Literature
Thesis: Symbolism and figures of speech in Orwell’s Animal Farm
i. Use of similes, metaphors and symbols in Animal Farm
A. A summary of Orwell’s Animal Farm
B. Setting of Animal Farm
C. Napoleon and Snowball
1. Figures of speech in Animal Farm
Introduction
Animal Farm by George Orwell is one of the best works of the author. Each character in Animal Farm stands for an important character of the Russian Revolution. Fascism, communism and animalism are displayed as illusions applied by the pigs, in order to satiate their greed for power. The book is a political allegory of the then Soviet Union’s history and is sometimes humorously known as ‘animallegory’. The book has been written as a beast fable which displays certain misadventures by animals. These misadventures have a direct link with all political events in the then Soviet Union from the year 1917 to the year 1943(Rodden, 72). The author wanted to convey to the readers that equality is never present in the real world. The general population never gets an opportunity to control the affairs of the state and there is an underlying cynicism in the novel that men who are decent are powerless. On the other hand, the novel has been interpreted by a set of readers as a display of Orwell’s disillusion with any political change and revolution (Letemendia, 127).
Thesis Statement
Animal Farm relates not only to the Russian Revolution but also shares similarities with the then American Revolution and the British Revolution. This is as per studies by politicians and sociologists from the year 1920. Orwell vividly uses diverse figures of speech like metaphor, simile and more importantly symbols. In effective literary writing, the author tries to convey maximum meaning using minimum possible words. This thesis statement will try to analyse the manner in which Orwell portrayed the characters and associated their links with important personalities from the Russian Revolution by extensively using figures of speech.
Setting of Animal Farm
This book was not only on the Russian Revolution but also conflicts experienced by George Orwell while he fought during the Spanish Civil War. The farm itself is based in Russia and the human beings on the farm are highlighted as the tsars of Russia who ruled over the nation prior to the revolution. The communist revolutionaries are represented by the pigs, the secret police are highlighted by the dogs and the other animals are workers.
Napoleon and Snowball
The plot starts with the oldest animal, Old Major calling the other animals to participate in a secret meeting. He tells them an idea to revolt against Mr. Jones, the cruel farm owner. Old Major dies after three days but the speech provides the animal food for thought. The pigs, considered as most intelligent among all the breeds take the duty to lead other animals. The period preparation witnesses the rise of two pigs, Napoleon and Snowball. Both are great orators and have certain leadership attributes. The animals rebel against Mr. Jones and successfully ouster the cruel farm owner. The task to manage the farm is taken by two intelligent pigs, Napoleon and Snowball. George Orwell intricately uses figures of speech in order to establish the character traits of both these pigs. Napoleon is hungry for power and wants to attain the status of an autocratic leader. This is witnessed in the second chapter when Napoleon assumes control over the food. He removes puppies with the excuse to ‘educate’ them. However, he trains the puppies to terrify other animals to obey him. Napoleon dismisses voting by considering it an unnecessary hassle. However, in reality, he violates one of the basic rules established by the firm by maintaining ‘all animals are equal but some are more equal than others’ (Kearney, 1996). He forcibly attains power by executing several animals in the barn. This is also a violation of the command ‘no animal shall kill another animal’. In the end, Napoleon attains the power of dictating over all the other animals in the farm. This represents the state of the then U.S.S.R. when Stalin became the dictator – a totalitarian state with an autocratic leader. By characterising Napoleon, Orwell vividly narrates the manner in which a dictator attains and then controls absolute power. Both are intelligent and know how to read and write. On the other hand, Snowball belongs to the moderate faction and believes in sharing and discussing ideas with others. He tries to educate the other animals but the other pigs do not help in this endeavour, which eventually fails. Snowball is full of ideas by which he may be able to enhance and change the farm. There are small factors like the competence displayed by Snowball, the farm’s condition after Mr. Jones, the ambitious nature of Napoleon, the stupidity displayed by the other animals and the puppy dogs whom Napoleon trains to be his guard and gain followers. However, Napoleon has one clear, concise notion in his mind – the notion to gain absolute power and rule over others. He is deceitful and shrewd and uses subterfuge to ensure that Snowball leaves the animal farm. After this, the pigs exploit other animals and do not heed regulations imposed after the initial rebellion. Protests lead to the death of several animals and finally Napoleon dictates over the farm. The author ends the novel by maintaining a metamorphosis of the pigs into human beings. This is referred in the sentence ‘The creatures outside looked from pig to man but already it was impossible to say which was which’ (Orwell, 159).
The allegory is well presented in this novel and replete with all the vices of a totalitarian state. The book subtly undermines the teachings of Engel and Marx that material progression attained by means of destruction provides a better life. Orwell, in the entire novel, uses subtle irony due to the changing modality of the animals in the farm. The crux of the novel is based on change. This can be displayed from the speech given by Old Major. ‘Man is the more than his bare skin’ (Orwell, 10). This is the first distinction used between capitalists and communists. The Old Major, in a manner prepares the animals for a revolution.
Figures of speech in Animal Farm
The entire book vividly uses symbols and there are some direct references to the text (Fadaee, 23). Old Major is based on the characters of either Lenin or Karl Marx and has an arbitrary and military behaviour. Snowball depicts the character of Trotsky with his beard and white hair and Napoleon, on the other hand, characterises Stalin. The initial chapter of Animal Farm depicts broad minded characters like Napoleon, Snowball, Old Major and Squealer. Prior to the Russian Revolution, there were broad-minded individuals like educators, clergies and journalists who are in favour of reformation and hence abandon the supporting regime. The next chapter narrates a revolution which the animals won. The narrator maintains ‘Now, as it turned out, the Rebellion was achieved much earlier and more easily than anyone had expected Jones was expelled and the Manor Farm was theirs’ (Orwell, 23, 25). This is synonymous to Soviet Union’s breakdown. This was mainly because the then government was not capable to resolve certain problems with respect to the political, military and economic situation in the state. Chapter 5 of the novel displayed that the moderate parties helped to control the government in the then U.S.S.R. This is displayed by the lines ‘Snowball’s plans for the windmill were fully worked out ’ (Orwell, 57). Symbolism is extensively used in this chapter. ‘The whole farm was deeply divided on the subject of the windmill. The animals formed themselves into two factions under the slogan “Vote for Snowball and the three day week” and “Vote for Napoleon and the full manger” (Orwell, 58 – 59). Post Soviet Union collapse, internal conflicts led to the formation of two groups – moderates and extremists. In the book, Napoleon is depicted as an extremist and Snowball is a moderate. These discrepancies eventually led to civil war in the then Soviet Union. Chapter 8 of the book displays the situation when Stalin became the dictator of the then Soviet Union. ‘All orders were now issued through Squealor as “our Leader, Comrade Napoleon”, and the pigs wanted to invent for him such titles as Father of all Animals, Terror of Mankind, Protector of the Sheep-fold, Ducklings’ Friend and the like’ (Orwell, 104 – 105). This depicts the ‘secret police’ formed by Stalin. This led other people to rule over the then Soviet Union. The exploitation and betrayal displayed by Napoleon in the animal farm instead of freeing them from the dominance displayed by human beings is similar to the increasing dissent and policies adapted by Stalin which benefitted only the elite class and instead suppressed the labour class.
Other than this, the author vividly used events and objects to depict incidents from the Russian Revolution. The Marxist expression is well represented by the expression of ‘Comrades’ used by Old Major in Chapter 1. The Russian Revolution is displayed in chapter 2 of the book when the animals organize a revolution in the farm. Chapter 3 mentions wild animals and the pigs. This is a symbolism used to mention the Mojiks and Belshoyks. The ‘order of the green banner’ in chapter 8 is an indirect reference to Lenin’s order. Chapter 6 vividly symbolizes the Rapalo contract signed between Germany and Russia in the year 1922 and this ended Russian boycott with Germany. In Animal Farm, this event is shown when Napoleon transacts with Willingdon and Whymper markets. In chapter 3, the narrator maintains that ‘everyone worked according to his capacity’. This is in accordance with the Marxian theory which maintains that all individuals should work as per their capacity and accordingly receive depending on their requirements (Hosseini, 32). Chapter 9 of the novel depicts the Festival of Labor’s Day. This was represented by the spontaneous demonstrations of the animals. Chapter 2 depicts the picture after Moses claims that he is well aware of an eerie country known as the ‘Sugar Candy Mountain’. In the year 1944, Stalin conversed with an American priest, Father Orlemansky in order to encourage the Catholic Priests to speak in favour of the policies adapted by Statin. However, this effort was fruitless. Chapter 3 of the book displays certain committees built by Trotsky in oratory, Politburo and establishing writing and reading classes. This was displayed by Snowball’s committees – for the cows, The Clean Tails committee, for the hens, the egg production committee, for the sheep the whiter wool movement and the wild comrade’s reduction committee (Fadaee, 25).
Other than extensive use of symbols, metaphors and simile, the structure, purpose and similarity add to make the novel more effective. The novel has vividly described the common traits of ruthlessness and cleverness displayed by the central characters portrayed by Snowball and Napoleon. The author has clearly used the concepts of ‘overthrow, betray, challenge and exile’ so as to vividly correspond the events at the farm with those in the Russian Revolution (Thagard, 135).
Conclusion
The academic work was intended to display the vivid usage of metaphors, similes and symbols in order to enlighten the imagination of the reader. After an analysis of the figures of speech used by the writer, it may be implied that Orwell wanted to convey his message in an indirect and implicit manner. Extensive use of the diverse figures of speech leads the reader not to clearly understand the storyline and it is critical to refer to the allegory used in this novel.
Works cited:
Orwell, George. “Animal Farm”. Literary Cavalcade, 52.1(1999).
Orwell, George. “Animal Farm”. U.K.: Harcourt (2003).
Fadaee, Elaheh. ‘Symbols, metaphors and similes in literature: A case study of “Animal Farm”’. Journal of English and Literature, 2.2(2011): 19 – 27. Print.
Hosseini, S. Animal Farm. Trans. Tehran: Doostan Publication, 2004. Print.
Kearney, A. ‘Orwell’s Animal Farm and 1984’. Academic Search Premier, 54.4(1996).
Letemendia, V.C. ‘Revolution on Animal Farm’. Journal of Modern Literature, 18.1(1992): 127 – 137. Print.
Rodden, John. ‘Appreciating animal farm in the new millennium’. Modern Age, (2003): 67 – 76. Print.
Thagard, P. ‘The brain is wider than the sky: analogy, emotion and allegory’. Metaphor and Symbol, 26(2011): 131 – 142. Print.
