The purpose of the Russian Revolution was to fix problems from Czar Nicholas II. The purpose of the Animal Farm Revolution was to make life better for all theanimals. However, both revolutions made life worse afterwards. All of thecharacters in Animal Farm have counterparts in real life. This book was based onthe Russian Revolution, and all the important populace of the revolution aresymbolized.
Some of the animals represent individuals in the Russian Revolution,and some types of animals represent different types of Russian citizens. Mr. Jones closely resembles Czar Nicholas II. The animal rebellion on the farm wasstarted because Mr.
Jones was a drunk who never took care of his animals. Thismade his animals very angry. Fed by the words of Old Major the animals decidedto rebel like the Russians. Czar Nicholas II was a very weak man who treated hispeople similar to how Mr. Jones treated his animals. Czar made his working classpeople very uneasy with the way he used his authority and preached all the time,and the people suffered and finally demanded reform by rebelling.
Old Majorclosely resembles Karl Marx and V. I Lenin. Old Major resembles Karl Marxbecause, like the political thinker, Major brought about and created the idea ofCommunism, or ?Animalism’, the Animal Farm version of this system ofthought. In a way, Major is associated with V. I Lenin of the Russian Revolution,the opportunist who brought and initiated the communist way of life on this landwhen it needed a new system-of-thought to help it’s troubled economy and theway-of-life it’s people were forced to live out every day. Snowball closelyresembles Leon Trotsky.
Snowball believed 100% of Old Major’s ideas. Snowballwanted all the things Old Major wanted, such as the welfare of the animals. LeonTrotsky believed and wanted the same things as V. I Lenin, and wanted to continuewhat Lenin had started.
Napoleon closely resembles Joseph Stalin. Napoleon wasselfish and greedy. He did not want to share the power or the decision makingwith any other individual. At first Napoleon and Snowball shared the decisionmaking and had debates about what course of action they would take. This workedfor a while. Then Napoleon grew weary of long debates, and he thought he couldmake his decision by himself.
He then forced Snowball out of the farm andstarted to spread lies about Snowball to get the entire farm against him. JosephStalin did the same thing against Leon Trotsky. Stalin forced Trotsky intohiding in Mexico, where Trotsky was eventually assassinated. Both Stalin andNapoleon ruined any hopes of equal and fair government and instead, set updictatorships.
Squealer closely resembles the Propaganda Department of V. ILenin’s government. Squealer did not make the decisions in the government, butacted more like the controlled media as in the Russian government. Squealer’sjob was to influence the people by exaggerating and re-writing history andsometimes even telling outright plain lies.
The animals would listen tosquealer, and Squealer would always listen to Napoleon. The Department would useany lie to convince the people to follow Joseph Stalin, and the Departmentbenefited from the fact that education was controlled. The dogs closely resemblethe Secret Police (KGB). The dogs were Napoleon’s private army that used fearto force the animals to work. The dogs would kill or intimidate any opponent ofNapoleon.
The dogs were part of Napoleon’s strategy to control the rest of theanimals. The Secret Police (KGB) was not really police, but they forced supportfor Joseph Stalin. KGB used force, and they often killed entire families fordisobedience. KGB was extremely loyal to their master. Mollie closely resemblesthe vain, and selfish people in Russia and the world.
Mollie only cared abouther ribbons, and wasn’t much of a thinker. All Mollie wanted was to eat sugar,and look pretty. Some of the people in Russia and the world just didn’t careabout the Russian Revolution. They only thought about themselves and went toother countries that offered more to them.
I believe Boxer represents all thepeople in Russia. The poverty stricken, the homeless, who still work hard inorder to make the system of Communism or Animalism work. Boxer is therepresentation of workers who are pushed around, who are taken for all they areworth, and who are left for dead. Benjamin the donkey closely resembles theskeptical people in Russia and outside of Russia. Benjamin was a critic whoalways said “I’ve seen that before” and “It’ll never work. ” Theskeptical people were not sure that the Russian Revolution would changeanything.
Animalism closely resembles Communism. Animalism is a system that saysthere are no owners. There are no rich and no poor. Workers get a better lifeand all the animals are equal.
Every animal owns the farm. Communism is a systemthat says there are no owners. There are no rich and no poor. All people areequal, and the governments own everything, but the people own the governments.
The animals of “Manor Farm” overthrow their human master after many years ofmistreatment. The animals learn how to read and write. Then the animals change”Manor Farm” to “Animal Farm. ” The animals came up with 7 commandmentsand they are: 1. “Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy. ” 2.
“Whatevergoes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend. ” 3. “No animal shall wearclothes. ” 4. “No animal shall sleep in a bed. ” 5.
“No animal shall drinkalcohol. ” 6. “No animal shall kill any other animal. ” 7.
“All animalsare equal. ” Then they decide to build a windmill. Led by the pigs, the farmanimals continue to do their work, only with more pride, knowing that they areworking for themselves, as opposed to working for their human master, Mr. Jones. Slowly over time the pigs gain power and take advantage of the other animals.
The pigs gain so much power that they become just as power hungry and corrupt astheir human master. All through the story, Napoleon messes up and breaks some ofthe commandments, but he changes them without anyone knowing. He changedcommandments 4, 5, 6, and 7 to: 4. “No animal shall sleep in a bed withsheets. ” 5. “No animal shall drink alcohol to excess.
” 6. “No animalshall kill another animal without cause. ” 7. “All animals are equal, butsome animals are more equal than others. ” The pigeons acted as messagecarriers, spreading propaganda between farms.
The pigeons spread Napoleon’swords from farm to farm, or in actual Russian Revolution, country to country. Inthe end of George Orwell’s tale, Animal Farm is much worse a place for thecommon animals than it had been previous to the revolution. The food was scarce,and the leadership was harsh and unruly. The workload was hard, and theconditions of life for the common animals had changed for the worse. The pigs,the leaders of Animal Farm, celebrate their victory and their entrance intohigh-society.
The lowly other animals still left on the farm, look on. GeorgeOrwell has created a masterpiece, which is excellent if it is without any priorknowledge to the Russian Revolution. This book does an excellent job of drawingparallels from the situation leading up to the Russian Revolution of 1917. Ithink Orwell is a genius because he has cleverly hidden the satire in such a waythat everything fits into the picture like a jigsaw puzzle.
Bibliography”Animal Farm. ” Comparison of characters to Russian Revolution. 1999. http://www. globalserve. net/~glamont/afrmruss.
html 6-1-99 8:02pm Stalin, Joseph. “Stalin, Joseph. ” New Standard Encyclopedia 1930ed. Stalin, Joseph. “History.
” The World Book Encyclopedia 1999ed.
