Animal Farm - An Allegory
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Old Major Mr. Jones Napoleon Snowball Boxer |
Mollie the nine dogs Squealer Benjamin the sheep |
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the pre-rebellion meeting the rebellion the principles of Animalism (seven commandments) leadership (Napoleon Snowball) Napoleon's nine dogs neighbour farms have fear and there are unrests |
Jones try to recapture the farm Snowball's ideas (example: put their dung directly into the field) power struggle (Napoleon Snowball) putsch (Napoleon becomes dictator) the building of the windmill suppression (Napoleon!) Execution of the 'criminal' Animals |
We came to the result, that this story describes the happenings in USSR after 1917.
We think Old Major is the personification of Karl Marx and Lenin. Marx was the first who had the idea of communism. Lenin is like the father for the Russians. He spread his idea of the new world to the other people. (Just as Old Major did.)
Jones represents the old imperial power, the lost czar, who had to abdicate the throne.
Snowball must be Trotsky, the intellectual, gifted leader. With all his plans and new ideas for a better life.
Napoleon reflects the iron man - J. Stalin - who expelled Trotsky (Snowball) from the farm respectively from the party. He's a clever and determined organizer. He's the military type of leader.
We don't think that Boxer only stands for one (wo)man. He could stand for the whole working class - the "untiring proletariat". Like that, it makes more sense.
She could represent that part of the people which already had had a nice life before the revolution and - because of that - preferred to escape.
The dogs - Napoleon's proper army - stand for the red army which defends Stalin from his enemies.
He could stand for the general manipulation of facts with the help of the media and the whole propaganda of the Bolsheviks. He is a sort of Radio in the story, isn't he? He always turns black to white and persuades all the others.
Benjamin could represent the old, resigned and experienced part of the people.
We think the sheep stand for a less intelligent part of the people. They can be easily manipulated to Napoleon's (Stalin's) advantage. They are in one way a tool for him.
It means the general unhappiness of the people influenced by the pressure of the opposition parties which predicated the inefficiency of the government.
Because of all the previous reasons and because of the food shortage (in the book: Jones doesn't feed the animals) the rebellion happened in USSR (October revolution).
A new government was formed after the rebellion. The leader was Lenin. He called Stalin and Trotsky to his side. (This is a point where our "Animal Farm" is incorrect: Lenin alias Old Major was already dead in the story - but not in history!)
They made a constitution (the seven commandments). Everything became nationalised (industry, banks,).
Now the reconstruction began (in Animal Farm: the assembly of all the animals and the work schedule). The Bolsheviks could count on the help of the devoted and euphoric working class ( animals were happy, it was better than before, nobody stole, they were happy to work), the real revolutionaries. So the nationalism became more and more stronger ( Assembly: the animals hoist the flag and sing "beasts of England"). The most of them (especially the working class) saw only that communists were good and all the others bad ( the sheep's maximum).
Where were the big landowners, who saw their own land shared to the workers? ( Jones' farm was now the animal's farm) They'd had time to organize several troops and tried - supported by France and England - to reconquer the power. Their try didn't succeed. ( the "battle of the cowshed")
The economic revolution could now go further. The USSR began to commerce with other countries ( Mr. Whymper!), and it was also finally acknowledged by the others ( The farmers called now the farm "Animal Farm")
A new economy began in 1928 with the inauguration of the first Five-year plan. The plan wanted to convert the USSR from an agricultural country to a leading industrial power. (This whole process is shown in the idea of the windmill in our story.) But Lenin died and the power struggle between Stalin and Trotsky began. ( Napoleon Snowball)
Trotsky dreamed of a worldwide revolution - Stalin wanted this only in one country Snowball was the one who sent the pigeons to the other farms to spread the ideology of Animalism).
Stalin didn't want to have a bilateral government. He wanted to be the one and only leader. In the end he expelled Trotsky and became the leader.
His power was guaranteed by the red army ( the nine dogs). Helped by it, he suppressed every kind of revolts and unrests.
The middle of the 1930s were marked by a drastic purge from the Communist party and the government of all elements alleged to be in opposition to the policies of Stalin. ( The executions of the 'criminal' animals by Napoleon's dogs)
We guess the two neighboured farms ( "Foxwood" and "Pinchfield") show the two states Great Britain and France. They are "not best friends". (Like in the book!) Both of them were afraid because of communism.
The described story in "Animal Farm" is very complex. There are a lot of parallels between the story and the history. The fact that not every animal stands for one single person and not every happening describes exactly one in history makes it very interesting to search a solution or an explanation for them. We think that there are further parallels in the story which we haven't noticed. Also there will be more in the rest of the book.
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