The Use Of Symbolism In Animal Farm By Joseph Orwell

Register to read the introduction… The novel is an allegory, or a symbolical narrative, that reflects on the problems of the dictatorships of Czar Nicholas II and Joseph Stalin. Soon after the revolution, Napoleon starts to take charge over the other animals. “Napoleon was a large, rather fierce-looking Berkshire boar…with a reputation for getting his own way” (Orwell 16). Napoleon gets his own way, especially with the help of the fierce dogs he raises to do exactly what he wants. This symbolizes how Stalin uses fear and intimidation, of his secret police, to get what he wants out of the people he rules over. It also helps that Napoleon is a pig, and in the novel, the pigs are known to be the smartest of the animals. Pretty soon, the pigs start to take advantage of the animal’s stupidity. “The pigs did not actually work, but directed and supervised the others” (Orwell 27). Here, the pigs manipulate the animals to think that the pigs are in charge, because they are the smartest and the brainwork of the farm. This represents how Stalin uses his propaganda, like Napoleon uses Squealer, to persuade the people that they need to work harder for the benefit of the new government because it is good for everyone in the end. In reality, it is not good for everyone. In the novel, the animal’s hardwork benefits the pigs alone. There is “evident weakness and vanity at the core of the pig dictatorship” (Letemendia 129). V.C. Letemendia, author of “Revolution on Animal Farm,” …show more content…
The animals’ enemies are the humans, and vice versa, because each group covets the other group’s power. They each want that power for themselves. Both the pigs and the humans show a hunger for power and dictatorship. “…pigs and humans may come to look the same at the end, but they are still essentially enemies and share only a greed for power” (Letemendia 133). V.C. Letemendia, author of “Revolution on Animal Farm,” is describing the greed and overuse of power both the humans and the pigs come to have. Each are victims of greed and selfishness. They are not enemies of eachother, but rather, they are enemies of greed and want of the other group’s power. Orwell depicts the hostility between the animals and humans very well. He states, “All men are enemies. All animals are comrades” (Orwell 10). The animals think that to work well together and be “comrades,” one has to be an animal. Animals can never be friends to humans because they are evil, and therefore an animal must always consider humans as enemies. Part of the reason the animals are hostile to the humans is because Farmer Jones does not treat the animals with respect, and instead he neglects his duties to take care of the animals. When his neglect goes too far, the animals rebel against him and establish themselves as the power and therefore take the responsibility of the farm. The animals, under