Symbolism Notes
Symbolism can exist within the narrative – symbols the characters recognise – or only at the level where they are recognised by readers. See 'Character Notes' for character symbolism. Other symbols:
'Beasts of England' / The song which becomes the official creed of the animals' revolution = the 'Communist Internationale', a real song penned by supporters of communism in the early 1900's.to the animals, it symbolises their dream of Utopia
Windmill / Russian industry. Soviet leaders focused on making Russia industrially modern after the Revolution of 1917, via several 'Five Year Plans'; there was tremendous growth in Russia's railways, factories, mines. The windmill is destroyed twice before it finally was complete; this represents the trials the Russians went through to establish their industry; the destruction of the windmill by Frederick represents the catastrophic effect on Soviet industry that WW2 had.
to Snowball, it symbolises 'enlightened progress'
to Napoleon, it is something to keep the animals occupied; in ch. 10 they are building another one
to the animals, it symbolises the better life to which they aspire
Farmhouse / represents the place where greed and lust dominate. Unlike the barn, which is the fortress of the 'common man' and the genuine concept of socialism, the farmhouse, where Napoleon and the pigs live, symbolises the Kremlin, HQ of the Communist Party.
to the animals, it represents man and the evil that is mankind
Animalism / signifies the generic view of socialism, first expounded by Karl Marx (Old Major), who, in Orwell's opinion was naive in thinking that his philosophy would actually work. Orwell, although agreeing with the overall concept of equality though socialism, was critical of Marx because he didn't take into account the greed and jealousy which would eventually undermine the entire cause.
Expulsion of Jones / the overthrow of the old Russian government under the Tsars (Jones). In Russia, this took the Soviet Union out of World War I and led to the rise of Lenin and Stalin.
Battle of Cowshed / analogous to the Russian Civil War in which the western capitalist governments sent soldiers to try to remove the Bolsheviks from power.
Sugarcandy Mountain / the Christian concept of Heaven. The Church is criticised because it is the institution that inspires the animals to work using "lies" and manipulation.
ribbons, sugar / symbolise the luxuries enjoyed by the upper (or middle) class under the old government.[See Mollie]
milk / traditional symbol for maternal love and care. When Napoleon takes the milk for himself and the other pigs, he is, in essence, stealing the very core of the people. He raises the children (puppies) as a tool of the state. No longer is the power in the family; now the cornerstone of civilisation is in the totalitarian government of Napoleon (Stalin).
alcohol / beer represents the 'Old' Russia. The reason Jones loses control of the farm and begins being cruel to the animals is because of alcohol. It symbolises, more than anything, a corrupt government – a government drunk on prosperity (which never trickles down to the animals). Drunkenness ruins and leads to the collapse of this system – and may destroy the new one. Whisky is associated with the new capitalism. That Boxer is sold for whisky is a double betrayal
flag / a green field with a hoof and a horn: the green representing the fields of England, with the hoof and horn being an analogy to the hammer and sickle.
like the song, symbolises the animals' hopes and dreams
whips / to the animals, oppression of mankind – and later of the pigs
Old Major's skull / Lenin's embalmed body was put on display in Lenin's Tomb in Red Square post-mortem, where it remained until quite recently. As well, the tomb of Karl Marx, in Highgate Cemetery, London, is adorned by an extremely large bust of his likeness.
"Napoleon is always right" / strikingly similar to Il Duce ha sempre ragione ('Mussolini is always right'), a chant used to hail Benito Mussolini during his rule of Italy from 1922 to 1943.
Animal Farm renamed Manor Farm / Echoes the Red Army’s name change from the 'Workers' and Peasants' Red Army' to the 'Soviet Army', to seem a more appealing and professional organisation rather than an army of the common people.
Character Notes
The characters are based on real life counterparts in the history of the Soviet Union. Orwell makes this explicit in a letter of March 17, 1945, to his publisher: " ...when the windmill is blown up, I wrote all the animals including Napoleon flung themselves on their faces. I would like to alter it to all the animals except Napoleon. If that has been printed, it's not worth bothering about, but I just thought the alteration would be fair to JS [Joseph Stalin], as he did stay in Moscow during the German advance."
NB The characters can be studied simply as characters, without reference to their Russian originals. However, their allegorical role needs to be considered. Note that characters do not always match history exactly and often simply represent generalised concepts. As characters they combine the physical characteristics of animals with real human qualities, and so emerge as distinct and interesting personalities.
Napoleon
"Napoleon was a large, rather fierce-looking Berkshire boar, the only Berkshire on the farm, not much of a talker, but with a reputation for getting his own way."
He is cruel, selfish and corrupt, with a total lack of scruples; he also has great force of personality. Rude and arrogant, he treats others with callous disdain – as when he urinates on Snowball's plans.
Greedy: shows this early when he takes the milk for himself
He is not as clever or creative as Snowball, but he recognises a good idea when he sees it, and knows just when to take it over as his own.
He also knows how to build the apparatus for controlling others, and gradually builds his power base in secret, with the puppies he raises to be vicious dogs as his enforcers – he is a long-term planner.
He 'leads' from behind – from the initial harvest to his non-participation in the battles, where he is conspicuous by his absence.
After driving Snowball off the farm, Napoleon takes total control, using lies via Squealer and threats and intimidation via the dogs to keep the other animals in line. He gradually changes the Commandments to allow himself privileges and justify his dictatorial rule.
As he progresses towards absolute power, he accumulates the worst of human vices: fraud and deception (deceives Whymper); gluttony (half a gallon of beer to the other pigs' pints); drunken orgies; a harem of sows (all the piglets born are his); terrible rages (over the forged banknotes).
He develops a cult of personality: his portrait hangs in the barn, the windmill and holidays are named after him, has poems written in his honour, awards himself medals, and encourages the slogan, 'Napoleon is always right'.
Claims to be omnipotent and all-powerful so needs a scapegoat when things go wrong.
By the end of the novel, Napoleon has become just like the humans that the animals drove out.
Role in the Fable
Napoleon represents the totalitarian dictator, the politician who is interested in only his own power. Orwell has created a classic example of the modern dictator, corrupted by the absolute power which he wields, who is prepared to stoop to the lowest depths of physical cruelty, hypocrisy and deception to gain his political and personal ends.
Allegorical role
represents the human weaknesses – greed, self-interest, desire for power – that eventually undermine even the best political intentions.
Historical counterpart
Napoleon is a composite figure drawn from episodes in the careers of Stalin, Mussolini, Hitler and Franco.
However, Orwell modelled him most closely on Joseph Stalin, whose dictatorship in Russia was more repressive and despotic than that of the Tsarist government the Communists supplanted. Stalin ruled with an iron fist and murdered anyone opposed him; he used secret police – OGPU, Cheka and the NKVD – and propaganda to control his people.
The Emperor Napoleon rose to power in France as a result of the French Revolution of 1789, the ideals of 'liberty, equality and fraternity' giving way to an empire headed by a man who had risen from nothing and was as autocratic – though more efficient – than the king he replaced.
By giving his central character this name, Orwell ensures that his novel is seen to be more than just a satire of the Russian Revolution, and is as relevant to all revolutions. In the French version of Animal Farm, Napoleon is called 'César' (the French spelling of Caesar).
Snowball
"Snowball was a more vivacious pig than Napoleon, quicker in speech and more inventive, but was not considered to have the same depth of character."
a white boar and Napoleon's rival.
Snowball is a genuine revolutionary, with the general welfare of all the animals at heart (though he agrees the pigs can have the apples and milk).
He is a military strategist of great skill and daring – he plans the defence of the farm, and shows great courage in battle.
He is an effective organiser and committee man, and a brilliant and painstaking technician and planner for the future.
The power struggle with Napoleon starts early: "Snowball and Napoleon were by far the most active in the debates. But it was noticed that these two were never in agreement: whatever suggestion either of them made, the other could be counted to oppose it." Later: "These two disagreed at every point disagreement was possible."
He is completely outwitted by Napoleon's use of brute force and only manages to save his skin by fleeing ignominiously from the farm; thereafter, Snowball "was seen no more".
Role in the Fable
A dictatorial regime always needs to have a scapegoat to be blamed when things go wrong – as Hitler blamed the Jews; by persecuting such 'troublemakers', the regime draws attention away from its own shortcomings.
Allegorical role
the idealist whose intelligence is no match for the schemer
Historical counterpart
Snowball represents Trotsky, the arch-rival of Stalin in Russia. Like Trotsky, Snowball is a smart, young speaker who dreams of making life better for all animals. Trotsky was exiled to Mexico, where he spoke out against Stalin, who had him murdered by the NKVD - the predecessor to the KGB. He was found with an ice axe in his head at his villa in Mexico.
Squealer
"The best known among them was a small fat pig named Squealer, with very round cheeks, twinkling eyes, nimble movements, and a shrill voice. He was a brilliant talker, and when he was arguing some difficult point he had a way of skipping from side to side and whisking his tail which was somehow very persuasive. The others said of Squealer that he could turn black into white."
serves as Napoleon's apologist and propagandist;is the link between Napoleon and other animals.
One of Orwell's recurrent themes is the political abuse of language.
Squealer stifles debate by confusing and disorienting the other animals
When questions persist, he uses the threat of Mr Jones's return as justification for the pigs' privileges.
uses statistics to convince the animals that life is getting better and better.
When he explains Napoleon's change of heart re the windmill, Squealer stresses the significance of 'tactics'. But Orwell makes it clear that words are not enough: '... Squealer spoke so persuasively, and the three dogs who happened to be with him growled so threateningly, that they accepted his explanation without further questions. Squealer after this is always accompanied by two or three dogs.
He misses no opportunity to inflate Napoleon's image as "Leader" to the others.
develops many of his master's less pleasing character traits: he drinks himself into a stupor, displays cowardice during the Battle of the Windmill, and becomes so fat with over-eating that he can hardly see properly.
Role in the Fable
apologist and propagandist for a totalitarian government
Allegorical role
liar, deceiver, misuser of language
Historical counterpart
Inspired by Vyacheslav Molotov and the Russian paper Pravda, Squealer twists and abuses the language to excuse, justify, and extol all of Napoleon's actions. He represents all the propaganda Stalin used to justify his actions.
Orwell seems also to have in mind the career of Joseph Goebbels, Hitler's minister for propaganda and 'national enlightenment', who believed that the bigger the lie the more convincing it would sound.
Old Major
"He was twelve years old and had lately grown rather stout, but he was still a majestic-looking pig, with a wise and benevolent appearance in spite of the fact that his tushes had never been cut."
A purebred pig, he is the kind, grandfatherly philosopher of change.
Wise and benevolent, yet in appearance formidable and dangerous – like his ideas.
Sincere in his beliefs; clever in his presentation.
Irony: he admits he has largely been free of the abuse the rest of the animals have suffered.
Note that Orwell does not mention Napoleon or Snowball at all during the opening chapter. It is as if the pigs feed off Old Major's inspiration and then use it to benefit themselves instead of following through on his honest proposal. (Stalin basically ignored Marx's political and social theory.)
Through Old Major's naivety, Orwell suggests that no society is perfect, no pure socialist civilisation can exist, and there is no way to escape the grasp of capitalism.
Role in the Fable
He is the idealist, law-giver and spell-binding orator who provides the ideology and impetus for the revolution – and whose ideas will be corrupted by others.
Allegorical role
Idealist and theorist. He represents all great thinkers who have changed the conditions of society with their ideas, as well as the power of speech and how it can and was used to inspire.
Historical counterpart
Is an amalgam of Karl Marx and Lenin, the first leader of the Soviet Union. Marx wrote the treatises upon which Communism was based, and like Old Major, died before his ideas could be put into practice. After Lenin's deathin 1924, his body was embalmed and displayed for decades in Moscow.
As a socialist, Orwell agreed with some of Marx's politics, and respected Lenin; the satire in Animal Farm is not of Marxism, or Lenin's revolution, but of the corruption that occurred later.
Mr Jones
"Mr Jones, of the Manor Farm, had locked the hen-houses for the night, but was too drunk to remember to shut the pop-holes. With the ring of light from his lantern dancing from side to side, he lurched across the yard, kicked off his boots at the back door, drew himself a last glass of beer from the barrel in the scullery, and made his way up to bed…"
the only human character that is at all fleshed out.
had been a capable farmer when the farm was thriving but has fallen on bad times – had lost money in a lawsuit
he and his men have become slack and careless; Jones has "taken to drinking more than was good for him".
He neglects the farm, ill-treats the animals and fails to feed them properly
For a time after his expulsion, he is content to sit in the Red Lion inn at Willingdon and complain to anyone who will listen of the "monstrous injustice" he has suffered by being turned out of his own property by a pack of animals
Eventually makes an attempt to recover the farm, is outwitted by Snowball and Boxer, and moves to another part of the country, where he dies in an inebriates' home
Between his final defeat in the Battle of the Cowshed and his death, Jones plays no active part in the story, but his memory is kept alive by the pigs, who hold the return of Jones as a constant threat over the animals' heads to secure their docile acceptance of even the most rigorous hardships or setbacks.
Role in the Fable
the incompetent owner/ruler, incapable of running the farm and looking after the animals properly, and who is dispossessed – and the human race generally
Allegorical role
the incompetent and autocratic capitalist
Historical counterpart
Represents Nicholas II of Russia, the deposed Tsar, with a nod towards Louis XVI of France, who had been facing severe financial difficulties in the days leading up to the 1789 Revolution.