Skip to main content

What is Animal Farm an allegory for?

Animal Farm is an allegory for the Russian/Bolshevik Revolution in particular, and for the rise of totalitarian dictatorships based on communist principles in general. Orwell was a democratic socialist, and like many European (and American) leftists during the Great Depression, he viewed the Bolshevik Revolution and the establishment of a communist state with great interest and even hope. But as the decade wore on, he found himself deeply disillusioned as news of the brutality of Stalin's regime leaked out, and as he witnessed firsthand the death and destruction of the Spanish Civil War. Orwell's contempt for the Stalinist regime became complete when Stalin signed a non-aggression pact with Hitler in 1939. He wrote the book a few years later, and published it at the end of the war, in 1945.


So Animal Farm is replete with allegorical figures and events. Old Major, whose impassioned speech provides the basis for the ideas of Animalism, is meant to evoke Karl Marx. Napoleon, who rises to power by combining brutality and manipulation of the truth, is suggestive of Joseph Stalin. Snowball, his rival, is comparable to Leon Trotsky, who fled the Soviet Union and was eventually assassinated by Stalin's henchmen. Like Stalin's bloody purges, there are massacres of animals who are thought to be disloyal, and the windmill project is reminiscent of Stalin's program of forced industrialization. The central theme of this allegory is that power, even when wielded in the name of equality and economic justice, corrupts, and the people (animals) suffer.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

etymology - Origin of the greeting "Sweet dreams".

Does anybody know the etymology of the phrase "sweet dreams"? I tried googling but did not find anything satisfying. Is this a relatively new phrase of the modern world or has this been in use for some time? I think it's the latter one. Answer The OED has the interjection as "a farewell to someone going to bed" from the 20th century: 1908 Sears Roebuck Catal. 198/1 Tenor Solos..Good Bye, Sweet Dreams, Good Bye. But it goes back until at least the 19th and possibly 18th centuries. John Wolcot, writing under the pseudonym of Peter Pindar, used it in his poem "Orson and Ellen; A Legendary Tale" published in 1801: Also from 1801 in The infernal Quixote (Page 287) by Charles Lucas: In the March 1776 of The Universal Magazine was published "The Serenade. A Pastoral Tale. From the German of Gesner" , where the shepherd Daphnis watches over his beloved as she sleeps and sings: The same tale appears in 1776's as Idyl XI, " Daphnis ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Is there a word/phrase for "unperformant"?

As a software engineer, I need to sometimes describe a piece of code as something that lacks performance or was not written with performance in mind. Example: This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. Based on my Google searches, this isn't a real word. What is the correct way to describe this? EDIT My usage of "performance" here is in regard to speed and efficiency. For example, the better the performance of code the faster the application runs. My question and example target the negative definition, which is in reference to preventing inefficient coding practices. Answer This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. In my opinion, reads more easily as: This coding style leads to unmaintainable and poorly performing code. The key to well-written documentation and reports lies in ease of understanding. Adding poorly understood words such as performant decreases that ease. In addressing the use of such a poorly ...
Post a Comment
Read more

What are the similarities between the relationships of the characters in The Outsiders and Romeo and Juliet?

At first glance, it might appear as if the characters in  The Outsiders  by S. E. Hinton and  Romeo and Juliet  by William Shakespeare do not have much in common; however, when one isolates the core of the conflicts, it becomes clear that the relationships in both stories are rooted in rivalry and secrecy.  In both  The Outsiders  and  Romeo and Juliet , an overarching theme is rivalry. While   socioeconomic status separates the greasers from the Socs in The Outsiders , last names separates the Montagues from the Capulets, who appear to be relatively equal in terms of socioeconomic status. Due to these rivalries, there are instances of deadly interactions in both stories. In  The Outsiders , Johnny kills Bob (whether his actions were justified or not is debatable). In  Romeo and Juliet , Romeo kills Tybalt and Paris, and Tybalt kills Mercutio. These deaths have profound effects on the main characters. In Ponyboy's case, the Johnny's death and other events in the novel inspire h...
Post a Comment
Read more