In Animal farm, George Orwell uses the setting of an animal farm to satirically describe his views of the communist revolution in Russia. He paints a very vivid picture of the events before, during and after the revolution. The characters are thinly veiled and offer enough clues to the readers so that they can recognise the true personalities they represent.
He uses these characters allegorically to express his disappointment with the corruption of the communist ideal.To start with, the pigs that came up with an idea to throw the humans out are the equivalent of the 'Politburo' which started the communist ideology in Russia. Old Major has a dream in which he sees the animals overthrow the humans. He then sets rules as to how the farm should be run, Animalism. This event in the book represents the establishment of a communist ideal and the writing of the Communists' Manifesto.
Old Major unfortunately dies before all the animals get together and chase the humans out of the farm and enforce the laws told to them by him. This represents the overthrowing of the Russian monarchs and the establishment of the Soviet Union. From this point on the expectations were high for the prosperity of both the animals in Animal Farm and the people of the Soviet Union.The pigs being the animals with the most superior knowledge in the farm take charge of running it. The pigs are headed by two equally talented pigs Napoleon and Snowball. They are supposed to represent Joseph Stalin and Leon Trotsky.
The pigs however, did not abide by Major's rules as the power they now possessed was to intimidating. The pigs would order all the animals to labour, but they would never do any labour themselves. They would tell all the animals to pick fruits and to milk the cows. However the pigs would intelligently convince all the animals that it was absolutely necessary for the pigs to have all the milk and fruits as it was for the pig's good health. The pigs even start fighting within themselves for dominance.
(Quote) This represents the new elite class of Russians, the Soviets. This was an absolute deviation from the original intention of the revolution.The pigs needed a mean to cover up the corruption done by them from the other animals. The pigs came up with the idea of utilising a propagandist who would mislead and distort the truth.
This propagandist is none other than Squealer. He is representative of the Soviet Union's Ministry of Information or Pravda, both mediums of propaganda for the USSR. The job of Squealer was to maintain the superiority of the 'ruling' pigs (i.e.
Politburo). (Quote) The pig's corruption was to such an extent that they had to constantly keep changing the laws. However, some of the other animals were a bit intelligent and remembered the old laws. It is part of Squealer's job to convince the other animals that they are wrong and the pigs are right. Again these are attempts taken by the pigs in order to cover up the failure of the revolution.
Furthermore, the largest failure of the revolution was the continuous working of the other animal. The animal would be force to labour for long hours and in the end they would die without being able to enjoy the fruits of their labour. This is an exact representation of what happens in the Soviet Union when people were taken to Siberia to work in the mines and then they would never return. The perfect example for this is Boxer the Horse. He represents the hard working class who constantly remained faithful to the Soviet.
Boxer throughout the book dedicates his life for the development of the farm. (Quote) He even volunteers to work overtime most of the times. One fine day when he is hurt and wishes to retire from the work force the pigs sell him off to the slaughter house just to finance a tray of beer for themselves. This is preposterous behaviour on the part of the pigs as they have gone down to the limit of killing the best and the most hardworking animal on the farm just because he is hurt, wishes to retire and will not do any labour.
This strong imagery of the hardships of the common man demonstrates the deep anguish felt by Orwell for the victims of the revolution.The most tragic consequence of the failure of the revolution is the pigs slowly becoming humans. The pigs sequentially break each and every one of the established laws of Animalism. They finally do the most opposite thing according to Animalism by having human habits (e.
g. gambling, drinking, walking upright etc.). The pigs even befriend their old foes, humans, these people who had once suppressed and enslaved them. (Quote) Orwell reaches the zenith of disappointment at this point and says that it was hard to differentiate between humans and pigs.
