Political Symbolism in Animal
There is much symbolism in George Orwell's political satire Animal Farm. There is a great deal more to this fairy tale than just what can be gleaned from a surface reading. The interactions between the characters reflect the attitudes of the people of Orwell's time. Each character in the book represents a different segment of the population, and the characters' reactions to the events in the book highlight the flaws of the political system depicted so scathingly. One of the most easily identifiable symbols in Animal Farm are the sheep. Even in common conversation today, we often refer to easily influenced and directed people as sheep. These are the people who lend whole-hearted support to ideologies, without even fully understanding them. The sheep that could not grasp the
"(p 40) After memorizing this phrase, the sheep would gather together and chant in unison, which is very similar to the political rallies sanctioned in many nations. One especially interesting symbol in the novel is that of Moses, the black raven. Each of the characters in Animal Farm has its own symbolism, and each charzcter is representative of the various groups living within a totalitarian state. The pigs are the bureacrats of a society, and the term pig has come to mean someone who is greedy or lazy. This shows the corruption among the leaders of a socialist state, which all occurs in the name of benefiting the people. People should come away from reading Animal Farm knowing that what happened on Manor Farm is happening across the globe. Although the pigs are responsible for the totalitarian state in Animal Farm that leads to a supposedly better life for the animals, it seems from the very beginning that "The pigs did not actually work, but directed and supervised others. His talks of "Sugarcandy Mountain," which is a metaphor of heaven, do not help the animals in the middle of the novel because they do not need religion when they are expecting a better life. Moses is symbolic of the importance of religion in the peoples' lives, important when they had nothing else, but not significant when they had the dream of a better life to rely upon. Orwell's classic novel is more than just a fairy tale, and he leaves the reader with disconcerting thoughts about the nature of the political system described. As he fades in and out, so do the peoples' reliance on religion. underlying principles of animalism, inspired "Snowball to declare the Seven Commandments could in effect be reduced to a single maxim, namely: 'Four legs good, two legs bad. The sheep of humanity can be easily pushed into a way of thinking by the machinations of others.
Common topics in this essay:
Animal Farm,
Seven Commandments,
Sugarcandy Mountain,
Farm Moses,
animal farm,
George Orwell's,
Manor Farm,
political system,
fairy tale,
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Acceptance Essays
