Essay Sample on Animal Farm: An Allegory To The Russian Revolution

The novel Animal Farm, by George Orwell, is an allegory of the Russian Revolution. Orwell's purpose of writing the novel is to expose those problems within the government, and how the power of the government officials can go to their heads. In the novel the animals use violence, and power for their control throughout the rebellion. Two important themes that appear throughout Animal Farm are tyranny distorting history and language, and the corrupt power of nature.  

Tyranny distorting history and language happens when the government changes laws, distorts events, or changes history. Throughout the story Squealer lies to the other animals to get them to believe something that isn’t true such as when Boxer was injured, and Napoleon sends him away to be slaughtered.  “The van had previously been the property of the knacker, and had been bought by the veterinary surgeon, who had not yet painted the old name out.  That was how the mistake had arisen.” (p.125) Squealer lies to the animals, because the animals are absent minded, and they believe what he says.  He was distorting where the other animals thought Boxer was going, they all believed him except for Benjamin, a donkey on the farm who doesn't believe anything changes, who warns the other animals that Squealer is lying however they do not listen to him.  Squealer told the animals on the farm that Snowball (their first leader whom Napoleon had his guard dogs chase off the farm) was working with Farmer Jones since he arrived on the farm. “‘Snowball was in league with Jones from the very start! He was Jones’s secret agent all the time.’”(p.79) Squealer distorts history and language, by telling the animals that Snowball was working with Jones from the start, and earlier in the novel Napoleon said that Snowball destroyed the windmill.  According to Boxer, who is looked up to by many other animals, “Napoleon is always right!” therefore, the animals believe Squealer when he said the Snowball was working with Jones.  In Animal Farm Snowball had the idea to build a windmill, but Napoleon was given the credit later in the novel. “Squealer explained privately to the other animals that Napoleon had never in reality been opposed to the windmill.”(p.57) Squealer lies to the animals, and at first they question why Napoleon had seemed so opposed to the windmill, but Squealer tells them that Napoleon just acted like it wasn't his idea so that Snowball would follow Napoleon’s plan to chase him off of the farm. As a result of hearing this news, it makes the animals on the farm praise Napoleon even more. Throughout the novel the theme of tyranny distorting history and language is portrayed by multiple characters, but Squealer is the main tyranny in Animal Farm.

The corrupt nature of power is when those in power abuse their power, such as take away equality, or lie. Soon in the book the weekly Sunday meetings would come to an end. “He announced that from now on the Sunday-morning Meetings would come to an end. They were unnecessary, he said, and wasted time.”(p.54) The pigs abuse their power and intimidation to end the Sunday-morning Meetings which take away equality for all the animals, which goes against the seventh commandment on Animal Farm. Because the Sunday-morning Meetings are where the animals give their opinions about problems on the farm, and discuss other aspects of the farm. Soon after the pigs broke the seventh commandment they broke the sixth commandment, which states that no animal shall kill any other animal. “When they had finished their confession, the dogs promptly tore their throats out, and in a terrible voice Napoleon demanded whether any other animal had anything to confess.”(p. 84) Napoleon abuses his power by breaking the sixth commandment, which he later changed to: “no animal shall kill another animal without cause.” Napoleon uses his power to do whatever he wants, which takes away equality from the animals. Other animals on the farm didn’t question what he did because he was intimidating to the other animals. The pigs (leaders) lived in the farmhouse, and used their power to change the rules therefore they could do whatever they want, such as drink alcohol. “No one stirred in the farmhouse before noon on the following day, and the word went round that from somewhere or other the pigs had acquired the money to buy themselves another case of whisky.” (p. 126) The pigs use their power and intimidation to send Boxer away to be slaughtered, then they took his money and celebrated by buying another case of whiskey. The pigs were showing how the power went to their heads, because they weren’t doing any work, but they were doing whatever they wanted, by abusing their power, and intimidation. The corrupt nature of power is shown many times in the novel but when the leaders change the commandments is the most frequent recurring event in the book, it just happens in different ways. 

The novel Animal Farm is an allegory, that's literal meaning is the animals take over the farm, and it’s symbolic meaning is the Russian Revolution and the rule of Joseph Stalin. The novel portrays three themes, however the two most important themes are tyranny distorting history and language, and corrupt nature of power. The animals in Animal Farm believed everything changed once Jones was forced off the farm, whereas nothing really changed, because the pigs treated them just as bad as Farmer Jones did.