...Animal Farm An Allegory of the French Revolution By Travis Booker English 1302 Mrs. Simpson April 18, 2012 What is an allegory? Allegory is a device used to present an idea, principle, or meaning, which can be presented in literary form, such as a poem or novel, in musical form, such as composition or lyric, or in visual form, such as in painting or drawing. It is also seen in scriptural passage. Allegory communicates its message by means of symbolic figures, actions, or symbolic representation. Allegory is generally treated as a figure of rhetoric; a rhetorical allegory is a demonstrative form of representation conveying meaning other than the words that are spoken. As a literary device, an allegory in its most general sense is an extended metaphor. As an artistic device, an allegory is a visual symbolic representation. An example of a simple visual allegory is the image of the grim reaper. Viewers understand that the image of the grim reaper is a symbolic representation of death (Kennedy 142). During a time when there was much change and the spirit of rebellion was all around, Animal Farm was written by George Orwell. George Orwell used allegory in his novel Animal Farm to parallel the Russian Revolution and resulting totalitarian regime to the revolutions of the animals and the pigs' corruption of absolute power. The novel's characters, events, and corruption of ideas paralleled the pattern that took place among the Russians during and following the...
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...George Orwell who wrote for political purpose was for people to see history a little clearer. Not many people have a chance to read an allegory which for “Animal Farm’ is the Russian Revolution. In the three publications, the author’s political and artistic use was to understand rules according to the article “Politics and the English Language”. These thought provoking book, “Animal Farm”, as dependent on the revolution where these animals almost impersonate the dictators and working people which makes you understand the story a little better. As for Orwell’s point of view, it was to see if the audience can comprehend what is really behind these hard working animals. On the surface George Orwell’s novel “Animal Farm” is about a group of neglected...
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...Jefferson). Tyranny is a type of government where the leader becomes an absolute ruler who treats his people cruel. A tyrant, the dictator, creates a government that has total control over its people and their activities. George Orwell wrote Animal Farm to teach his readers a political lesson about power corrupting people who are in control of the government. Animal Farm is a dystopian allegory about what happened to the people after their revolution of Russia in 1917. It is a political allegory, Orwell wrote an entertaining science fictional book about a society gone bad. It falls under...
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...Animal Farm, first published in 1945, is a classic satirical novella by George Orwell. It portrays a revolution by the farm animals to bring about the downfall of the cruel owner, however ends up paving the way for the pigs to establish themselves as the ruling echelons in the new society. In this animal fable, the events clearly evoke particular unpalatable truths in reality, specifically, the emergence of the totalitarian regime by Joseph Stalin since the 1920s. Although the vast majority of Animal Farm’s readers are familiar with the context in which Animal Farm was created and Orwell’s motive, some may not. This raises a question whether the exposure of social injustice during Russia in the 19th century reflected within this story can be seen by readers without prior comprehension in regards to such humanitarian crisis. Background knowledge is a requisite but not indispensable skill for enabling...
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...Animal Farm A review by: Dimitrios Pastirmatzis "Animal Farm is an allegorical and dystopian novella by George Orwell, first published in England on 17 August 1945"(1) Animal Farm is a book written in England on the 17th of August of 1945, when the Soviet Union was in the midst of the Stalinist era and is critical of the situation that was developing there. In George Orwell's views the Soviet union was turned into an inhumane dictatorship built around a single man and enforced through sheer terror of various punishments and/or executions. The author deems his book a "fairy story", but the book is anything but. The animals of Manor Farm, plagued by malnurishment and the injustice that was forced upon them, revolt against their human...
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...An allegory is an extended metaphor that is used in a story to help put another meaning to the plot. Animal Farm, a novel by George Orwell, is an allegory of the Russian Revolution which was about how Russia wanted a better government. The book, itself, is about a farm that breaks free from the totalitarianism rule the humans use and has the animals make their own rules and make the farm a communist district. They make the maximum: “All Animals Are Equal,” and they lived in happiness for their regime. Two of the pigs, Napoleon, a boar who is good at getting what he wants, and Snowball, a pig who is very good at talking, begin to take charge and just lead the farm, but not rule it. However, Napoleon and Snowball never agreed, so Napoleon chased...
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...Animal Farm In a novel called Animal Farm by George Orwell, the age old concept of the replacement of power is shown and is recreated when farm animals run their owner off. The animals take over the farm in hopes to have a better life then their owner could give them, but instead have only replaced one tyrant with another. This text is an allegory for social class because it divides the hierarchy that only benefits the strong and witty while leaving the dumb and defenseless in the lower level of service. The first divide allows for a leader to be center stage amongst the crowd. That leader would be napoleon, even though he and Snowball would continuously get into disagreements about what should be done for the farm. Snowball and Napoleon fought for the title for a while after the farm was taken over from Mr. Jones. Their approach to the matters of the farm business was different. Snowball was more like Major and wanted to work with the animals, help them read and also their young. It was snowball who was responsible for the sign “four legs good two legs bad” (p50) because the commandments were too hard to read. Napoleon like most of the animals in power on the farm was sneaky and dishonest in his methods of getting things done. For instance, Napoleon assumed the leader role by physically running Snowball off the farm with pure force. Napoleon didn’t want any contact with other animals. Napoleon would only come out to make a quick speech and that was it. Another divide that...
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...English E.O.C.A The novel “Animal Farm” was written in 1945 by author George Orwell. George Orwell was the pseudonym of Eric Arthur Blair, a British writer born in Motihari, India in 1903. After serving in the Indian Imperial Police force, Orwell wrote “Down and Out in Paris and London,” an account of the conditions faced by the poor in France and England. Next, in 1936, he fought in the Spanish Civil War, which was his source of inspiration for “Homage to Catalonia.” After his days in service, he devoted his efforts to speaking out against the domination of one man over another. This is shown in books such asAnimal Farm” and “Nineteen Eighty-Four.” “Animal Farm” takes place in England, on Manor farm (later renamed Animal Farm) in Willingdon. It incorporates all seasons of the year, as it takes place over the course of many years, tracing the lives of all the animals. The point of view in the novel is third person, omniscient. “Animal Farm” is an allegory of the Russian Revolution and the course of communism in Russia and the USSR. The many characters in the book symbolize either one person or a group of people. The pigs represent the communist government and are the ones that become corrupt. More specifically, Old Major is Karl Marx, the “father of communism,” Snowball is Vladimir Lenin and Napoleon is Joseph Stalin. The dogs that Napoleon uses as his personal guards symbolize the KGB, the Soviet Police force. Most of the other characters like Boxer, Clover...
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...powerless into subservience. The allegories by George Orwell and Arthur Miller denounce the harmful effects of tyranny, as it generates deception and fear, enabling despotic individuals to gain power and control. Miller’s play, The Crucible, advocates for the necessity of transgression to gain autonomy, as Salem’s theocracy is eventually broken; however, it is Orwell’s novella, Animal Farm, that exposes the unjust reality in which rebellion does not always guarantee freedom,...
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...The Fairy Story we all know so well is not a fairy story at all, it is a very real event, and it happened right under our noses. George Orwell's “Animal Farm” was an allegorical novella written about the Russian Revolution. Set on a farm with a cast of almost exclusively animals Orwell used this novel to illustrate how Russia had failed in their revolution in a way that was easy to understand and translate. In the novel Animal Farm by George Orwell, many animals represent important figures and groups from the Russian Revolution. This is proven in particular by three animals, all with uncanny resemblances to Russian Revolutionaries. The first animal with a Russian counterpart is Snowball the pig, who represents Leon Trotsky, the Russian politician...
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...Joshua Jensen Kaatz – 3 PAP English II 5/4/15 Animal Farm PRI Author: George Orwell Genre: Novel Type of Plot: allegory, problem novel Setting: Animal Farm or Manor Farm (symbolic of Russia) in the 1920s to early 1950s Characters: Mr. Jones, Old Major, Snowball, Napoleon, Squealer, Boxer, Clover, Benjamin, Mollie, Moses, Frederick, Pilkington, Mr. Whymper, Minimus, Pinkeye Summary: Old Major the pig calls the animals over to tell them that they should have an uprising against Mr. Jones. After this, Old Major dies but the other animals are inspired by him and want to conduct animalism. The pigs are smarter than the other animals and start to run the farm. They have a revolution and successfully remove Mr. Jones, from the farm. The pigs create the rules of no sleeping in beds, no wearing clothes, no alcohol, no killing other animals, all animals are equal, and whoever has four legs or wings is a friend. Napoleon and the pigs, being the rulers, are starting to use the fresh milk and eat the apples because they “need” it. Napoleon also employs Squealer to persuade the other farm animals that the pigs are doing nothing wrong. Jones returns and the animals win at the battle of Cowshed. Mollie leaves the farm due to her interest in sugar and ribbons and never comes back. Snowball draws up plans for a windmill and Napoleon denies them and runs Snowball off the farm forever with his pack of dogs. After Napoleon chases Snowball off, he says the windmill was his idea after...
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...society has been witnesses to individuals that have evolved into selfish and narcissistic beings who rise and take power. They initially bring a temporary sign of hope to their people in the form of freedom and happiness but is short lived and overturned as these individuals solely base their lives around greed. Their thirst for power runs through their veins taking hold of their mind ultimately causing them to stop at nothing to gain power. In George Orwell’s Animal Farm, the pigs new surge of power leaves them unsatisfied causing them to exploit and manipulate the other animals. The pigs defy their code to gain authority eventually leading to the corruption of the farm by their own greedy desires. George Orwell reveals the destruction that greed causes through the main antagonist, Napoleon, the affects of communism and his own life experiences. This ultimately leads the animals and Orwell into a world they do not recognize. Greed can be seen as a silent force that has the ability to conquer one’s life, where their selfish attitude allows his or her’s infatuation of power to consume them. Napoleon’s desire to become the only leader devours him as he becomes deceitful to animals except to the pigs. The animals on the farm are captivated by this new forming idea that they can become their own individuals by overthrowing the owner, Mr. Jones. This results in the animal to rejoice as they believe that they are able to control themselves and not be controlled, “And...
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...In the novella Animal Farm, George Orwell explores the augmentative nature of power and its susceptibility to corruption through his fable allegory of the Russian Revolution. Orwell exposes his audience to the inevitable escalation of power, especially in socialist societies where the motives of individuals are tainted with a lust for power. Through the symbolic character of the pigs, in particular Napoleon who symbolizes Joseph Stalin, power is initially seized through the corruption of food rations amongst the animals. When Squealer, representing propaganda, notifies the animals that ‘milk and apples contain substances necessary to the wellbeing of pigs,’ dramatic irony is used to great effect. By reasoning that ‘it is for your sake that we drink the milk and eat those apples,’ the audience can see, as the animals cannot, that this is the turning point whereby the pig’s leadership gradually befalls to corruption. Power continues to be augmented up until the denouement of the novella where, ‘the creatures looked from pig to man, and from man to pig…but it was already impossible to say which was which.’ Though satirical in nature, this symbolism is demonstrative of the pigs’ ever-increasing demand for power, which inescapably resulted in a more corrupt government than the one it overthrew. Orwell urges his audience to pay cautious attention to, and be critical of; the decisions made by their leaders and ensure they too are not corrupted by an infatuating desire to gain political...
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...Animal Farm Animal Farm, a satirical book by George Orwell, compares the life of farm animals to the lives of people living under fascist regimes. Many of the animals, who are characters in the book, directly parallel individuals or groups in fascist Italy and Germany or in the communist Soviet Union. Following the example of the real world, the animals wish to change the negative conditions of their lives, but instead create a new, even worse regime lead by the very animals who they trusted. This regime, lead by the pigs, controls the other animals of the farm with an iron fist. The animals of the farm are inspired to revolt after listening to the words of Old Major, a well respected pig. Old Major is also an allegory for both Vladimir Lenin...
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...novella ‘Animal Farm’ by George Orwell, it is important to acknowledge the contextual background that inspired it. Orwell personifies many political ideologies as anthropomorphised animals in order to expose the events surrounding Soviet socialism which he presents in the form of a Beast Fable. Napoleon, the main antagonist, can be seen as an allegory of Joseph Stalin, the second leader of the Soviet Union. ‘Animal Farm’ was published in 1945 but follows the events leading to the Russian Revolution in 1917 and also mirrors events in Stalin’s leadership of the Soviet Union. Napoleon’s rise to power can be reflected to the rise to power of Joseph Stalin. A fable can be defined as a short story, typically with animals as characters, conveying a moral. Fables can be considered a fixed literary custom. Although Animal Farm is a fable taken from Aesop. La Fontaine, the main influence was 20th Century Russian history and the idea of socialism in one country and Russia’s move to a more...
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