GEORGE ORWELL
(1903-1950)
Animal Farm is a novel by George Orwell. It was published in England on 17 August 1945.
The book reflects events leading up to and during the Stalin era before World War II.
Orwell, a democratic socialist and a member of the Independent Labour Party for many years, was a critic of Joseph Stalin and was suspicious of Moscow-directed Stalinism after his experiences during the Spanish Civil War. In a letter to Yvonne Davet, Orwell described Animal Farm as his novel 'contre Stalin'. This novel, published when the Soviet Union was still one of the Allied Powers and Stalin was at the height of his prestige, was regarded with great hostility by Orwell’s fellow-socialists.
The work began to be shaped in his mind soon after he came back from Spain, where his beliefs in socialist Russia had been shattered. Orwell described what gave him the idea of setting the book on a farm:
...I saw a little boy, perhaps ten years old, driving a huge carthorse along a narrow path, whipping it whenever it tried to turn. It struck me that if only such animals became aware of their strength we should have no power over them, and that men exploit animals in much the same way as the rich exploit the proletariat.
Features
Orwell is the outstanding example of the politically committed intellectual, who considers art as one possible instrument in the liberation of mankind.
His standpoint was that of the engagé (impegnato) left-wing critic of society, a social democrat with leftist sympathies. As he wrote, he wanted to turn political writing into an art.
1. He tried to “fuse political purpose and artistic purpose into one whole”.
2. He claimed that the language a writer uses should be simple, clear and direct, so as to become an instrument of information and communication.
Plot
Animal Farm is a political fable in the form of an allegory: it describes the revolt of the animals on a farm, who expel their cruel human master, Mr. Jones, and resolve to run it themselves on Socialist principles summed up in Seven Commandments written on a wall of the farm:
1. Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy
2. Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend.
3. No animal shall wear clothes.
4. No animal shall sleep in a bed.
5. No animal shall drink alcohol.
6. No animal shall kill any other animal.
7. All animals are equal.
But the pigs, being smarter and more selfish, gradually win control and betray the revolution by restoring what is in fact a society based on exploitation. Later, Napoleon and his pigs are corrupted by the absolute power they hold over the farm. To maintain their popularity with the other animals, Squealer secretly paints additions to some commandments to benefit the pigs while keeping them free of accusations of breaking the laws (such as "No animal shall drink alcohol" having "to excess" appended to it and "No animal shall sleep in a bed" with "with sheets" added to it). Eventually the laws are replaced with "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others", and "Four legs good, two legs better!" as the pigs become more human.
Themes
1. the struggle between humans and animals which stands for the struggle against any form of exploitation, such as:
- animals exploited by men
- workers exploited by the ruling class
- the proletariat exploited by the rich
2. comradeship among the exploited
3. the danger of propaganda
4. the danger of the personality cult
5. easy manipulation of the masses
6. easy manipulation of the masses, the uselessness of any revolution by the masses, since it is doomed to fail owing to:
- - lack of unifying values
- - lack of class consciousness
- - lack of faith in revolutionary ideals
7. control of the language as a political instrument, as is particularly evident in two examples:
- First, in the Seven Commandments which are slowly modified and distorted from their original meanings and are finally reduced to just one “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others”.
- Second, in the teaching of slogans like “Four legs are good, two legs are bad”. And later on “Four legs are good, two legs are better”.
Allegory
Though implying a general denunciation of any form of totalitarianism, the book was clearly meant as an allegory of the Russian Revolution and of its consequences. The allegorical intent is at once evident in the choice of characters among both animals and humans.
Some of the events are clear allusions to parallel events in Soviet Russia, as for instance the failure of the five-year plan, the flight of Trotsky, the Moscow show-trials, etc. Orwell in fact was among the first left-wing intellectuals to denounce the Moscow show-trials (in which Soviet party-workers and intellectuals had been brain-washed into denouncing themselves), the great purges of the 1930, Stalin’s personality cult and the Soviet foreign policy.
The apotheosis of the novel comes when the pigs form an alliance with the hated enemies, men, and sit down with him at the same table.
The short novel is an allegory in which animals play the roles of the Bolshevik revolutionaries and overthrow the human owners of the farm, setting it up as a commune in which, at first, all animals are equal. However, class and status disparities soon emerge between the different animal species. In fact, when the animals take over the farm, they think it is the start of a better life. Their dream is of a world where all animals are equal and all property is shared. But soon the pigs take control and one of them, Napoleon, becomes the leader of all the animals. One by one the principles of the revolution are abandoned, until the animals have even less freedom than before.
The novel describes how a society's ideologies can be manipulated and twisted by those in positions of social and political power, including how a utopian society is made impossible by the corrupting nature of the very power necessary to create it. At the end: All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.
Characters
The events and characters in Animal Farm satirize Stalinism ("Animalism"), authoritarian government and human stupidity generally; Snowball is seen as Leon Trotsky and the head pig, Napoleon, is Stalin. The dogs are also important companions, as Orwell's intent was not always explicit and they often simply represent generalized concepts.
The Pigs
Old Major (Vecchio Maggiore), a prize Middle White boar, is the inspiration that fuels the Rebellion in the book. According to one interpretation, he could be based upon both Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin. He introduces the animals to the song "Beasts of England", which becomes their anthem, and puts the idea of rebellion in the animals' heads.
Napoleon, a Berkshire boar ("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."), is the main tyrant and villain of Animal Farm and is based upon Joseph Stalin. He begins to gradually build up his power, using puppies he took from mother dogs Jessie and Bluebell, which he raises to be vicious dogs as his secret police. After driving Snowball off the farm, Napoleon usurps full power, using false propaganda from Squealer and threats and intimidation from the dogs to keep the other animals in line. Among other things, he gradually changes the Commandments to allow himself privileges such as eating at a table and to justify his dictatorial rule. By the end of the book, Napoleon and his fellow pigs have learned to walk upright and started to behave similarly to the humans against whom they originally revolted.
Snowball (Palladineve) is Napoleon's rival. He is an allusion to Leon Trotsky. He wins over most animals, but is driven out of the farm by Napoleon. Snowball genuinely works for the good of the farm and devises plans to help the animals achieve their vision of an egalitarian utopia, but Napoleon and his dogs chase him from the farm, and Napoleon spreads rumors to make him seem evil and corrupt and that he had secretly sabotaged the animals' efforts to improve the farm.
Squealer, (Clarinetto o Piffero) a small fat porker, serves as Napoleon's right hand pig and minister of propaganda. He represents all the propaganda Stalin used to justify his own heinous acts. In all of his work, George Orwell made it a point to show how politicians used language. He confuses and disorients other animals, making claims that the pigs need the extra luxury they are taking in order to function properly, for example and using difficult reasoning, which confused the other animals. However, when questions persist, he usually uses the threat of the return of Mr Jones, the former owner of the farm, to justify the pigs' privileges.
Humans
Mr. Jones represents Nicholas II of Russia, the deposed Tsar, who had been facing severe financial difficulties in the days leading up to the 1917 Revolution. There are several implications that he represents an autocratic but ineffective capitalist, incapable of running the farm and looking after the animals properly. Jones is a very heavy drinker and animals revolt against him after he drinks so much that he does not feed or take care of them.
Toward the end of the book, the pigs become the mirror image of Jones, though their thirst for more power than ever before.
Mr Frederick is the tough owner of Pinchfield, a well-kept neighboring farm. He represents Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party in general. He tricks them into selling wood to him for forged (contraffatto) money and later attacks them, destroying the windmill but being finally beaten in the resulting Battle of the Windmill (World War II), which could be interpreted as The Battle of Stalingrad. There are also stories of him mistreating his own animals, such as throwing dogs into a furnace, which may also represent Hitler's genocides of the Jews.
Mr Pilkington is the easy-going but crafty owner of Foxwood, a neighboring farm overgrown with weeds (erbacce), as described in the book. He represents the western powers, such as the United Kingdom and the United States.
Equines
There are four main equines (horses and donkeys) characters: Clover, Boxer, Benjamin, and Mollie.
Boxer (Gondrano) is one of the main characters. He is the tragic symbol of the working class, or proletariat: loyal, kind, dedicated, and physically the strongest animal on the farm, but naïve and slow. His ignorance and blind trust towards his leaders leads to his death and their profit. In particular, his heroic physical work represents the Stakhanovite movement. Boxer's work ethic is often praised by the pigs, and he is set as a prime example to the other animals. When Boxer is injured, and can no longer work, Napoleon sends him off to the knackers’ and deceives the other animals, saying that Boxer died peacefully in the hospital. When
Clover (Berta o Trifoglio)) is Boxer's companion and a fellow draft horse.
Mollie is a self-centered and vain white mare who likes wearing ribbons in her mane, eating sugar cubes (which represent luxury) and being pampered (viziata) and groomed (strigliata) by humans. She represents upper-class people, the bourgeoisie and nobility who fled to the West after the Russian Revolution.
Benjamin is a wise old donkey, the longest surviving of the Manor Farm animals; he is alive to the very last scene of the book. The animals often ask him about his lack of expression but he always answers with: 'Donkeys live a long time. None of you have ever seen a dead donkey.'
He is a dedicated friend to Boxer and is really upset (sconvolto) when Boxer is taken away. Benjamin has known about the pigs' wrongdoing the entire time, though he says nothing to the other animals. He represents the cynics in society.
Other animals
Muriel is a wise, old goat who is friends with all of the animals on the farm. She, like Benjamin and Snowball, is one of the few animals on the farm who can read
Moses the Raven is an old bird that occasionally visits the farm with tales of a place in the sky called Sugarcandy Mountain, where he says animals go when they die, but only if they work hard. He represents religious leaders, specifically the Russian Orthodox Church, which is banned when the pigs come to power.
The Sheep represented the masses, manipulated to support Stalin in spite of his treachery.
The Rats may have represented some of the nomadic people in the far north of the USSR.
The Dogs or The puppies represent Stalin's secret police. Secret Police served the power scaring everybody who tries to question or rebel.
Comment on the passage
This scene is a clear allusion to the non-aggression pact between Soviet Russia and Nazi Germany in 1939, which led to the partition of Poland and to the Second World War. It also marks the total failure of the animals’ revolution. Napoleon in fact betrays all the previous ideals by setting up a “cooperative enterprise” with man, by suppressing the old “foolish” epithet “comrade” and modifying the flag. But the worst indignity of all is restoring the original name to the farm: Manor Farm
The circular structure of the novel is now complete: it ends where it started, with new masters (the pigs) replacing the old master (Mr. Jones), and the animals once more exploited and enslaved. Symbolic in this sense is the scene in which they look through the window of the dining-room where the party of pigs and farmers is taking place: they are outside, passive spectators, unable to distinguish between the new oppressors and the old ones.