assumed over the Soviet Union, Orwell wrote Animal Farm in order to criticize the events leading up to Stalin’s rise to power. Orwell’s entire novel was essentially …show more content…

For instance, one of the main protagonists he created was Old Major, a wise and persuasive old pig who incited the rebellion against the tyrannical Mr. Jones. Old Major believed in the concept of “Animalism” (Orwell, 2008, p. 10), which was the idea that all animals were to be treated equally: “And among us animals let there be perfect unity, perfect comradeship in the struggle. All men are enemies. All animals are comrades”(Orwell, 2008, p. 6). This aligned with how Lenin was the leader of his own respective revolution, and was a staunch believer in the idea that class systems should be dismantled so that everyone could be equal (Barnard, 2016). Similarly, the characters Snowball and Napoleon were comparable to the revolutionaries’ Trotsky and Stalin. Snowball was a faithful disciple of Old Major’s teachings, who often ended up butting heads with Napoleon as they both tried to compete for control of the farm after the rebellion. Eventually, Snowball was chased off the farm by Napoleon (Orwell, 2008, p. 35) in much the same manner that Trotsky was exiled from Russia after Stalin turned on him. Just like Napoleon, Stalin ended being a ruthless dictator who used violence, fear and propaganda as a means of keeping his citizens in line and …show more content…

At the start of the novel, it is shown that the animals are severely neglected by their master, Mr. Jones, and endure extremely abhorrent living conditions. This is akin to the Tsar of Russia, who let his people live in squalor and starve; which is why it was of no surprise when the embittered citizens rose up to revolt in 1917, and forced the abdication of the Tsar ("World War I: Russian Revolution", 2016). In fact, this event was entirely reminiscent of the “Battle of the Cowshed” (Orwell, 2008, p. 29), in which the animals joined together to overthrow the rule of Mr. Jones. Another crucial scene in the novel that had references pertaining to the political drama unfolding in Russia, was when Napoleon ordered the brutal execution of several animals who “confessed” to their tales of crime and treachery (Orwell, 2008, p. 56). This act was practically identical to Stalin’s “Great Purge”, during which he killed or exiled anyone that refused to cooperate with him ("World War I: Russian Revolution", 2016). Although there were a multitude of other comparable events that Orwell included in Animal Farm, arguably the most significant scene was the one at the very end of the novel. This was the moment when the animals finally realized that they never truly won the rebellion, but rather just exchanged one master for another (Orwell, 2008, p. 95).

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