Animal Farm Essay
“What issues does Orwell’s novel Animal Farm raise, and how does the text reflect in particular historical manner?”
The text Animal Farm by George Orwell raises issues on power, corruption and manipulative language. One of Orwell's goals in writing Animal Farm was to portray the Russian Revolution of 1917. Many of the characters and events of Orwell's novel reflect those of the Russian Revolution.
The corrupting effect of power is one of the central themes of Animal Farm. Joseph Stalin, the leader of the Soviet Union became evil and corrupted as he killed millions of people when he was in full power. The pigs in Animal Farm became corrupted through power similar to Stalin. Even though all the animals are supposed to be equal, the pigs begin to get benefits for themselves because they do not work as shown at the beginning of chapter 3 in this quote, “The pigs did not actually work, but directed and supervised the others. With their superior knowledge it was natural that they should assume the leadership.” By the end of the novel, the pigs have control over the rest of the animals into doing everything they want and they begin to resemble the human’s evil leadership and it becomes impossible to draw out the difference ‘man and pig.’ Thus, Communism and Animalism are both simply principals that have no corrupted thoughts but when the pigs start gaining power, they become so corrupt.
Orwell shows the thematic importance in the power of language in Animal Farm. Stalin controlled the people through a number of ways; fear and propaganda were just two. His use of propaganda had control and power over the people of the Soviet Union. At the same time, Stalin’s use of executions was used to make sure that his people could not have any other option to his leadership. The pigs are the only ones who develop language as a means of power and their influential language manipulates and enslaves the...