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).
One magnificent part of Orwell’s Animal Farm is the fact that many of the characters show a great amount of symbolism. Two perfect examples of this are the pig Old Major, and the maleficent Farmer Jones. When the old pig is close to dying, Old Major tells the animals that after his death, he feels that a rebellion against man will happen in the animal world. He practically lays down his suggestions of how the rebellion should occur: all
Have you ever heard about the Russian Revolution and other important events of Russia? George Orwell, amazing author, published a novel in 1947, called Animal Farm, that intelligently satirized animals in a farm to the events that occurred during the Russian Revolution and the events surrounding the Russian Revolution. Through the character Napoleon and his use of terror and propaganda on the citizens of the Animal Farm, George Orwell castigates mad dictator Joseph Stalin and his reign on Russia.
Regardless of Old Major’s character’s short appearance throughout Animal Farm, he is a significant presence to the story thanks to George Orwell’s usage of character qualities, tone, and allusion.
1. - The author of the book Animal Farm, George Orwell consistently uses satire to communicate problems and solutions among the Animals, with respect to the books similarities with The Russian Revolution. 2. - Throughout this PowerPoint our group will be explaining, “How satire was used as commentary on communism or socialism”.
George Orwell’s Animal Farm is an allegoric fairy tale type novel that uses irony, satire, and allegory to portray the true identity of media censored Communist Russia. Because of the relationship between America and Communist Russia during WWII, Animal Farm was not originally received with warmth because it was thought of as harmful propaganda. But then, during the Cold War, when US-USSR relations soured, George Orwell’s novel was finally read.
Their malfunction as ruling figures is another way Orwell exemplifies his philosophy. Snowball comes across as the more compassionate and charismatic of the two, where as Napoleon is the thinker and has more “depth of character.” The two compete for power and use propaganda and catchy slogans to gain control of the public majority.
George Orwell was the author of Animal Farm, Orwell was able to write a satire on the Russian Revolution. Animal Farm started off with the animals living an anguished life under the ownership of Mr. Jones. Mr. Jones treated the animals with no respect, he took everything the animals had produced, and when Mr. Jones sees that the animal were incapable to work he would slaughter them. The animals on the farm revolted against Mr. Jones and kick him out of the farm. After the revolution the animals went a couple seasons under Snowball and Napoleon leadership, but Napoleon viciously chasing out Snowball.
The satirical fiction novel Animal Farm written by George Orwell not only shows what happened during the Russian Revolution but also pokes fun at it. George uses animals on a farm to represent the Russian Revolution because he wants to express his feelings on the rise to power of leaders. Orwell believed that many of the people, who were working, sacrificed so many things just so they could have a leader. In the end there was no leader that stood up for the people and did what was best for everyone. Animal Farm shows in Orwell's perspective everything that happened during the Revolution.
Orwell’s first very credible writing was Animal Farm. The fictional animals in the fable intended to create a utopia but it became a dystopia when the animals attempted to make everyone equal. In the end, the once radical leaders were even worse than the ones they had rebelled from in the first place, thus creating life drastically worse for all animals without any form of high power. The fable was a political allegory to Orwell 's views of what was going on within the Soviet Union
The 1945 dystopian novel Animal Farm, written by George Orwell, follows the pigs rise to power after the rebellion which got rid of their former tyrant, Mr Jones and their ever increasing similarity to this former oppressor. It is an allegorical equivalent of Stalin’s rise to power and the Russian Revolution and links to the context of when Stalin’s power increased following the 1917 revolution, his use of propaganda to convince the Russian people that only he could protect them and the several famines endured as the result of his economic policies between 1932 and 1934. Throughout this text, Orwell has used numerous techniques such as repetition, offended tone, irony and juxtaposition to convey ideas about the dystopian genre such as the use
One of the main reasons Orwell wrote this book is to show us the dangers of communism. Overall it’s blatantly obvious the whole book is just a big “diss” on communism by having historical events line up to the ones in the book. Even the animals ideology is called, Animalism. In the book an animal named Old Major gave a speech on the principles of “Animalism” in which Old Major stated, “"Now, comrades, what is the nature of this life of ours? Let us face it: our lives are miserable, laborious, and short.” and “"Man is the only creature that consumes without producing. He does not give milk, he does not lay eggs, he is too weak to pull the plough, he cannot run fast enough to catch rabbits. Yet he is lord of all the animals” (Animal Farm Pg. 3) . This kind of talk sounds awfully similar to the teachings of Marx and Lenin the same people who eventually influenced and stared the russian revolution which would lead the the creation of the U.S.S.R thenceforth 20 million dead. Furthermore, it seems that Orwell was trying to compare some of his character to notorious communists so that he could warn us. That is one way Orwell was trying to warn us in Animal Farm.
Orwell tries to make his work draw parallels between the animal and human society, some people don’t see it as it is and it helps out when you can see it from a different perspective. Also Napoleon the main character
During the course of the literary piece by George Orwell makes it clear how the animals are mistreated by “Mr. Jones “, because of this treatment they are receiving; Old Major dreams about a rebellion and how after the rebellion all animals will be treated equally. He sets rules that every animal should keep, and states “what ever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend”(Orwell,11) ; rules such as : “no animal must ever live in a house, or sleep in a bed, or wear clothes, or drink alcohol, or smoke tobacco, or touch money, or engage in trade” (Orwell, 11). According to George, the rebellion occurred much earlier than the animals had planned and they were not ready to have a settled government; that is when Napoleon, Snowball, and Squealer take charge of the other animals referring to their government as animalism .When also having seven key commandments .This specific point on the literary work is the turning point of everything that Old Major had planned for his “perfect comradeship”. The pigs also taught themselves to read and write; adopting human habits. The majority of the animals work hard during the summer, while the pigs think of
George Orwell’s Animal Farm, is a novella about the rebellion of the animals in the Manor Farm, which is actually an analogy to the Russian Revolution in 1917. In order to reveal the reality of the Russian Revolution, Orwell establishes the characters based on historical figures that were involved in the revolution; even the minor characters such as, Old Major, Mollie, and Benjamin, represent someone in the history. Orwell utilizes these minor characters to demonstrate and even criticize their historical counterparts through the characters’ thoughts, and reactions to various events in the novel.
Few authors have been able to pull off such deep allegory as George Orwell did in Animal Farm. Animal Farm is set in England and was published by George Orwell in 1945. At a farm run by an alcoholic farmer named Mr. Jones, the animals are persuaded to adopt the belief ‘Animalism’ and rebel by Old Major, a pig that was a leading figure to the animals. After the passing of Old Major and successful rebellion, the animals are lead by two debating pigs, Snowball and Napoleon. Napoleon with his brash politics eventually violently chased the more considerate Snowball away from the farm. Under the leadership of Napoleon, the animals’ lives became more isolated and less focused of recreation and education, and the pigs’ leadership became a dictatorship mirroring the humans that many of the animals wanted to move away from in the spirit of Animalism. In Animal Farm, George Orwell asserts the idea that absolute power results in corruption. Napoleon and the other pigs, interested in remaining superior, persuade the other animals by using intimidation and emotional appeals in order to keep control of the gullible animals.