Discussion Topic

Allegory  in Animal Farm

Summary:

In George Orwell's Animal Farm, the animals' entrance into the barn in Chapter 1 reveals their personalities and social hierarchy. Pigs and dogs take front seats, showing eagerness and authority, while horses demonstrate care and gentleness. Mollie is self-indulgent, and the cat is indifferent. Chapters 6 and 7 allegorize Stalin's USSR, depicting hard labor and scapegoating akin to Stalin's purges. The initial chapters establish the pigs' ambition for power, paralleling the Russian Revolution and foreshadowing internal strife threatening the revolutionary ideals.

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What is the allegory in chapters 6 and 7 of Animal Farm by George Orwell?

In chapter 6 of Animal Farm, the animals are still firmly committed to making a success of the Animalist revolution. To this end, they're prepared to work incredibly hard, even if it brings them considerable hardship and suffering.

As well as working hard to produce more food, the animals toil long hours to build a windmill, which it is hoped will make the farm self-sufficient in energy. The animals are prepared to do this despite the fact that they're given less food to eat. In fact, they will receive no food at all if they refuse to work on Sundays.

Here, we can see an allegory of life under Stalin in the USSR. During the early years of his regime, Stalin embarked on an ambitious plan of mass-industrialization designed to help the Soviet Union catch up with the West. For the most part, the working people were strongly committed...

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to making a success of this project even though there was a lot less food available thanks to the man-made famine caused by Stalin's collectivization policy.

By the time we reach chapter 7, the windmill, which the animals worked so hard to build has been wrecked by a powerful storm. But Napoleon insists that it was deliberately destroyed by Snowball, who apparently is committed to sabotaging the gains of the revolution. This is nonsense, of course, but Napoleon is determined to make a scapegoat of his arch-enemy in order to deflect attention from the failings of his regime.

Much the same thing happened in the USSR under Stalin. The program of mass-industrialization was beset by all manner of technical problems due largely to inadequate planning and over-ambitious targets. But instead of addressing those problems, the regime sought to put the blame on so-called wreckers and saboteurs, many of whom were accused of being supporters of Trotsky, Stalin's bitter enemy and the man upon whom the character of Snowball is based in Animal Farm.

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What are the allegories in chapters 7 and 8 of Animal Farm?

An allegory is a story which has a deeper meaning. We can find many examples of allegory throughout Animal Farm. In Chapter Seven, Orwell uses allegory when Napoleon suddenly sets his guard dogs on four pigs. When Boxer intervenes, the "tumult" dies down, but the worst it yet to come:

The four pigs waited, trembling, with guilt written on every line of their countenances. Napoleon now called upon them to confess their crimes.

This scene is allegorical because Orwell uses it to represent the Stalinist Purges which took place in Soviet Russia between 1936 and 1938. In this bloody episode of history, Stalin (represented here by Napoleon) eradicated his enemies through a series of "elaborately staged show trials" which resulted in their deaths. (See the first reference link provided.) Just like the four pigs, these men had not really committed any crimes; they were simply victims of Stalin's paranoia.

In Chapter Eight, Orwell uses allegory to further reinforce his link between Napoleon and Stalin. The poem "Comrade Napoleon" is reminiscent of the Cult of Personality, which reached its peak in the Soviet Union in the 1930s. This cult transformed Stalin from an ordinary man into an "almighty leader and saviour of Russia" and helped to maintain his absolute power over the people. (See the second reference link provided.)

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What is the allegorical significance of the first two chapters of Animal Farm?

Although Animal Farm is a polemic against totalitarianism in general, as an allegory it sticks fairly closely to the events of the Russian Revolution. For Orwell's original audience, perhaps the first clear sign that the beast fable they are reading is an allegory of Soviet communism is Old Major's use of the word "comrades." This is a word that had become thoroughly associated with international socialism, and was liberally sprinkled through the literature of the movement. Following this signal, anyone who has even a rudimentary acquaintance with Marxism will recognize the old boar's speech as a distillation of The Communist Manifesto, with the animals taking the place of the proletariat.

Chapter 2 makes the allegory clearer and adds detail. Mr. Jones the farmer is not merely any member of the bourgeoisie to be overthrown. He is the Tsar of Russia, who still inspires loyalty in some of the animals. The tsar had not only a political role, but a special religious status, which gave him the backing of the Orthodox Church. The role of the church is played by Moses the Raven, with his tales of Sugarcandy Mountain, a myth which the rationalist pigs do not altogether manage to dispel. Chapter 2 contains the decisive act of Revolution itself, but ends with the disappearance of the milk, signifying that the corruption of the Revolution begins immediately.

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