Final Writing Exam

Animal Farm

During the 1940’s, as we all know, there was a war raging in Europe. Democracy was seriously questioned and the new types of regime were observed with massive interest. Hitler’s Nazism, Mussolini’s fascism and sovietic communism were all at first considered strong alternatives to the decadence of democracy. For obvious reasons, fascist regimes were discarded as soon as people learned the truth. However, an aura surrounded communism, and everyone had an opinion on it. Some thought it was the way to go, while others felt that there was more to it than what they wanted them to see. George Orwell wrote this novel to explain the Russian Revolution as it was in 1945.

First of all, the events in the story all correspond to the Russian Revolution. In 1917, the Bolsheviks overthrew the tsar to take over Russia and run it on their own. Likewise, in the story, the animals defeated the farm owner and managed the farm by themselves. The surrounding countries that showed suspicion, the mistrusting leaders, the broken agreement with Hitler’s Germany -- all were explicitly depicted in the novel as the neighbouring farmers. The attempts at industrializing the country correspond to the building of a windmill by the animals: their efforts are destroyed twice, but it ultimately works well. There are many more examples of the resemblances between the historical events and the ones in Animal Farm, but with these few the parallels are already obvious.

Second, not only the events, but also the characters have alter egos in History. The boar that informs the animals of the concept of animalism, can easily be compared to Marx, the father of communism. Napoleon, the cruel leader of the Revolution, resembles Stalin. The illiterate sheep, the hard-working horses and the intelligent pigs: they all represent the social classes of human society. Mollie, the white mare who fled Animal Farm to be pampered by another farmer, is the figure of the ‘White Russians’, the upper class who left Russia soon after the Revolution to avoid losing their titles. Even religion is embodied in Moses, the tame raven who comes and goes to calm the animals by promising them that they will go to Sugarcandy Mountain –heaven. In the characters too, the parallels are all too obvious.

Third, USSR used propaganda in those years to control the people and keep them docile. Important political figures were erased from pictures and from collective memory. In Animal Farm, it is one of the most troubling aspects. One of the pigs, a certain Squealer (his name says it all!) does all the work. On the barn, the Seven Commandments of animalism are painted in white letters. Thorough the story, Squealer adds to them to fit the pig's desires. For example, ‘No animal shall sleep in a bed’, ‘No animal shall drink alcohol’ and ‘No animal shall kill another animal’ were changed to ‘No animal shall sleep in a bed with sheets’, ‘No animal shall drink alcohol to excess’ and ‘No animal shall kill another animal without cause’. It goes to show that animalism was indeed corrupted by the pigs.

Animal Farm is a story of good and evil, equality and domination, honesty and lies, goodwill and treachery. This novel allegorizes the Russian Revolution to the smallest details. The events, the characters and the use of propaganda all point to the USSR. Even if, in Orwell’s own words, Animal Farm was ‘primarily a satire on the Russian Revolution’, it is intended for a wider purpose and can be applied to many dictatorships that claim their nation is one of equality, of freedom, of hope.

6oo words, you can count them!