Preview

Animal farm Essay

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
754 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Animal farm Essay
Animal farm Essay
“What is the satirical comment that Orwell is trying to make in Animal Farm & how does he achieve this?”
George Orwell’s famous Allegorical Beast fable titled Animal Farm, comments on the Russian revolution and on the misuse and abuse of power. A master piece of political satire, Animal Farm is a tale of oppressed individuals who long for freedom. Through his literary links to scapegoating, revisionism and propaganda Orwell makes a satirical comment on the way in which those who long for freedom, ultimately are corrupted by assuming the very power that had originally oppressed them. This reveals his contextual concerns around socialism, communism and fascism, which he viewed as repressive and self serving. By depicting those involved in communism and the Russian revolution as animals, Orwell undermines their authority so as to expose the underlying truth.
Scapegoating, is the act of making an individual or group of individuals bear the blame of the wrong doings of others or to suffer their consequences, Animal Farm satirises the way those in power may create a scapegoat to deflect criticism, blame or accusation.
Through Orwell’s character Snowball, Napoleon is able to make the ultimate scapegoat, consequently the repetition of Napoleon accusations and squealers persuasion the animals become convinced that Snowball was indeed against them from the beginning and this hatred and fear of this “common enemy” the animals unite. For example in Chapter 6, upon the findings of the ruined windmill Napoleon announces, upon smelling the pig tracks left in the yard that Snowball had in fact destroyed the windmill; “In sheer malignity, thinking to set back our plans and avenge himself for his expulsion, this traitor has crept here under cover of night and destroyed our work of nearly a year”.
Snowball is also said to be in league with Mr Jones from the start, and is also
Revisionism is the characterised by the alteration of historic events to suit

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    In George Orwell’s tragic fable Animal farm, the author depicts the dreadful behaviour of the pigs when given the ability to take control over Animal Farm through the rebellion of the animals of Manor Farm. Deception frequently occurs throughout the novel when Napoleon and Squealer gain power over the other animals through various strategies mostly including lying to the animals. Napoleon frames Snowball for despicable crimes, then lies on multiple accounts to help his own cause afterwards he uses propaganda to gain complete authority of the Animal Farm.…

    • 627 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Animal Farm Theme Essay

    • 902 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Animal farm is an allegory on the Russian revolution written by george Orwell, Orwell ties in many important themes within this text. The story is based around the Russian revolution it's shown through a group of animals on a farm, the animals revolt against their "master" and attempt to run the farm themselves the farm slowly turns to corruption and inequality. Within the story animal farm there are A Lot of significant themes a few of these are equality, hypocrisy and violence. Thought out the novel George Orwell is depicting these themes as human nature, we are hypocrites we are violent creatures and we can never truly be equal, but he is also saying as humans we should strive for equality a nonviolent society and perform less hypocritical…

    • 902 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the novel Animal Farm, George Orwell hints that power corrupts through the use of an allegorical storyline. By using historical criticism, one can analyze the causes and effects of ruthless ambition. During the WWII era, there was widespread corruption in many nations, as seen in Germany with Hitler and Russia with Stalin. This time period of chaos exposed the lack of compassion among humans. Similar to this era, there were cultural and political struggles among the humans and animals in the farm as well. Ironically, in the animal’s struggle to free themselves of human dictatorship they end up oppressing their own kind.…

    • 1399 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Orwell uses literal and figurative ideas and concepts to connect the enemies and “heroes” in Animal Farm to the real humans who took part in the Russian Revolution. By comparing the specific characters like Old Major to Vladimir Lenin it is possible to see the comparisons between something as outlandish like Animal Farm to something as serious as the Russian Revolution. Through satire, the reader can see how ridiculous the Russian Revolution has the potential to seem when it is directly compared to animals who revolt for their rights and take over their farm to run on their…

    • 1222 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    He is a fairly easy character to take advantage of because he no longer lives on the farm and therefore everything can be blamed on him. Napoleon has everyone convinced that Snowball is a criminal and Snowball can’t defend himself. Every time something goes wrong on the farm, like the windmill being destroyed or windows being broken, Snowball is always indicted. Anyone who disagrees with or questions Napoleon’s authority is accused to be affiliated with Snowball. Napoleon exploits the animals’ ignorance and bad memories to strengthen his arguments.…

    • 424 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Satire Assessment Task

    • 985 Words
    • 4 Pages

    More specifically, the outrage Orwell expresses is the benevolent dictatorship of Napoleon. Although Napoleon is based on Stalin, over time he has been taken to represent any political leader corrupted with power. We see Napoleon’s dictatorship in full swing after Snowball, (representing Leon Trotsky) is ousted from power. Napoleon sends orders here, there, everywhere to get what he wants. A previous commandment written by Snowball stated, “All animals are created equal,” this changed to, “All animals are created equal, but some are more equal than others.” Napoleon brainwashes the working class into thinking their life is great, while behind the scenes selling sick animals for liquor and training a pack of killer dogs. Those animals who confess to shocking crimes that they may or may not have done are killed immediately, and Napoleon’s dictatorship is not questioned. This capital punishment is…

    • 985 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In George Orwell’s Animal Farm, Benjamin, a soft-spoken donkey, finds his once peaceful home transformed into a tyrannical dictatorship led by a power-hungry pig named Napoleon. Because of Benjamin’s reserved nature, he ultimately was able to lead Animal Farm into its oppression. Benjamin’s silence, his ability to follow without question, and his inability to share his wisdom with the other animals turned him into one of the main contributors to the tyrannical behavior that occurred and the loss of freedom and equality on Animal Farm.…

    • 795 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Animal Farm 33

    • 3470 Words
    • 14 Pages

    Afterwards, they try to destroy and burn everything that belongs to Mr. Jones which is a night mare for them. The other animals think that Mr. Jones’s house is not a suitable place for them to live, except for Napoleon. Meanwhile, snowball gathers the other animals and organizes a new society with several rules:…

    • 3470 Words
    • 14 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Best Essays

    George Orwell Research Paper

    • 2351 Words
    • 10 Pages

    Orwell’s Animal Farm, the satiric classic in which animals symbolized the Russian Revolution and the rise of Stalin, illustrated many of the evils that Orwell feared. However, “according to the varying predispositions of readers, arguments arose as to whether or not Animal Farm focuses essentially on the failure of the Russian Revolution, or on the inherent likelihood of all revolutions to fail” (Gardner). Nevertheless, throughout the novel, Orwell paints a bleak picture of the political 20th century, while advocating the revolutionary ideals of justice and equality.…

    • 2351 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Good Essays

    At the beginning of Chapter 7, Napoleon manipulates history by telling the animals, “Snowball was in league with Jones from the very start! He was Jones’s secret agent all the time.” (66) But the truth is Snowball wants to make Animal Farm a better place with his different reforms such as building the windmill and creating the many committees. Snowball is never in an alliance with Jones or any other human. Napoleon also claims he created the blueprints for the windmill when in actuality, Snowball creates the blueprints. Unfortunately, the minds of the animals are weak and are easily influenced by Napoleon and his lies and history is rewritten in their heads. They believe that Snowball is no longer someone helping them but the enemy, signifying that Napoleon is holding power over them.…

    • 594 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In George Orwell's novel, Animal Farm, a band of mistreated animals overthrow their owners farm, leading to the story’s main conflict. Two of the smartest pigs, Napoleon and Snowball come to a dispute, which ends up with Snowball fleeing the farm. From that point on, the reader can clearly see the propaganda the pigs use on the animals, and how they use it for their benefit. Propaganda is used by the animals to persuade the minds others for the benefit of themselves, which leads to major plot development.…

    • 973 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    ANIMAL FARM

    • 4842 Words
    • 20 Pages

    By saying that Snowball was a traitor from the beginning‹that he was never truly concerned with the animals' welfare and was fooling them all along‹Napoleon attempts to discredit the entire early history of the revolution. By convincing the animals to go along with this toughest ideological shift, Squealer and Napoleon pave the way for their future changes.…

    • 4842 Words
    • 20 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Snowball and Napoleon

    • 547 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Snowball and Napoleon are two of the main characters in George Orwell’s satirical book Animal Farm. Both of them have their differences and similarities, which affect the farm both in good and bad ways:…

    • 547 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Essay: Animal Farm

    • 426 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Before reading the book ‘Animal Farm’, I focus on the historical events that happened when the book is written. In this case, the book ‘Animal Farm’ has been written in the revolution of Russia. The author of this book criticizes the socialism of past Russian economy which made every citizens starve to death; otherwise the wealthy people lived like a nobles.…

    • 426 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Orwell

    • 6686 Words
    • 27 Pages

    It seems, to warp George Orwell’s elegant phrase, that “All animals may speak freely but some may speak more freely than others” (Ronge, 1998:13). It is the lesson of George Orwell’s Animal Farm, a little book I am sure much of the ANC leadership would have read, if not always taken to heart (Carlin, 2001:4). Abstract Orwell= Farm: George Orwell=s Animal Farm: A metonym for a dictatorship George Orwell’s Animal Farm is traditionally read as a satire on dictatorships in general, and the Bolshevik Revolution in particular. This article postulates the notion that the schema of the book has attained the force of metonymy to such an extent that whenever one alludes to the title of the book or some lines from it, one conjures up images associated with a dictatorship. The title of the book has become a part of the conceptual political lexicon of the English language to refer to the corruption of a utopian ideology. As an ideological state, Animal Farm has its vision, which is embedded in its constitution; it has the vote, a national anthem and a flag. It even has its patriots, double-dealers, social engineers and lechers. In this way the title Animal Farm, like Joseph Heller’s Catch-22, or Thomas More’s Utopia, functions metonymically to map a conceptual framework which matches the coordinates of the book. The article concludes with a look at contemporary society to show how Orwell’s satire endorses the words of Lord Acton, namely, that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.…

    • 6686 Words
    • 27 Pages
    Powerful Essays