Animal Farm - Analytical Writing Task
Animal Farm by George Orwell was a story about the Russian Revolution and the effects of corruption. What power can do to people and how they use it to help themselves. It similarly explains how Czar the Russian Monarch controlled the country in his ruthless ways through Jones the Manor Farms owner. The animals (the people of Russia) starting a revolution to get rid of the Jones (Russian Monarch) and stop his ruthless hold on the Farm (Country). But when the new government comes into power they slowly slipped back into the ways of their predecessors. In the book Orwell does not exactly target communism but instead the corruption within the Russian Communist Government and how they took more for themselves under the table outside the public view.
The revolution was ignited when Old Major the wise boar of the farm had a dream where the animals would have three day week and food would be in abundance. “Let us face it, our lives are miserable, laborious, and short.” said Old Major, There, comrades, is the answer to all our problems…. Man. Man is the real enemy we have.” This sounded fantastic by the animals because sick of the little food to satisfy there hunger after long and laborious days on the farm. They hated having to give their hard work to the people who did nothing in return. So the idea of Animalism came up.
Communism is a socialist, moneyless, stateless society that creates equality amongst everybody. On Animal Farm they came up with a similar idea but with animals, they called it Animalism. It’s were all animals were equal with the pigs as the government. It starts out well but slowly the pigs use there power and to get more and live a life of luxury and whoever stands up to them gets killed or disappears off the farm without anyone knowing. This is the same way Stalin ruled communist Russia.
Slowly through Napoleons rule of Animal Farm he rewrites history through the way he changes the seven commandments to benefit himself. He slowly made the animals forget or made them change their memory. He changed ‘No animal shall drink alcohol’ to ‘No animal shall drink alcohol to excess’. Hence letting himself drink alcohol in his leisure time. Stalin did the same thing by reconstructing history to brainwash the citizens of Russia and bring him more power and support. By awarding himself medals and making himself better then he actually is. Making them think he lead them into battle, when he was probably in a room with 10 guards for protection.
In the book the pigs also slowly gain themselves more power and support, with the sheep always bleating ‘four legs good two legs bad’ at any point when there may be uproar or when he brought the dogs in growling so that the younger pigs would not contest his ruling. Always to bring himself more power and rule through fear. Stalin ruled in exactly the same way. Anyone who went against him either disappeared off the face of the earth (killed) without anybody knowing how or where they went, or he publicly executed them to show everybody what could happen to