The animal farm reflects the Russian Revolution. First, the characters in this novel reflect the peoples who were involved in the Russian Revolution. The two leaders, Snowball and Napoleon, were actually Leon Trotsky and Joseph Stalin. Leon Trotsky was a compassionate and intelligent leader. He shares many traits with Snowball. Snowball was popular among the animals, and so was Leon Trotsky among the people. On the other hand, Stalin is similar with Napoleon. They are both cunning and cruel. They were both a powerful dictators.
There are many other animals that represent the people in the war. Most of the animals represent the workers of Russia. Especially Boxer and Clover, two faithful horses, represents the workers and peasants of Russia. Because the two horses are unsure about many things that happen around them and are not very intelligent, they are easily tricked by the pigs. The pigs represent the intellectual group. They were the ones with the power and controlled the whole farm. This group is called “intelligentsia”, and they were the ones who controlled the Russian Revolution. Moses, Mr. Jones’s tamed crow, represents the Orthodox Church. The Sugarcandy Mountain that he keeps talking about represents the utopia in the afterlife that the Church promised. This weakens the will of the animals to work hard. The same thing happened with the Church. It weakened the Revolutionary thoughts of the workers and peasants. Mollie, a selfish and pretty mare, represents the capitalist class. She is only interested in rich and luxury.
When the farm was under Mr. Jones’s control, it represented the time when Russia was under a part-feudal and part-capitalist system. Mr. Jones gets everything from the animals without working a lot himself. Mr. Jones represents the king, Nicholas II. Although the farm started out well, with good ideas and support, it ends with the pigs controlling everything and becoming a dictator. The same thing happens with the Russian Revolution. The noble ideas which started out the socialism ended up becoming totalitarianism. Instead of getting rid of selfish individual ideas, everybody had to work for the wealth of the intelligentsia. Both of the revolutions which were supposed to stop the mistreatment of the workers and make a society where everybody is equal didn’t work out. The intellectual ones got all the power and wealth, and the poor workers always worked for them.
First I didn’t know Why George Orwell wrote this novel. I thought if the summary of the novel is very similar with the history, there was no point of the novel. However, by putting animals instead of humans, he gave the readers a clearer message. We notice that how absurd the whole farm became. By this, we see how power could change the humans in a similar way.
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