One would be hard-pressed to find an allegoric story about a totalitarian regime as compelling as George Orwell’s Animal Farm. In this staggering political satire, farm animals bravely organize themselves and rebel against the drunken farmer who mistreats them. They then watch their revolution and the early stages of an equal animal society become a totalitarian regime under their corrupt leader. Orwell never hid that he was ruthlessly parodying the Russian Revolution of 1917 and Stalinism. Through the book, we recognize strong political themes brilliantly illuminated with wit, humour, and intellectual sharpness. Animal Farm is brief, simply written, and deserves to be labelled as one of the greatest fables of modern literature.
I went into this short novel expecting a extended version of a fable by Jean de La Fontaine and was pleasantly surprised. In addition to sharp insights into human behaviour, Orwell depicts the main elements of a totalitarian regime: tyrannical leadership, propaganda, the hardworking masses of people, and quiet skeptics who question leadership but are afraid to say anything.
Napoleon, the tyrant, is based on Joseph Stalin. He emerges as the leader of the revolution alongside his fellow pig, Snowball. He ends up chasing Snowball from the farm and begins a reign of terror. Napoleon controls all aspects the life on the farm with an iron fist. Orwell clearly illustrates the sentiment of terror that a tyrant instills into his people.
I find the character of Squealer the most fascinating and perhaps the most frightening one of the book. As Napoleon’s mouthpiece, he embodies perfectly the propaganda of a totalitarian government. Squealer’s mission is to convince the other animals that they haven’t seen what they indeed saw and that they haven’t heard what they actually heard. Throughout the book, he steadily makes sure that the animals understand that Napoleon only has their best interest at heart and is actually sacrificing himself for the greater good. Squealer’s use of language reveals the ins and outs of propaganda in a dictatorship or a totalitarian regime. Squealer knew when to simplify his language to stupefy the animals, and he knew when to complicate his language to confuse them.
The propaganda had different consequences on the animals of the farm. Boxer, the horse, never questions authority, and believes that Napoleon’s intentions are good. He progressively works himself to death. While Clover, a female horse is skeptical of Napoleon’s action but keeps silent. These two horses allegorically represent, on the one hand, the hardworking masses who keep their head down and do their work and, on the other hand, the part of the population that suspects the leader of violating the rules that they established, yet they keep quiet.
Through the additional characters, Orwell also shows the exploitation of religion, the flight of the Russian bourgeoisie, the manipulation of socialist utopia, and much more.
Orwell’s use of language is simple and accessible to anyone. His dialogues are straight to the point. One would notice that his use of controlling questions in his dialogues shows the extent to which rhetoric can be manipulated. I also find Orwell’s use of repetition very effective to reinforce a given message.
The book flows from page to page and is never dull. If you haven’t read this book yet, I highly encourage you to do so. If allegoric stories aren’t your thing, please give it a try as George Orwell crafted an iconic political satire.
4/5
