Topic 3
In his Novel "Animal Farm"
George Orwell describes the taking over of a farm by the animals themselves and
the decline of everything they had built up because of the leader's corruption.
This fable is an allegory which is meant to represent the Russian Revolution
and its effects. Animals in this book like Napoleon, Squealer and Boxer stand
for real persons or for a certain class which had a roll in this overthrow in
1930s.
Napoleon is supposed to be
Stalin and is described as "a large, rather fierce looking Berkshire boar, the
only Berkshire on the farm". This feature alone gives him the status of being
something special. He isn't a good speaker but nevertheless he has "the
reputation for getting his own way". We can see that when he had to hold a
speech in order to gain the other animals on his side against Snowball, who is
another pig, which wanted to be a leader. He says quickly what he wants to say
and calls then his dogs who threaten on the animals. In this way he always gets
what he wants. The dogs are also a sign for his cruelty. Once he asks "in a
terribly voice" if the animals have anything to confess what they did and what
wasn't for the good of the farm. Those animals who do confess he lets kill by
the dogs in front of all the rest of the animals. He is also selfish and devious because he sleeps in a bed gets all
advantages, never tells the truth about what is happening and his only aim is
to gain more power. But without the help of Squealer he would never have been
the leader that long.
Squealer, who represents the
propaganda department of the Russian government and has all its features, is a
"small, fat pig", which has "very round cheeks twinkling eyes and a shrill
voice". He is "a brilliant talker", too. This quality and his nimble movements
makes him be very persuasive. He can "turn black into white' and is
therefore the perfect man for Napoleon to manipulate the other animals. All his
orders are issued by Squealer. Squealer convinced the animals for example that
only the pigs could move into the farmhouse because they were "the brains of
the farm" and needed therefore a quiet place to think. Nobody could say
anything against this argument even if the decision was made before that nobody
would move into the farm house. But Squealer didn't only talk. He also carried
out a lot of important jobs for Napoleon. It was he who changed the Seven
Commandments, which they had created at the beginning and which were put on the
wall of the farmhouse, in order to make them suitable for the wrong behavior of
the pigs. On the other hand he had a quite easy job in convincing the other
animals because they weren't really smart.
Boxer is a good example for one
of the animals and he also shows how the Russian peasants were weakened by the
hard work which the regime loaded on them. He was an "enormous beast" and "his
strength seemed to be equal to that of all the rest of the animals put
together". He believes a lot in Animalism and 'the leader' Napoleon
and works very hard for his dream of everybody being equal. His two slogans are:'I
will work harder!'
and 'Napoleon is always
right!' Unfortunately he is very naive and can't see that all his ideals
won't be worked out by Napoleon. He also barley questions things. Only
sometimes he seems to remember that something was different than they are told
is was. When Squealer tells them, that Snowball already had been allied with
their enemies at the battle, Boxer remembers: 'But he was wounded'
and 'we all saw him running with blood.' But a few seconds later
after one of Squealers speeches he says: 'If Comrade Napoleon says it, it
must be right.' Here we can see how he is manipulated by Squealer. At the
end his naivety causes his death because when he is sick and weakened as an
result of the hard work, he trusts Napoleon to bring him to a veterinarian. The
truth is that he is brought to the knacker.
George Orwell develops all
these characters so well that is not hard to examine which roll the play in the
story and in the Russian Revolution. All these characters help the reader to
understand why it failed.
