Animal Farm
Animal FarmAnimalism Vs. Marxism Characters, items, and events found
in George Orwells book, Animal Farm, can be compared to
similar characters, items, and events found in Marxism and
the 1917 Russian Revolution. This comparison will be
shown by using the symbolism that is in the book with
similarities found in the Russian Revolution. Old Major was
a prized-boar that belonged to Farmer Jones. The fact that
Old Major is himself a boar was to signify that radical
change and revolution are, themselves, boring in the eyes of
the proletariat (represented by the other barnyard animals),
who are more prone to worrying about work and survival in
their everyday life. Old Major gave many speeches to the
farm animals about hope and the future. He is the main
animal who got the rebellion started even though he died
before it actually began. Old Major�s role compares to
Lenin and Marx whose ideas were to lead to the communist
revolution. Animal Farm is a criticism of Karl Marx, as well
as a novel perpetuating his convictions of democratic
Socialism. (Zwerdling, 20). Lenin became leader and
teacher of the working class in Russia, and their
determination to struggle against capitalism. Like Old Major,
Lenin and Marx wrote essays and gave speeches to the
working class poor. The working class in Russia, as
compared with the barnyard animals in Animal Farm, were a
laboring class of people that received low wages for their
work. Like the animals in the farm yard, the people is Russia
thought there would be no oppression in a new society
because the working class people (or animals) would own
all the riches and hold all the power. (Golubeva and
Gellerstein 168). Another character represented in the book
is Farmer Jones. He represents the symbol of the Czar
Nicholas in Russia who treated his people like Farmer Jones
treated his animals. The animal rebellion on the farm was
started because Farmer Jones was a drunk who never took
care of the animals and who came home one night, left the
gate open and the animals rebelled. Czar Nicholas was a
very weak man who treated his people similar to how
Farmer Jones treated his animals. The Czar made his
working class people very mad with the way he wielded his
authority and preached all the time, and the people suffered
and finally demanded reform by rebelling. The Czar said
�The law will henceforward be respected and obeyed not
only by the nation but also the authority that rules it - and
that the law would stand above the changing views of the
individual instruments of the supreme power.� (Pares 420).
The animal Napoleon can be compared as a character
representing Stalin in Russia. Both were very mean looking,
didn�t talk very much but always got what they wanted
through force. In one part of the book Napoleon charged
the dogs on Snowball, another animal. Stalin became the
Soviet Leader after the death of Lenin. He was
underestimated by his opponents who always became his
victims, and he had one of the most ruthless, regimes in
history. In was not till very many years later that the world
found out about the many deaths that Stalin created in
Russia during the Revolution. For almost 50 years the world
thought that the Nazis had done the killing...
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