The Role Of Allegory In George Orwell's Animal Farm

The critically acclaimed and widely controversial novel Animal Farm by George Orwell is an allegory (or fable) about a farm and its animals revolting against their cruel owner and becoming their own independent farm as free and equal animals. The characters and actions represent Communist Russia allegorically to provide a further understanding of the history. Several animals played a large role in the novel, such as, Snowball, Napoleon and Boxer, who represent Joseph Stalin, Leon Trotsky and Communist Russia’s working class. First, we have Snowball. Snowball is one of the leaders at the beginning of the revolution and his real-life counterpart is Leon Trotsky. The two share very similar traits and readers can easily identify Snowball as Trotsky, “At the meetings, Snowball often won over the majority by his brilliant speeches,” (31) as Trotsky was known to be a great speaker and both are equally charming, “Snowball was a more vivacious pig than Napoleon, quicker in speech and more inventive,” (9). In Animal Farm Snowball is viscously run off the farm by Napoleons army of dogs, “At this there was a terrible baying sound outside, and nine enormous dogs wearing brass-studded collars came bounding into the barn. They dashed straight for snowball, who only sprang from his place just in time to escape their snapping jaws. In a moment he was out of the door and they were after him. Too amazed and frightened to speak, all the animals crowded through the door to watch the chase … one of them all but closed his jaws on Snowball’s tail, but Snowball whisked it free just in time. Then he put on an extra spurt and, with a few inches to spare, slipped through a hole in the hedge and was seen no more,” (35-36). Trotsky’s escape happened in a similar fashion: brutal and narrow. Both Trotsky and Snowball share a love for the military aspect of the revolution and contributed heavily to both. Trotsky studied military tactics and pushed for military advancement (the windmill) as did Snowball, “Who had studied an old book of Julius Creaser’s campaigns which he had found in the farmhouse, was in charge of the defensive operations,” (26). Orwell’s interpretations of Trotsky were clear and well written and he created a clear link between the …show more content…
Stalin and Napoleon both share very similar personalities as Stalin was said to be a “cold and unaffectionate man” much like Napoleon is depicted in the novel, “… was a large, rather fierce-looking Berkshire on the farm, not much of a talker but with a reputation for getting his own way,” (9). Stalin and Napoleon commit horrible acts to their citizens / fellow farm animals. Under Stalin’s rule an estimated 26 million deaths were directly and indirectly his responsibility. Orwell uses the rebellion of the hens to illustrate the mass forced-farmers famine, “Napoleon acted swiftly and ruthlessly. He ordered the hens’ rations to be stopped, and decreed that any animal giving so much as a grain of corn to a hen should be punished by death,” (51) in comparison to the Soviets sealing off the boarders of Ukraine preventing any food from entering the country, killing an estimated 6-7 million people. The many heinous acts Napoleon commits throughout the novel are similar to Stalin’s, both of these cruel and brutal personalities succeeded in abusing