Animal Farm Parallel symbolism

Animal Farm Parallel symbolism

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The novel, Animal Farm, by George Orwell, is the story of a group of animals who rebel against their farmer, whom they characterize as a tyrant. Under the command of the two main characters, Napoleon and Snowball, both pigs, the animals revolt and form a new type of government called Animalism. Orwell’s premise in the book is that if one person is given great power, that power will not only change the person, but also change his moral outlook on life.Similarly, this premise has been posited in many instances throughout history and literature. One such instance is the rise of Communism in Russia. Through symbolism, Communism plays a significant role throughout the book such as Old Major’s uplifting speech, causing the animals to rebel against their tyrant farmer.

Snowball, being the pig equivalent to Lenin, was chased out of animal farm by Napoleon, who is the animal correspondent to Stalin. Both of whom were the Communist leaders of Russia.The similarity between the people of Russia and the animals in Animal Farm is that both rebelled against their leaders, only to be taken advantage of and lied to by their new leaders. A prime example of this is when Squealer, who symbolizes propaganda, not only alters the seven commandments established by Old Major at the beginning of the revolt, but completely changed the laws in the favor of the pigs. “They had thought the Fifth Commandment was ‘No animal shall drink alcohol,’ but there were two words that they had forgotten.Actually the Commandment read: “No animals shall drink alcohol to excess.

” (Orwell 109) The reader is shown here that the pigs have changed the Fifth Commandment, set and agreed upon by all the animals at the launch of the revolt, because of the pigs thirst for alcohol. In order to make their command acceptable to the rest of the farm, they change the Fifth Commandment by writing “to excess” on the end. Another example of the pigs taking advantage of the other animals is when Napoleon has a throbbing penchant to begin sleeping in the farmer’s abandoned bed. ’Muriel,’ she said, ‘read me the Fourth Commandment. Does it not say something about never sleeping in a bed? ’ With some difficulty Muriel spelt it out.

‘It says, ‘No animal shall sleep in a bed with sheets,’” (Orwell 67) Once again, the pigs are striving to become more like their human counterparts. Because the pigs wanted to sleep in a bed, they simply used their advantage of “adroitness” in order to change the laws. The pigs used the same tactic of qualifying an absolute commandment by writing “with sheets” at the end of the commandment.The pigs knew that this action would be successful because the dimwitted animals follow everything the rules say. Therefore, as the book progresses, more illustrations of the pig’s transformation from animal to human are presented, such as the pigs buying products, conversing with humans, and even walking on two feet.

In conclusion, history and great literature have shown that even if a person with good morals and high spirits is given absolute

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power, he or she eventually will be corrupted by that power.

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