Animal Farm - Allegory

Animal Farm- Allegory Essay

Allegorical stories can be described as elaborate metaphors with two meanings. They are commonly written by authors to convey messages and beliefs to a broader range of audiences as complex and controversial events in the real world can be rearranged into a simple and more relatable form when published as allegories. George Orwell has used allegory in his novel Animal Farm to reflect and purposefully attack the Russian Revolution and its themes of totalitarianism and propaganda. He also used the characterisation of animals to openly criticise and satire historical figures and their displays of betrayal, manipulation and abuse of power.

Our modern understanding of the Russian Revolution and its nature as a totalitarian government is depicted vividly as an allegory in Animal Farm. After the revolution, the old leader is overthrown and the new communist government face many different issues as the pigs begin to use their knowledge to their own advantage. Squealer is a powerful tool in propaganda and the overall control of the other animals who are not as intellectual. This idea is reflected in real historical events as propaganda was and still is a major aspect of our governments and politicians, as it is their way of convincing and controlling the public’s opinion such as by using the media or giving speeches. When the pigs altered the seven laws of animalism that Animal farm was established on, the animals who were unconvinced were eventually made to believe the pigs were in fact great leaders. With squealer as their spokesman, the animals who aren’t educated don’t even realise they are being lied to, as they cannot read and therefore have no solid understanding of what is going on and cannot weigh the situation. The pigs successfully gain total control over the farm, and towards the end it quotes.

“There was nothing now but a single commandment. It ran:

All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.”

George Orwell has compressed the entire of the Russian Revolution and its political state into the form of a farm. He has utilised allegory here to speak to us on a basic yet meaningful level. We as the readers understand clearly from his allegory that his belief is strongly against totalitarian governments and how they used propaganda and knowledge wrongly to gain power over others.

Possibly the most crucial element of Orwell’s allegory is his usage of anthropomorphism of real human. All the animals on animal farm in fact reflect social groups. The pigs are political leaders, the sheep are the mindless followers, boxer the horse represent the workers, and Napoleon’s guard dogs are like the government’s police/army force. The pigs are the main characters, as the story progresses they are drawn into the life of power and in the end they are more or less so humans themselves. They slept on beds, wore clothes and held whips, they even drank and ate like humans.