PS SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL

Review of Animal Farm by George

Orwell

By: Vijay Bharathram Amaruvi

12B
Statement of Purpose:
This project is a report on the book Animal Farm by George Orwell. The
book stands out as a very memorable and apt critique of communism as
practised by the Soviet Union.
Action Plan:
1. Read the book
2. Learn about the author and his motives for writing the book
3. Write the summary of the book
4. Explain the criticisms of communism made by George Orwell and his
motivations.
5. Explore the connections between the characters of the book and their
real life counterparts
6. Reflect on the social commentary made by Orwell and its effects on
the global perception of communism

Project Timeline
Announcement of project - Sep 2nd week
Deciding theme & - Sep 3rd week
mode of presentation
Collecting material. - October
Correlation of data, survey, - Nov 2nd week
inferences
Rough draft submission. - November
Fair draft completion - December
Introduction:
Animal Farm, written by George Orwell, is a story about farm animals who,
after rebelling against their cruel human master, attempt to set up an
animal utopia, which ultimately fails and results in the conditions of the
working animals being nearly the same or somewhat worse than when they
were under human control. It serves as an allegory1 for the Soviet Union,
under the rule of Stalin, and uses satire to bring out the flaws of
communism implemented in the Soviet Union. It was first published in
1945, right when the entire Western World was in support of the Soviet
Union, and had much difficulty in getting his manuscript published due to
fears that it would upset the alliance between the US, UK and the USSR.
However, with the onset of the Cold War, anti-soviet sentiment began to
become popular, and the book became a commercial success.

About the Author:

George Orwell was the pen-name of Eric Arthur Blair, who wrote several
novels and essays, best known for the dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty
Four, and Animal Farm. Apart from these he also wrote non fiction books,
which dealt with his experience in the Spanish Civil war and working class
life. He was concerned about the suppression of any media that portrayed
Stalin in a negative light, and criticised the censorship heavily. The
pro-Stalin sentiments among the British intelligentsia, even though Stalin’s
tyrannical rule had become clear, inspired Orwell to write Animal Farm in
1943. He died of tuberculosis in 1949.

1
Allegory: a story, poem, or picture that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, typically a moral
or political one.
Support Material:
An excerpt from Orwell’s unpublished preface to Animal Farm, showing
Orwell’s perception of censorship in the media:
“This book was first thought of, so far as the central idea goes, in 1937, but
was not written down until about the end of 1943. By the time when it came
to be written it was obvious that there would be great difficulty in getting it
published , and in the event it was refused by four publishers. Only one of
these had any ideological motive. Two had been publishing anti-Russian
books for years, and the other had no noticeable political colour. One
publisher actually started by accepting the book, but after making the
preliminary arrangements he decided to consult the Ministry of Information,
who appear to have warned him, or at any rate strongly advised him,
against publishing it.

This kind of thing is not a good symptom. Obviously it is not desirable that a
government department should have any power of censorship (except
security censorship, which no one objects to in war time) over books which
are not officially sponsored. But the chief danger to freedom of thought and
speech at this moment is not the direct interference of the MOI or any
official body. If publishers and editors exert themselves to keep certain
topics out of print, it is not because they are frightened of prosecution but
because they are frightened of public opinion. In this country intellectual
cowardice is the worst enemy a writer or journalist has to face, and that fact
does not seem to me to have had the discussion it deserves.
Any fair minded person with journalistic experience will admit that during
this war official censorship has not been particularly irksome. We have not
been subjected to the kind of totalitarian 'coordination' that it might have
been reasonable to expect. The press has some justified grievances, but
on the whole the Government has behaved well and has been surprisingly
tolerant of minority opinions. The sinister fact about literary censorship in
England is that it is largely voluntary. Unpopular ideas can be silenced, and
inconvenient facts kept dark, without the need for any official ban.”
Summary:
The story takes place in the Manor Farm, owned by an alcoholic Mr. Jones.
The farm is quite neglected, and the animals suffer great hardship. One
night, Old Major made a speech to all the animals present on the farm. In
his speech he describes his idea of animal rebellion, and teaches the
animals a revolutionary song “Beasts of England”. After having sowed the
seeds of rebellion, Old Major dies, and life goes on as usual on the farm.
Eventually however, things get to a state that the animals could not
contend with, and under the leadership of two pigs Snowball and Napoleon,
they successfully rebel against Mr. Jones, and establish Animal Farm. The
animals are educated on the principles of Animalism, and the seven
commandments are established, the most important being “All animals are
equal”.

Things seem to run smoothly for a while, and the animals enjoy plentiful
food. However, the pigs slowly start elevating themselves above the level of
other animals and treat themselves to extra food and other materials, under
the excuse that their work of administration was more important than
others. Mr. Jones tries unsuccessfully to take back the farm, and Snowball
announces his plan to build a windmill. Napoleon rejects it vehemently, and
when the crowd seemed to agree with Snowball, Napoleon set his dogs on
Snowball, causing him to flee from the farm, and elevated himself to the
status of supreme authority.

Through the use of propaganda Squealer, a young pig who was a very
good orator, convinced the animals that Snowball was a traitor, and that the
windmill was originally Napoleon’s idea. Thus the construction of the
windmill begins, requiring massive efforts by the animals. While building the
first, it collapses during a storm and Snowball is blamed, and the accused
collaborators are purged in front of the other animals. The revolutionary
song “Beasts of England” is banned, in favour of a song glorifying
Napoleon. The windmill construction efforts are redoubled, which results in
the reduction of rations and working conditions for the animals, except for
the pigs who still enjoy their privileges. However, a neighbouring farmer
blows up the newly restored windmill, and the ensuing battle was hard
fought, but was won by the animals. During the battle Boxer is injured, and
while building the windmill for the third time, Boxer collapses, and is sent to
the knacker in exchange for a box of whisky for Napoleon and other pigs.

Several years pass, two windmills have been constructed, though instead
of being used to generate electricity and increase the quality of lives of the
animals they are instead used for threshing. The rebellion is all but
forgotten, and life for the lower animals resembles their condition under the
humans, while the pigs themselves begin to adopt human characteristics,
walking upright and drinking alcohol. During a party held by Napoleon and
the pigs announcing their friendliness towards the neighbouring farms, it is
revealed that the animals actually face worse conditions under Napoleon
than they did under Mr.Jones, and instead of complaining, they are forced
to work harder.
During a game of cards, both Napoleon and Mr. Pilkington, a neighbouring
farmer, play the same card, and both sides begin to fight over who cheated.
The animals outside look from pig to human, realising that they have
become the same thing.
Real Life Comparisons:
The story is directly inspired by the Russian Revolution, and the
subsequent emergence of dictatorship under Lenin and Stalin. The story
shows the initial period after the rebellion where everything seemed hopeful
and the gradual transition from a utopia to a dystopia. After Snowball’s
exile, the constant threat of dogs and purges meant that any resistance to
Napoleon was impossible.
This is very similar to the situation in the Soviet Union. After Stalin took
power, anyone who opposed him was branded a traitor and punished
severely by the secret service.
Snowball represents Trotsky, who after the death of Lenin, lost his
government positions and was expelled from the Soviet Union, and
eventually assassinated. Trotsky during his exile openly critiqued Stalinism,
in a similar vein to how Snowball attempted to sabotage the farm several
times after being removed.
The alcoholic farmer of Manor Farm represents the Tsar Nicholas II, who
was forced to abdicate by the revolutionaries and ended up executed later.

Several key events in the story, such as the purging of the traitors, the
hoarding of grains to deceive the outside world, the policing enforced by
the dogs and the heavy use of propaganda are very similar to their real life
counterparts. During the collectivisation experiment, to appear to the rest of
the world that the farms were doing well, Stalin’s government hoarded a
large portion of the grain for export, while the farmers themselves had very
little to eat, resulting in one of the largest famines experienced in that
region.

Old Major, the boar, is also an allegory for Karl Marx, as he did not directly
participate in the revolution but instead sowed the seeds

Orwell’s Criticisms:
Orwell deliberately wrote a fictional story mirroring the actual events of the
Russian revolution, as he realised that fiction was more powerful in getting
his point across than non fiction would be, after the poor sales of his
previous book “Homage to Catalonia”. Orwell does not explicitly point out
any flaws, but he did not need to. The action of the pigs, though it seems
reasonable at first, eventually become more and more tyrannical, and the
conditions of the other animals begin deteriorating. The chickens, after the
revolution, were promised that their eggs would not be taken away from
them to be sold, but however when the first hard winter struck, the pigs
decreed that their eggs must be sold. Similarly the cows were promised
that they would not be milked, yet cow milk was a staple part of the pigs’
food. At the end it is also revealed that conditions under Napoleon were
actually worse than under Mr Jones, but under the ruse of animalism, the
animals continued to work harder than before.

This is quite similar to the rise in power of Stalin, who during his time
initiated several Five Year Plans, one of which instituted collectivisation,
where the land of the farmers were taken control of by the government, but
still forced the farmers to cultivate those grounds. Due to this, the massive
disruption in food supplies led to the biggest famine in Soviet history during
which several million people died.

Orwell was very opposed to the idea of Stalinism2 and totalitarianism3, the
government policies and ideology followed by the soviets under Stalin, and
the cruel tactics used to suppress dissidents. Orwell, after his experience in
Spain, realised that the propaganda released by totalitarian states had an
ability to influence even the educated members of other democratic
countries. This motivated him to expose the perversion of the original
socialist ideals under Stalin, as can be seen when the pigs modify the
seven commandments, arguably the most important part of Animalism,
constantly to suit their needs, and the other animals too dumb to realise it.

Orwell was careful to have the narrator be totally unbiased, and let the
reader realise the problems of Animalism under Napoleon for themselves.
2
Stalinism: the means of governing and Marxist-Leninist policies implemented in the Soviet Union from
1927 to 1953 by Joseph Stalin
3
a system of government that is centralized and dictatorial and requires complete subservience to the
state.
Effects on Western Society:
As the book Animal Farm was released during a time when the pro Stalin
sentiments were dominant, it had some difficulty finding publishers.
However with the onset of the cold war, the West completely reversed their
position on the Soviet Union, and the book began to resonate with the
intelligentsia who previously held positive opinions of Stalin. It became so
ubiquitous that several key phrases from the book like the final
commandment “All animals are equal but some are more equal than
others” and “four legs good, two legs bad” have become common phrases,
used in varying capacities to describe tyranny and discrimination.
It also popularised the usage of the word “Pig” to describe those in power,
as greedy as the pigs described in the story.
Since the beginning of the second wave of the feminist movement in the
1960s and 1970s, it has also been incorporated into the movement, and
terms such as “Male Chauvinist Pig” have been coined to describe men
who believe they are superior to women.

Conclusion:
The book Animal Farm, provides a thought-provoking satire on the state of
the USSR, and serves as a warning about rebellion and ideal societies.
Though it may seem that the battle is won, if the people are not vigilant, the
path to a totalitarian state is a slippery slope
Reflections:
By reading Animal Farm and writing a report on it, I came to appreciate the
effect of propaganda on the population, and how even a utopia can
become a dystopia without the population realising it until it is too late, like
what happened in Soviet Russia. It also helped me understand why
communism, even though it seemed like a noble idea, failed in most of the
countries that adopted it.
Photographs:

George Orwell Joseph Stalin

Cover page of Animal farm Leon Trotsky

Bibliography:
Animal Farm by George Orwell
https://www.britannica.com/biography/George-Orwell
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Animal-Farm