GEORGE ORWELL: ANIMAL FARM

GEORGE ORWELL: ANIMAL FARM

AUTHOR’S BACKGROUND

George Orwell (real name Eric Arthur Blair) was born in Bengal, Indian, in 1903. His father was an officer in the Indian Customs and Excise Department. He started his schooling at South Coast Preparatory School and from there went to Eton College (one of the most prestigious colleges in England then)

Blair served in the Indian imperial Police from 1922 to 1927. He made use of his experience during the service to write Burmese Days in 1934. Having become dissatisfied with his role as an Assistant Superintendent of Police in Burma, he left and spent the next two years in Paris doing all types of odd jobs. While in Paris, he lived in very sordid conditions and his unpalatable experience led to his writing Down and Out Paris and London in 1933. He moved from one poorly paid job to another which experience provided very rich materials for his writings – A Clergyman’s Daughter (1935) and Keep the Aspidistra Flying (1936).

He became a professed socialist and spent the rest of his life defending and propagating his own brand of democratic socialism. His book, The Road to Wigran Pier (1937), is a creative report of on working class life in the North of England. Apart from his political activities, he was also a fine journalist. During World War II, he worked for some time in the Indian service of the British Broadcasting Corporation. In 1943 he joined the London Tribune and wrote a regular column. ‘As I Please’, which he featured political and literary comments. He was at the same time a regular contributor to The Observer, Manchester Evening News, Partisan Review and New Leader.

In 1945, Orwell published one of his notable books, Animal Farm, which has placed him in literary limelight to date. This book is an anti—utopian novel which is cast in the form of an animal satire. It takes a swipe at Stalinist Russia and of course, other betrayed revolutions and totalitarian regimes. Short and effective, its artistic and political aims are perfectly fused and it is probably the most widely read of Orwell’s works. He suffered from tuberculosis for a long time, but in spite of this he wrote 1984 which he published in1949. That same year he got married to Sonia Brownwell. He died in London in early 1950 from poor health and exhaustion.

 TEXTUAL BACKGROUND AND SETTING

This book is based on the first thirty years of the Soviet Union (now decentralized into various nation states), a real society pursuing the ideal of equality. The author argues in the book, through satire, that this kind of society has never worked before and would not in any future. Throughout the 1930s Orwell had been skeptical about the socio-political situation in Soviet Russia; in Spain, he saw Spanish communists’ as directionless bunch of opportunists who were being teleguided by Germany and Russia. In the late 1930s, news reached the West of the Infamous Purge Trials which took the lives of three million people and sent countless others to forced labor camps in order to make Stalin’s power absolute. In 1939, Stalin signed a non-aggression pact with Hitler which made the Germans to over-run Poland and Czechoslovakia. Orwell’s indignant reaction to all these provoked him to write Animal Farm.

Allusions are made to events in the Soviet Revolution. In fact, each event of the story has a historical parallel. The rebellion in chapter 2 represents the October 1917 Revolution in Russia; the Battle at Cowshed represents the Civil War after the Revolution (chapter 4); Mr. Jones and the farmers represent the loyalist Russians and foreign forces who tried to dislodge the Bolsheviks; Mr. Frederick stands for Hitler, while Mr. Pilkington of ‘Foxwood’ represents Churchill of England. The hens revolts stands for the peasants’ revolts against collectivized agriculture.

The physical setting of a farm is quite ideal for Animal Farm. Life here is simple rustic unlike the hustle and bustle of urban life typical of most cities. This setting is appropriate to the pastoral and nostalgic vision of Old Major . it prepares the background for the birth and development of a new society.

The form of the novel, satire, is helped by this isolated and closed society. Satire thrives best on closed societies – a ship, a farm, a lonely village, an island, etc., - to make a simplified description of life more creditable. In another way, the setting is peasant and pastoral, offering the most vivid possible contrast to the direction the Animal Farm society takes. Although appropriate to Old Major, the setting is inappropriate to the authoritarian society of Napoleon. The scene of the knoll after the purge trial illustrates this. We see Clover here surveying the beautiful landscapes and wondering what has gone wrong in putting Old Major’s vision into practice. It is impossible for her to believe that bloodshed and cruelty could occur here to disturb serenity of the pastoral/simple life. The story is set in England to remind his people that it could happen there.

PLOT

Animal Farm is a small condensed satire. Another title that can be given to the book is A Fairy Story. It is an interesting, witty tale of a farm house whose oppressed animals are capable of speech and reason. They came together as a united force to overcome their cruel master and thereafter set up a revolutionary government. They are betrayed by the evil-power-hungry-pigs. This is made clear by their leader Napoleon and they are eventually forced to return to their original servitude. This shows that it is only the leadership that has changed.

On another level, perhaps more serious than the above account, it is a political allegory, a symbolic tale which more or less follows the history of Soviet Russia, from the days before the Revolution to the time of Orwell’s writing. Events and incidents have been compressed and sometimes changed to adapt the sequence to the demands of the novel structure. However, the main purpose of the writer is to teach a political lesson. Actual historical events have been woven into the storyline to give the work a good measure of credibility.

The combination of a fairly simple plot and plausible characterization of the animal results in a deceptively simple book and this is certainly why the novel has such an instant impact on the reader. Some incidents that are very important to the plot are treated with deliberate irony and understatement. For instance, after the purge trial, true reign of terror is begun by the dogs, the secret police. This is told in a line or so. Squealer goes about justifying the new order Orwell writes:

            …three dogs who happened to be with him growled so

            threateningly that the animals accepted his explanation

                        further question.

Thus scenes and incidents plus narrative passages are used by the author to move the story along.

The seven commandments are on effective structural device. Their-stage-by- stage alteration marks the pigs ‘progressive rise to power and lends the narrative a traffic inevitability. The pigs gradual acquisition privileges – apples, milks, house, whisky, beer, clothes etc. – leads to the final identification of pigs and human as communist and capitalist.

Also worth nothing in the plot of Orwell’s use of time factors and devices, every time there is a lapse in the narrative, the relationship of the next action is specified: ‘early in March’. ‘All through that summer’, and so on. The months and seasons are carefully noted, with particular attention to the details of the farming, all adding to the appearance of realism. The plot’s circular movement, which returns the animals to conditions, very much like those in the beginning, ironically emphasizes tragic failure of the revolution.

THEME

The novel is about Soviet Communism. However, through this novel form, the author has been able to turn up old question of whether it is possible for man to live together fairly, justly and equally. Orwell argues that this kind of society has not existed and could not exist. Related to this is the issue of whether we can ever have a classless society. He actually wrote the book to destroy the Soviet myth that Russia was truly socialist society. He argues that however desirable the ideal, man’s instinct for power and the tendency to get corrupted by power will make the classless society impossible. In fact, Orwell believed firmly with Lord Acton that, power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.in his political allegory, a Marxist Revolution is doomed to fail because it grants power (in fact absolute power) to a select few. The seizure of power by Napoleon’s reign witnesses superlative cruelty and Animal Farm becomes more unbearable than life in the old Manor Farm.

Boxer’s utterances:   ‘I will work harder’ and ‘Napoleon is always right’ illustrates the sub-theme of hero worship. Through flattery, subtle coercion, persuasion and outright intimidation, Napoleon is cast in the role of a god, a supreme authority and an infallible leader in the animal kingdom. He now becomes ‘our leader’, Comrade Napoleon’, ‘Father of All Animals’, ‘Terror of Mankind’, etc. this kind of hero-worshipping by sycophants ultimately sustains the tyrant in power.

Animal Farm has also brought out a particularly terrifying phenomenon which is the totalitarian falsification of history. An example is the false twisting of the role of Snowball in the Animal Revolution.

CHARACTERIZATION

Orwell’s characterization is quite remarkable. Although he could not develop his characters as the author of a traditional novel does, he achieves interesting effect by slowly revealing the personalities of such characters as Napoleon, Squealer and Boxer. He gives small, quick detail to create convincing and lively portraits. Above all, Orwell is capable of evoking emotional reactions to his characters – Squealer is detestable, Boxer is admirable and lovable. Let us examine below some of these characters.

Old Major

According to Orwell himself,

Old Major was so highly regarded on the farm that everyone was quite ready to lose an hour’s sleep in order to hear what he had to say.

A rather sympathetic portrait of the oldest pig on the farm, he is highly respected by other animal. Old Major represents Marx in a satirical sense. He practices the ideals of socialism and introduces in details the principles of the Rebellion which will be incorporated into the seven commandments and the philosophy of Animalism. Though a revolutionist, he is very humane and considerate. He is a theorist and visionary person who has a dream about the ideal animal society without any practical plan which can bring about that society.

He is an eloquent speaker, in a rabble rouser who composes a song, ‘Beast of England, which many of the animals quickly learn by heart. He makes a long speech in which he denounces the cruelty of man to animals. He says,

Man is the only creature that consumes without producing … Man serves the interest of no creature except himself … All men are enemies. All animals are comrades. (pp.4 & 5)

He then gives the seven commandments to be observed by everybody. He incites the animals against man and calls for their overthrow. Old Major dies peacefully in his sleep three days after his inspiring speech.

Mayor’s main appearance is in the first chapter. Long after his death, his memory lingers. His skull is dug up and the animals pay it a weekly visit of homage. Later, his ideals are treated with increasing irony. His fellow pigs, led by Napoleon, gradually debunk his dream and convince the rest of the animals that man is not the only enemy they have. Even after the overthrow of man, and Jones expulsion from the Manor Farm, there is no change in the lot of the animals except that of the pigs and the dogs who form the ruling house.

Napoleon

      The portrait of this character is a study in political dictatorship.  In the novel, we see him as a calculating opportunist who is willing to support and help lead the revolution only when it suits him.  He is the hero of the book since the plot is in one sense the story of his rise to power.  The author says of him.

                 Not much of a talker, but with a reputation for getting his own way.

      Napoleon is a selfish and greedy fellow. While Snowball occupies himself with tasks of social benefit by writing out the seven commandments and organizing the harvest, Napoleon is busy doing nothing: only looking on sourly and at the end he is ready to take charge of the milk.  Where Snowball uses intelligence and logic, Napoleon uses cunning and brutal force.  For example, he takes charge of the care and training of the puppies that are to grow into bodyguards of huge dogs who at the end chase his rival, Snowball, off the Farm.  He is also cunning enough to understand the value of Squealer’s propaganda and has no moral scruples against the distortions and actual lies which Squealer uses.

       After expelling Snowball, Napoleon assumes power on the Animal Farm and suspends all the democratic rights of the animals.  He becomes a ‘Fountain of Happiness’ and a father figure.  He originates all the regulations that have the effect of increasing the animal’s hardships – the sixty-hour week and the Sunday work.  He also plans and leads the bloody trials of the animals who disobey his authority.

       He shows his vain desire when he takes an exclusive apartment in the farmhouse and makes it mandatory for the other animals to step aside when he passes.  He is very cruel and murderous – he starves the chickens into submission and sends Boxer to the slaughterhouse.  He is dishonest and hypocritical.  At the end, he changes from animal to human thus completing the symbolic image of capitalist oppression

Snowball

      This is a boar like Napoleon.  Although he is more imaginative and inventive than Napoleon, Snowball is said to have ‘less depth of character’.  He appears to gain an edge over Napoleon initially in the struggle for the leadership of the farm, but he soon loses out since he cannot match the cunning and brute force of his rival.  He co-operates with Napoleon and Squealer to organize Major’s ideas into the principles of Animalism and reduce them to the seven commandments.

     As part of his organizational abilities, he puts together the various animal committees and the classes in reading and writing, thus showing his interest in the welfare of the other animals.  He also compresses the commandments into the summary, ‘Four legs good, two legs bad’, For the benefit of the less intelligent animals.  Snowball is very powerful and he is ready to defend the Farm against any invasion. Thus, he plans the successful defense of the Battle of the Cowshed. As a pig of action as well as thought, he is in the middle of the fight, leading the dangerous first skirmish, fooling the men and landing the first victorious charge, in which he gets wounded.  He is decorated at the end of the Battle.

     Snowball seeks to preserve the difference between the pigs and the other animals since he opposes Major’s principle of equality.  He however has a vision of a better society for the animals.  He is a pragmatist who designs a windmill for the industrial take-off of the farm.  He always dreams of a world of machines where animals will labour less for their harvests.  When he advocates the use of the windmill, Napoleon disagrees and the debate that follows gives him the chance to get rid of Snowball. Orwell is telling us here that physical power is more potent than mere intelligence and ingenuity.  Snowball’s devotion to imagination and intelligence earns him banishment, while Napoleon’s single-minded selfishness, cunning and cruelty took him to power.

     After his banishment from the Farm, Napoleon becomes more dictatorial.  Snowball’s memory lingers on in a way that sustains the leadership of Napoleon. He becomes a scapegoat, someone whom to blame for all the troubles of the Farm since Napoleon is never wrong.  However, his absence from the Farm creates an obvious vacuum which is manifested during the Battle of the Windmill when the war becomes more difficult for the animals.

Squealer

This is the self-assigned propaganda officer for Napoleon’s dictatorial regime. Orwell gives a detailed sketch of his portrait than he gives to most other animals.  We are told that he is a small pig with

                        Twinkling eyes, nimble movements, and a shrill voice… when he

                        was arguing… he had a way of skipping from side to side and

                        whisking his tail which was somehow very persuasive.

This sketchy characterization is meaningful – he does not have any credible personality of his own, he does the biddings of his master unquestioningly.

     Squealer is a brilliant talker who achieves his desires quite easily through sweet talking.  He can prove something out of anything and he can explain black into white.  His main job is to convince the other animals that whatever Napoleon does or says is right.  Since other animals have very short memories, Squealer often succeeds in this business of misinformation.  He is the means by which the written commandments are changed.

     He talks the rest of the animals into believing that the pigs should receive all the milk and apples to help them in their brain work and plan for security, lest Jones comes back.  His skill in propaganda is also shown, after Snowball’s defect, when he manages to justify Napoleon’s reversal on the question of building the windmill.  So also, when Napoleon suddenly announces that Animal Farm will start trading, Squealer goes round the farm to assure his colleagues that they did not at any time decide ‘never to engage in trade’.  He argues that if at all there is a decision like that, it will be in writing Orwell writes that

                        Since it was certainly true that nothing of the kind existed in

                        Writing, the animals were satisfied that they had been mistaken

Whenever his words appear to fail, he uses his bodyguards, the dogs to threaten the animals.

   … the three dogs who happened to be with the growled so threateningly                  that they accepted his explanation.

     Apart from being constantly followed by two or three dogs, a mark of cowardice in itself, he is in the rear during the Battle of the Cowshed and is unaccountably missing during the Battle of the Windmill.  He builds up the image of Napoleon and runs down Snowball to justify the latter’s banishment.  He soon falls into most of Napoleon vices likes greed, drunkenness and cruelty (since he eventually chooses the victims for liquidation).

Boxer

This character is described as

                An enormous beast …. As strong as any two ordinary horses …, not

               Of first-rate intelligence, but universally respected for his steadiness

              of character.

He and Clover are the most faithful disciples of Animalism who unquestioningly accept this philosophy and teach it to other animals in the farm.  Whatever success Animal Farm achieves is mainly due to the physical strength and doggedness of Boxer.  Orwell says of him:

             Nothing could have been achieved without Boxer, whose strength

               Seemed equal to that of all the other animals put together.

     His maxims are, ‘Napoleon is always right’ and ‘I will work harder.’  He believes all problems can be solved by using these maxims always.  He is kind-hearted and very loyal to constituted authority.  He works extremely hard at the building of the Windmill and feels dejected when the mill is destroyed during the Battle.  While working at the third attempt at building the mill, Boxer collapses and later becomes seriously ill.  Under the pretext of taking care of him, Napoleon sells him off to a knacker who takes him away to the slaughterhouse.  He can be taken to represent the ardent, honest, selfless workers (the idealized masses) who are genuinely loyal to the authority under any dictatorship.  They are usually abused and dumped as a reward for their hard work and devotion.

    

Benjamin

He is regarded as the oldest animal in the Farm.   A bad-tempered,  very serious, and cynical donkey,  Benjamin is highly perceptive and thoughtful.  He is Boxer’s devoted friend and often warns him of overwork and neglect of his health.  In fact, the only time he reveals his feelings and appears excited is when Boxer is begin taken away by the knacker.

     Apart from being cynical, he is skeptical and quite realistic.  He doubts the possibility of ever achieving the paradise of which Major and Snowball dream.   He does not believe in the rebellion since he is sure that the animals’ condition will not change after it.  Thus he is not surprised at anything the pigs do, nor the gradual failure of the new society neither of Animal Farm, nor at the systematic rise of the pigs to power.  He is hard-working and never shirks his responsibilities.  He does not do more than what he is assigned to do.  His pessimistic attitude to the possibilities of revolution is proved right at the end.   He sees through all the antics of the pigs but never complains.

     Benjamin represents the pessimist in the society who does not believe in social revolutions.  However, the pessimist is not given the last word in this book, for Orwell is able to show that pessimism and skepticism lead to inaction in the fact of injustice an inability to oppose evil.

Mr.  Jones

He is the owner of the Manor Farm.  The animals belong to him.  One night, believing a fox is in the yard disturbing the animals, he fires into the air. This is the night Major makes his powerful speech after which the animals begin to sing ‘Beasts of England’.  Jones’ action must have come as a rude interruption to the gathering of the animals.  This is all the animals need to rise up against their master and drive him and his family away from the Manor Farm.

     Jones’ unpleasant characteristics which provide motivation for the animals’ revolt are cruelty, laziness, drunkenness, moodiness and bad management of the farm.  Having lost a huge sum of money in a lawsuit he becomes very careless.  This leads to some laxity on the part of his workers who starve the animals most of the time.  The animals then conspire and rise up against the human beings on the farm.

     Four months later, jones makes an attempt to take over the farm but his attacking force is poorly equipped and he loses at the Battle of the Cowshed.  Jones represents careless, drunken and weak rulers who are easily overthrown by popular revolt.

Mr. Frederick

This is the owner of Pinchfield Farm who always disagrees with his neighbor.  Mr Pilkington of Foxwood  Farm.  He is a tough, shrewd man, perpetually involved in lawsuits and with a name for driving hard bargains.   He runs a more efficient farm that his neighbor.

     The animals regard him as the enemy who helps Jones attack the farm in the Battle of the Cowshed.  He always features in Squealer’s propaganda.  We later learn that he really does drive a hard bargain when he swindles Napoleon by paying for the lumber (offered for sale by Napoleon) with counterfeit bills.  Frederick is the real enemy of the animals as he attacks and destroys the windmill with dynamite in the Battle of the Windmill.

LANGUAGE AND NARRATIVE TECHNIQUE

The language of Animal Farm is simple and unadorned and the story is told in a straightforward and logical manner.  Orwell has made subtle use of atmosphere of careful organization of events, and of humour, satire and irony to achieve a tremendous literary effect.  The book is an animal satire which criticizes socialism through the way animals ridicule and expose it to contempt on the Animal Farm.  It is an indirect attack on Russia and he socialist practice of that time.  It is full of irony and sarcasm.  The language is sarcastic to the extent that it states one thing while intending its opposite.  The satire employed by Orwell   operates on a fantastic level – animals think and discuss, carry out a rebellion, manage a farm and build a windmill.  This is a fairy story in which fantastic things are described as though they were real, and the reader is made to suspend his disbelief.

     The story is told in the third person and the author does not intrude his own personality into the narrative.  We do not enter into the minds of either Napoleon or any other pig or human in the story.  The point of view is always the naïve one of the poor farm animals.  This allows the author to retain an element of surprise and deepen our sympathy for the animals.

     Notable also is the use of indirect technique of allegory.   This style of writing uses characters and events to represent actual persons and situations in the mind of the writer.   Thus Animal Farm stands for a particular human society (the  Communist  Russia) while the classes of animals stand for the major social classes, i.e. the working class and the ruling class in the human community of Russia.  With the use of irony, satire and sarcasm, the author has been able to expose the evils and dangers  of absolute power in a dictatorial regime.

     There are elements of drama here and there in the novel which make the narrative interesting and enjoyable.  For example, at the climax of the quarrel (on superiority contest) between Napoleon and Snowball, a piece of drama is brought in with the sudden and unexpected appearances of the dogs which immediately pursue Snowball outside the farm grounds on the order of Napoleon.

    

  REVISION QUESTIONS

1.     Compare Old Major’s dream of a new society at the beginning of Animal Farm with Snowball’s dream of a society built around the windmill Comment on the society of the farm at the end.

2.     Give an account of Major’s  speech to the animals and discuss its significance.

3.     Discuss the first of the privileged class in Animal Farm and the consequences of this development.

4.     Describe very vividly the Battle of the Cowshed and point out its significance.

5.     Discuss the various stages in the gradual emergence of full dictatorship in Animal Farm.

6.     Discuss the remote and immediate causes of the expulsion of Mr Jones from his farm.

7.     Orwell calls Animal Farm a ‘fairy story’. What does he mean by this?

8.     With appropriate illustrations from the novel, discuss Napoleon as a typical dictator.

9.     Discuss the use of irony and satire in Animal Farm.

10.                          Write short notes on the following:

i.                     Squealer

ii.                  Snowball

iii.                Old Major

iv.               Battle of the Windmill

v.                 Napoleon

By Eguriase S. M. Okaka.