Animal Farm by George Orwell: A Complete Guide of Shocking Tale!

When George Orwell is mentioned, his world-famous novel 1984 comes to mind. Whenever people complain about politicians or think that they do not live in a sufficiently democratic country, they immediately refer to this famous book. However, British author Orwell has another masterpiece of political satire that perhaps has not received the value it deserves. His book “Animal Farm” deserves at least as much attention as his book 1984.

In fact, if we consider that the spirit of communism was spreading in waves at the time the book was written, we understand how great a mastery it required to write this book. We should also take into account that at that time, a political atmosphere was prevailing when the Cold War was about to begin.

In this book, our author has emphasized that it is fundamentally a human problem rather than a system problem. In other words, the main theme of this book is that it will be difficult to live in a world where everyone will be equal and happy without getting rid of the selfishness and self-interest in people. In other words, this situation will not change whether the system of government is liberalism, capitalism or communism.

Introduction to Animal Farm: A Brief Overview

You will find Animal Farm, which is about 100 pages, quite fluent from the moment you pick it up and start reading. The plot begins at the very beginning of the book and you may finish reading 100 pages without ever leaving it. Perhaps there are very few countries with socialist regimes today, but what is actually analysed in this book is the human being and the social and political relations network with other people.

Without solving this intricate network of relations, it is very difficult for society to achieve social consensus as a whole and live in peace. The work deals with this subject quite realistically with the analogies it makes on animal species.The farm in the book represents a country. The animal species on the farm also represent the different classes of people in that country. For example, horses and donkeys represent the working class. Pigs represent the ruling and political upper elite. In addition, people are portrayed as enemies of the capitalist system and the bourgeois class in this short story.

The Animal Farm book, which is a heavy criticism of communism, implicitly criticizes Soviet Socialist Russia and Stalin, which existed at the time it was written. At this point, the revolutionary animal species that set out with the principle that all people are equal change over time and at the end of the road, just like a capitalist society, the pigs exploit and starve all other animals as the boss and ruling class. Not only that, the pig ruling group also slaughters the animals that oppose them in front of the eyes of the other animals.

The Plot Summary of Animal Farm

The book Animal Farm begins with the old master pig named Major, the leader of the animals on the farm, telling all the other animals about the dream he had one night. The master who takes the podium first asks why they are not fed enough and are exploited so ruthlessly by humans.

Then he says that if they were allowed to use their own resources and if there was no human race, all animals would live equally and much happier and more prosperous. This speech actually gives clues about the “revolution” they want to make in the future. He states that if they manage to overthrow and expel Mr. Jones, the owner of the farm, they will live much more equally and prosperously. In the course of events, the master pig, who is already very old, dies and then two pigs named Snowball and Napoleon are determined as the new leaders. From here on, events take a very different turn.

In this valuable work, the animals will fight two great battles against the people who want to take back the farm in order to protect their freedom, the “Battle of the Cowshed” and the “Battle of the Windmill”, and emerge victorious. One day, when their owner Mr. Jones forgot to feed them and they were left hungry, they started a rebellion and kicked him out with a revolution, and under the leadership of the pigs, they changed the name of the farm to “Animal Farm” with a new ideological understanding they called “Animalism” (in analogy with socialism). In this direction, they determined seven basic principles and hung them on the wall.

Key Themes in Animal Farm: Corruption and Rebellion

According to them, they will actually kick out the human who represents capital and the bourgeoisie according to the author, and they will now live equally and freely in this farm, that is, in a country where only the working class, that is, animal species, dominate. They will now produce what they produce for themselves and will definitely live a happy life without any exploitation.

In this context, the 7 basic principles of animalism have been determined as follows:

1. Anyone who walks on two legs is an enemy.
2. Anyone who walks on four legs or has wings is always a friend.
3. No animal will sleep in a bed.
4. No animal will drink alcohol.
5. No animal will be able to kill another animal.
6. No animal will be able to wear clothes.
7. All animals are equal.

In addition, every Sunday, all the animals will be gathered and decisions will be made regarding the farm by taking common ideas and opinions. There will be much more feed and rest opportunities than before. The reader is happy in this part of the book. On the other hand, the fact that some of the feed obtained at the end of the first harvest and the milk milked from the cows will be reserved only for the pigs will give the first signal flare.

In time, the more evil character of the two leaders, Napoleon, will set the wild dogs he feeds on Snowball and make him run away from the farm, declaring him a traitor. Afterwards, in front of the reader’s eyes, the pigs will become the superior race of the farm and Napoleon, the only leader left, will gradually become a dictator.

Character Analysis: Napoleon, Snowball, and More

Sometimes to build windmills and sometimes to collect more harvest, animals other than pigs and dogs will take much less food and work much harder than before. In addition, even the symbol of the revolution, “Beasts of England“, will be banned by the order of the great leader Comrade Napoleon on the grounds that it encourages rebellion.

In time, other animals will be enslaved contrary to the philosophy of animalism and those who object to this will be slaughtered. At the end of the book, Napoleon will now do joint trade with people and exploit the entire farm.

The principle that all animals are equal will be translated by the dictator manager as “all animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others” at the end of the book, which will surprise the reader, and pigs will be declared the superior race. They will be fed more and do less work than others. The basic message here is that in every system, people at the management level tend to exploit others by acting in line with their own interests over time.

There are detailed characters from almost every animal species in the book Animal Farm. Now we will try to analyse the main characters. First of all, we should state that the main character of the book is a system, namely communism. Because everywhere and under every condition, it is implied that this system has transformed over time and is worse than before.

Symbolism and Allegory in Animal Farm

If we list the characters of the Animal Farm book:

• Mr. Jones: He is the former human owner of the farm and escapes after the revolution. After a while, he tries to take back his farm with a gun, but he cannot succeed and dies in a mental hospital.

• Major-Big Chief: He is the pig who was the leader of the animals before the revolution. At the beginning of the book, he tells them his dream and gives them the spirit of revolution.

• Snowball: He is one of the two leaders of the revolution. He is a well-intentioned leader who also wants the good of other animals. In a short time, the evil character will be eliminated by Napoleon.

• Napoleon: This character, which is very clearly represented by Stalin in the book, deviates from the philosophy of animalism, which implies Marxism, over time. He gradually becomes a dictator and acquires bourgeois habits. On his path to equality, he turns into a bloody tyrant and imperialist.

• Squealer: In the work, he is like a propaganda minister who conveys the dictator’s orders to the people. He manipulates every evil and tells it as a good thing to the people, namely the animals, and often convinces them. He is also a pig, and on the other hand, it is possible to say that he represents today’s media power.

• Boxer: He is a well-intentioned and extremely hard-working horse, loyal to his leader. He represents the working class in Animal Farm. Towards the end of the course of events, the price of his loyalty to the leader will be sent to the horse butcher to be slaughtered. He too will be a victim, just like the workers who paid the price of the revolution.