Orwell's Comparing Animal Farm and The Russian System Of Communism Essay

Orwell's Comparing Animal Farm and The Russian System Of Communism Essay

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Orwell's Comparing Animal Farm and The Russian System Of Communism

Animal Farm is a satire and prophecy of the Russian revolution, which
was written by George Orwell in 1945. George Orwell was a political
satirist who led a somewhat strange life. His original name was 'Eric
Arthur Blair', which was later changed to his familiar pen name for
its 'manly, English, country-sounding ring'. He was a lonely boy and
had many uncertain jobs until he finally became a writer, crossing
political and artistic ideas into most of his books. The novel Animal
Farm is George Orwell's way of portraying his ideas, criticisms and
negative opinions on the Russian revolution, and therefore is
negatively biased against Lenin's communist ideology and the
revolution. The book is a serious satire, although it has been
confused as a children's book in the past.

Animal Farm is an allegory, and uses animals to express the author's
opinions. This is done for many reasons; animals already have values
and attitudes placed on them by the general public. These values and
attitudes are effectively utilized by Orwell to build the characters
in his story, as the audience will have preconceptions as to what the
character will be like, judged on what type of animal they are. For
example, pigs already have negative values placed on them for being
dirty and deceitful, and these are some of the values the author wants
us to put on the characters. This is extremely useful for Orwell, as
the different types of animals allow us to easily differentiate
between the different social classes or characters, and subtly conveys
Orwell's message on what his opinion of the character or ...

... middle of paper ...

...f animals makes the
story easily digestible, as well as creating immediate subconscious
thoughts of the character's personalities and motives. The values we
place on different animals is a key part to the story. It also makes
the satire far more subtle, and therefore more effective, as if it
told simply the history of Russian communism with only a little added,
it would not be nearly as interesting. It is also a very effective
story by itself, and does not need any background knowledge of
Russia's history. The conclusion to the story is the most powerful
part of the whole novel, and is an excellent, yet grim way to conclude
the story. The story very effectively builds up to the last message:
communism in Russia cannot work and Stalin's system of government is
just as bad for the Russian people as the reign of the Tsar.

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