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Satire In Animal Farm

Decent Essays

George Orwell’s Animal Farm is a satire of the Russian Revolution. The animals overthrow the evil dictator Mr. Jones and create a government where all animals are equal. The first year is prosperous, but slowly the animals start to lose their quality of life. The animals start to notice that their lives are getting worse, but the pigs are getting better. However, the quick thinking pigs always find an excuse to appease the other animals. George Orwell wrote Animal Farm to point our the gullibility of the Proletariat. He comments on this political issue through symbolism, allusions, and personification. One of Orwell’s most effective uses of satire comes in his use of symbolism. Clover is a horse in Animal Farm but represents the proletariat. The animals and especially Clover completely believed the pigs: “Clover had not remembered that the Fourth Commandment mentioned sheets; but as it was there on the wall, it must have done so” (79). The animals thought the pigs were breaking the rules by sleeping and beds but blindly accepted the revised commandment. The animals could have revolted and improved their lives, but they could not think for themselves just like the Proletariat in Communist Russia. The Proletariat worked long hours and lived in horrible conditions but never rebelled when Stalin became like the Czar. These people, like the dumb animals, believed the propaganda and were brainwashed into thinking that their lives were better. To point out how credulous these

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