Animal Farm 5 Essay, Research Paper

This study aims to determine that George Orwell’s Animal Farm is a

political satire which was written to criticise totalitarian

regimes and particularly Stalin’s practices in Russia. In order to

provide background information that would reveal causes led Orwell

to write Animal Farm, Chapter one is devoted to a brief summary of

the progress of author’s life and significant events that had

impact on his political convictions. Chapter one also presents

background information about Animal Farm. Chapter two is devoted

to satire. In this chapter, definition of satire is presented and

some important characteristics of satire are discussed. In chapter

three, the method of this research is described. Under the light

of information presented in the previous chapters, Chapter four

discusses Animal Farm and focuses on the book as a political

satire. The last chapter presents the conclusion of this study.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would first like to express my sincere thanks to my thesis

supervisor, Assoc.Prof. Dr. Jashua M. Bear for his help and

freedom he gave me in this study. Without his understanding this

thesis would never have been completed.

I also wish to thank my sister Fidan Korkut for her suggestions in

the planning stage of this study and her endurance during my long

study days at home.

My special thanks go to zg r Ceylan, who constantly granted me

her moral support. She was always there when I needed her.

CHAPTER

THE AUTHOR: GEORGE ORWELL

Presentation

This chapter introduces general information about George Orwell’s

life. It includes chronological progress of his life and his

political convictions. Furthermore, important events, such as The

Russian Revolution and The Spanish Civil War which had significant

influence on his commitment to write Animal Farm will be

discussed. Lastly, general information about Animal Farm will be

given.

His Life

The British author George Orwell, pen name of Eric Arthur Blair,

was born in Motihari, India, June 25, 1903. His father was an

important British civil servant in India, which was then part of

the British Empire. A few years after Eric was born, he retired on

a low pension and moved back to England. Though their income was

not much enough, the Blair family sent their son away to boarding

school which was an exclusive preparatory school, to prepare him

for Eton Collage. Eric then won a scholarship to Eton Collage.

During his education from the age of eight to eighteen, as he

wrote in his essay about his school experiences titled “Such, Such

Were the Joys,” he experienced many things about the “world where

the prime necessities were money, titled relatives, athleticism,

tailor-made clothes”, inequality, oppression and class

distinctions in the schools of England (In Ball,1984).

After the education at Eton College in England, Eric joined the

Indian Imperial Police in British-Ruled Burma in 1922. There he

witnessed oppression again, but this time he was looking at things

from the top. Having served five years in Burma, he resigned in

1927 and turned back to Europe and lived in Paris for more than a

year. Though he wrote novels and short stories he found nobody to

get them published. He worked as a tutor and even as a dishwasher

in Paris. During his poor days in Paris, he once more experienced

the problems of the oppressed, the helpless and lower class

people.

In 1933, After having many experiences about the life at the

bottom of society, he wrote Down and Out in Paris and London and

published it under his pen name “George Orwell.” After a year in

1934 he published his novel Burmese Days, which he reflected his

experiences there. Then, he published A Clergyman’s Daughter in

1935, and Keep the Aspidistra Flying in 1936.

In 1936, his publisher wanted Orwell to go to the English coal-

mining country and write about it which was another important

experience in his life. He wrote The Road to Wigan Pier to reflect

what he saw there, the real poverty of people of the Lancashire

Town of Wigan, and published it in 1937 (Ball, 1984).

1937 was the year that Orwell who for some time had been

describing himself as “pro-socialist” (BALL, 1984) joined the

Republican forces in the Spanish Civil War. When the Communists

attempted to eliminate their allies on the far left, he fought

against them and was wounded in the fighting, later was forced to

flee for his life. His experience in this war was to have the most

significant impact on his political thoughts and his later works.

In 1938, Orwell wrote Homage to Catalonia, which recounts his

experiences fighting for the Republicans in the Spanish Civil War.

One of his best-known books reflecting his lifelong distrust of

dictatorial government, whether of the left or right, Animal Farm,

a modern beast-fable attacking Russian Revolution, Stalinism and

totalitarianism, was published in 1945, and Nineteen Eighty-Four,

a dystopian novel setting forth his fears of an intrusively

bureaucratised state of the future was published in 1949. His

first fame was brought by these two novels and they were the only

ones which made a profit for him as a writer (Ball,1984).

Orwell died at the early age of forty-seven of a neglected lung

ailment in London, Jan. 21, 1950.

His Time: Political Background

In his essay “Why I Write”, Orwell (1947) says:

I do not think one can assess a writer’s motives without knowing

something of his early development. His subject matter will be

determined by the age he lives in_at least this is true in

tumultuous, revolutionary ages like our own_

Taking Orwell’s his own words into consideration, in order to get

a better understanding of his works and particularly of his

political satire Animal Farm, we should look at his political

convictions, and the historical context which influenced Orwell

and inspired him to write. Very few authors develop essays

explaining the motivation behind their writing. Orwell was of one

them. Therefore in order to understand his motivations, his essay

“Why I Write” would be the most appropriate source to be looked

at.

Orwell was a political writer and according to him he was `forced’

to be a writer by the circumstances under which he has become

aware of his `political loyalties’. His Burma and Paris days

increased his `natural hatred of authority’ and `made him aware of

the existence of the working classes.(Orwell, 1947)

As mentioned above, he described himself as “pro-Socialist.” What

he was longing for was a society in which there would be no class

distinctions, and he named his ideal ideology “democratic

socialism”. He says “every line of serious work that I have

written since 1936 has been directly or indirectly, against

totalitarianism and for democratic socialism ” (Orwell, 1947)

There are two significant events that have great influence on

Orwell’s political thoughts: The Russian revolution that took

place in the second decade of 20th century and The Spanish Civil

War between 1936 and 1939.

The Russian Revolution

Bolshevik Revolution of October 1917 was the first great

revolution which aimed at to overthrow the owners of the means of

production, that is Capitalist Bourgeoisie, and to establish a

state to be ruled by the working class, the Proletariat.

Ideological basis of the revolution was taken from the philosophy

of Karl Marx and Frederick Angels who believed that the history of

the world was the history of a struggle between classes- between

ruling classes and ruled classes (Han erliodlu, 1976). Marx was

very critical of industrial capitalist society in which there are

many cruel injustices and men are exploited by men. Out of his

analysis of Capitalist system, he attained a vision of ending

these injustices and establishing a society in which there would

be no social classes and everybody would be equal. To him, in

order to achieve this end the only way was a revolution made by

the working class or the Proletariat against the Bourgeoisie.

After revolution working classes would own the means of

production. Marx called the new order that would be set after

revolution “dictatorship of the Proletariat” which eventually

replaced with a classless society (Han erliodlu, 1976).

In October 1917, V.I. Lenin, led the socialist (Bolshevik)

revolution in Russia. After the revolution was a four-year bloody

civil war. During this war Red Army of the revolution organised

and headed by Leon Trotsky had to fight against both Russians who

were loyal to Czar and foreign troops (The Academic American

Encyclopaedia, 1995).

After Lenin died in 1924, a struggle between Joseph Stalin and

Leon Trotsky started for the leadership of the Communist Party.

Stalin gained priority over Trotsky and; in 1925 Trotsky with

several other members ousted from Politburo (the chief executive

and political committee of the Communist Party); in 1927 Trotsky

and his followers expelled from Party; Stalin took the control.

Later Trotsky was exiled and in 1929 he was deported. In 1940 he

was assassinated. During this period, Stalin always denounced

Trotsky as a traitor (Ball, 1929).

In the following years, Russia witnessed that Stalin started to

take all power only in his hands. In 1930’s, many people were

arrested. After public trials most of the opposing elements were

eliminated.

Stalin has been accused of being a very cruel dictator. However,

Nikita Khrushchev, who ruled USSR between 1958-1964 and who was

very critical of Stalin’s crimes and non-human practices said in

1956 that:

Stalin believed that all his practices was necessary in order to

defend the benefits of labourers. He looked at these practices

from the view point of the benefit of socialism and labourers.

Thus, we cannot define his practices as of a giddy cruel despot.

Here, it is the all tragedy (Han erliodlu, 1979).

The Spanish Civil War

In 1936, General Francisco Franco led a military coup in Spain,

plunging the country into civil war. Franklin Rosemont in his

article “Spanish revolution of 1936″ defines the beginning of the

revolution as follows:

When Franco’s fascist troops invaded Spain in July 1936 with the

purpose of overthrowing the young and unstable Republic, the

Spanish working class responded by making a revolution that went

much further toward realising the classless and stateless ideal of

proletarian socialism than any preceding popular revolt.

Spontaneously and almost overnight, workers seized factories and

other workplaces; land was collectivised; workers’ militias were

formed throughout the country; the church_age-old enemy of all

working-class radicalism and indeed, openly profascist_was

dismantled, and its property confiscated; established political

institutions disintegrated or were taken over by workers’

committees (Rosemont, 1988).

Yet, between 1936 and 1939 the military rising originating in

Morocco, headed by General Francisco Franco, spreads rapidly all

over the country, After a number of bloody battles in which

fortunes changed from one side to the other. Finally, Nationalist

forces occupied the capital, Madrid, on March 28, 1939, and on

April 1, General Franco officially ended the war (The Academic

American Encyclopaedia).

Orwell And The Spanish Civil War

David Ball (1984) points out three experiences in the Spanish

Civil War that were important for Orwell: atmosphere of

Comradeship and respect, what happened to his fellow fighters and

what happened when he returned to England and reported what he had

seen.

After spending very poor days in Paris, Orwell went to Spain to

fight for the Republicans in the Spanish Civil War. When he

arrived Barcelona, he found an elating “atmosphere of Comradeship

and respect”. People were friendly and addressing each other

“comrade”. To Orwell, relations in the militia group he joined

were the same and this made him feel that socialism was in action

there.

But later on, he was disappointed by what happened to his arm

friends who were imprisoned and killed by their own “comrades” who

were of Communist-dominated elements of the Republican government

that they were fighting for. Communists believed that the

communist ideas were betrayed by the militia group that Orwell

belonged to. After he was wounded Orwell went back to England for

remedy and was saved from being killed by his “comrades”.

When he returned England he reported what he witnessed in the war,

but Socialists strongly resisted to understand what he told about

the practices of communists in Spain. The reason was that it was

not the right time to publicise all these things while the war was

going on and this information would harm Republican’s position in

the war. After this bad experience, he started to be more critical

of British socialists and of communism. He wrote in his article

“The Spanish war and other events in 1936-37 turned the scale and

thereafter I knew where I stood.” (Orwell, 1947)

Animal Farm

Through his questioning of his own experiences in Burma and Spain

and communists’ practices in USSR, Orwell began to develop a

rejection of totalitarian systems. He was also denouncing the

acceptance of soviet regime by the left-wing people of other

countries and particularly of England without questioning in

depth. For Michael Shelden, “the idea for the book” which was to

serve Orwell’s desire to “make a forceful attack, in an

imaginative way, on the sustaining myths of Soviet communism had

been in the back of his mind since his return from Spain”

(Shelden, 1991, p. 399). Another author Peter Davison points out

that, besides Orwell’s experience in Spain, Animal Farm

“originated from the incident that suggested its genre: the little

boy driving a huge cart-horse, which could easily overwhelm the

child had realised its own strength.”(Davison, 1996, p.125)

Shortly after he published Animal Farm, Orwell (1947) in his essay

titled “Why I Write” wrote about his goals in writing his book:

Animal Farm was the first book in which I tried, with full

consciousness of what I was doing, to fuse political purpose and

artistic purpose into one whole. I have not written a novel for

seven years, but I hope to write another fairly soon. It is bound

to be a failure, every book is a failure, but I do know with some

clarity what kind of book I want to write.

When Orwell finished his book, no one wanted to publish it. Since,

like his efforts to publicise reality after he returned from

Spain, for many people, and of course for publishers, it was the

very wrong time to attack Soviet myth, particularly when the World

War-II was going on and Russia was Britain’s ally. Consequently

the book was published in Britain on 17 August 1945, after the war

was over, and sold more than 25.000 hard copies in five years.

When it published in the State in 1946, it sold about 590.000 in

four years (Shelden, 1991).

The book was a satire on totalitarian regime of Stalin in Russia.

Many people thought (and still think) that the book reveals

Orwell’s opposition to the ideology that was prevailing in Russia.

As Michael Shelden states, the book “caught the popular

imagination just when the Cold War beginning to make itself felt.

For many years `anti-Communists’ enjoyed it as a propaganda weapon

in that war” (Shelden, 1991, p.404). But this interpretation of

the book was completely opposes to the real intention of the book.

As Roger Fowler reports, in his preface to the Ukrainian edition

of Animal Farm, written in 1947, Orwell writes that his aim with

Animal Farm was not only to attack and to criticise Soviet

Communism, but to attack “Soviet Myth” as received in Britain. To

him, this myth was giving harm to the Socialist movement (Fowler,

1995, p. 163).

Animal Farm might leave a kind of pessimism on readers who have

knowledge of historical background that inspired Orwell to write

it. For instance, one possible pessimistic view that can be

derived from Animal Farm is the impossibility of establishing a

social system in which there would be no inequality between

individuals and there would be no individuals or groups of people

who apt to make use of power just for their benefits. Another

possible pessimistic view of those who rely on socialism or

communism would be that: even socialism, which is claimed to be a

more egalitarian system, would be turned into a dictatorship by

human beings’ desire for power.

Actually, the point that Orwell intended to give emphasis is not

the ideology itself, but the human nature. As Christopher Hollis

(1962) explains, “The lesson of Animal Farm is clearly not merely

the corrupting effect of power when exercised by Communists, but

the corrupting effect of power when exercised by anybody” (In

Yemenici, 1997).

Finally, for a better understanding of Orwell’s intention, it is

the best way to consult Orwell himself. Shelden (1991) quotes

Orwell’s letter he sent to Dwight Macdonald in America in which he

expresses his intentions in writing Animal Farm. The letter

included his arguments against pessimistic view of his book:

Of course I intended it primarily as a satire on the Russian

Revolution. But I did mean it to have a wider application in so

much that I meant that that kind of revolution (violent

conspiratorial revolution, led by unconsciously power-hungry

people) can only lead to a change of masters. I meant the moral to

be that revolutions only effect a radical improvement when the

masses are alert and know how o chuck out their leaders as soon as

the latter have done their job. The turning point of the story was

supposed to be when the pigs kept the milk for themselves

(Kronstad). If the other animals had had the sense to put their

foot down then, it would have been all right … what I was trying

to say was, `You can’t have a revolution unless you make it for

yourself; there is no such thing as a benevolent dictatorship

(p.407).

Chapter

SATIRE

Presentation

This chapter is devoted to the information about satire. After the

definition of satire, its significant characteristics, and some

techniques used in satire will be discussed.

What Is Satire?

Definition

There are many different ways to reveal one’s perception of life

and its reflection by a person. In art for instance, the

reflection may be revealed in the form of a sculpture, a song or a

picture. Satire is one the ways that the reaction or perception of

life is expressed. Since people look at life from different stand

points, as matter of fact, they naturally perceive it in numerous

ways. As a result of the variety in perception, the way of

revealing the effects or reflections of these perceptions also

shows variety.

Originally, the word “satire” comes from “the Latin word for

medley, satura; the impression that it is to do with the word

“satyr” is a popular delusion” (Abrams, 1986, p.2598). it is a way

of revealing the reaction to what is perceived, with a mixture of

laughter and outrage. In The Quarterly Journal of Contemporary

Satire the description of satire is given as “a work in which

vices, follies, stupidities, abuses, etc. are held up to ridicule

and contempt.” In the preface to The Battle of the Books, Jonathan

Swift, who claimed that satire is therapeutic, describes satire as

“A sort of glass wherein beholders do generally discover

everybody’s face but their own” (In Bozkurt, 1977, p.71).

Bozkurt (1977), offers two fundamental types of satire: Horatian

and Juvenalian satire. These types are named for two Roman poets

Horace and Jevenal, the most differentiated practitioner of them.

As Bozkurt reports, both of them were critical of the Roman

society but while the former was more “gentle, urbane, smiling and

tolerant”, the latter was “severe” and angry. Horatian satire is

purpose is to sort out society through a “gentle and broadly

sympathetic laughter.” On the other hand, Juvelian satire is

“bitter, angry, misanthropic” or cynical. It approaches to its

subject with a degrading and disrespecting manner (Bozkurt, 1977,

p. 68).

Characteristics of Satire

People, in their everyday life, always use satire in order to

respond several events going on in their environs. The main

purpose of using satire is to attack and intensely criticise the

target subject. It also includes aggressiveness toward the subject

being criticised. As a matter of fact, satire should include more

than these in order to be accepted as a satirical work. It must,

for instance, include aesthetic features like different sound and

meaning patterns that can give pleasure to the readers.

Furthermore, the satirist should deal with problematic subjects

that are known by many people. In doing so, the satirist should

abstract the setting of satire from the world. Mostly, this

imaginary world is of non-human beings, as in beast fables like

Animal Farm or, as in Gulliver’s Travels and Alice in Wonderland,

a world that possibly would not exist or in which the real world

is turned upside down. Primary reason for abstraction is to move

readers from the concrete reality, and so, while entertaining them

through a fantastic setting to provide them with a critical

vision. Richard (1976) calls this element of satire “fantasy”. He

says.

The satirist does not paint an objective picture of the evils he

describes, since pure realism would be too oppressive. Instead he

usually offers us a travesty of the situation, which at once

directs our attention to actuality and permits an escape from it.

… It is written for entertainment, but contains sharp and

telling comments on the problems of the world in which we live,

offering `imaginary gardens with real toads in them’.

As mentioned above, people approach problems, subjects etc. in

different ways so do authors. The satirist differs from authors of

other types of literature with regard to its way of dealing with

his subject. In novel or drama, for example, the target subject is

dealt with directly. In the Cherry Orchard, Chekhov deals with

social change in Russia and how people react to it. His characters

are real persons that can be found in the society as they are

described in the play. On the hand, it is impossible to find a

real Napoleon or Lilliputian in a society. Since, they are just

symbols of particular types of people.

In this sense, the satirist use high level of symbolism. One

reason for using symbols might be that it provides the author with

an absolute freedom to attack his targets through their images he

created which seemingly have no relation with the reality. As

Richard (1976) notices, the satirist often aims at “to deflate

false heroes, imposters or charlatans, who claim a respect which

is not their due, the vehicle he chooses for this is usually the

mock-heroic.” Therefore, in order to operate his attack and

mockery towards these so-called heroes who might be leaders of a

country or people of prestigiousness, without any restriction the

satirist uses symbols.

Since the main topic of satire is politics which is throughout the

history considered a dirty business, writing political satire is

very risky, but on the other hand it would be very rewardful. As

remarked before, after he published his two satires, Animal Farm

and Nineteen Eighty-Four, Orwell was to be one of the greatest

authors of literature, as mentioned above he hardly find a

publisher for Animal Farm, and published it after a year he

finished it.

In order to achieve his end says Richard (1976), the satirist

“must use some of the basic strategies of satire.” He also should

“commit himself boldly to his `impure’ subject, yet retain a

purity of attitude, in his aesthetic disengagement from the

vulgarities and stupidities of the struggle.” Richard (1976)

continues his argument by adding that what distinguishes satire

from other kinds of literature is its approach to the subject.

Therefore its subject-matter forms the most important aspect of

satire. Despite he introduces the cruellest facts of life, the

satirist mean to make people laugh and In order to make people

laugh, he employs some techniques.

Techniques of Satire

The satirist may use different forms of literature in prose or

verse. But for the satirist some particular techniques are

necessary to achieve his aim. Richard (1976) suggests two main

techniques that the satirist use: the first one is reduction and

the other one is invective and irony.

Reduction is the act of decreasing or reducing something. It is

the main means of the satirist to attack his subject. People can

more easily criticise those who they can laugh at. Since, laughter

loosen muscles and is anatomically relaxing. if you laugh at

someone, then your critical mechanism are set free, your criticism

is revealed easily. Through reduction the satirist aims at to make

the reader laugh at his subject. Degrading, says Richard (1976)

may be employed “on the level of plot and will almost he continued

to the level of style and language.” He puts Gulliver’s Travels as

the most outstanding example of reduction. Animal world is

continually used by the satirist for this aim.

Invective is the expression of bitter deep-seated ill will. As it

can be expected the satirist, writing satire, expose himself to

counter-attacks by those who attacked. Richard (1976 )says:

this danger becomes the greater, the more the writer is committed

to invective and abuse. Invective is of course one of his most

useful weapons, and it is an art its own: it requires elegance of

form to set off grossness of content, and learned allusiveness to

set off open insult. But although invective has the sanction of

holy writ, the best satirist use it only occasionally, for shock

effect (p.130).

Irony is one of the figure of speeches. It includes the reverse

meaning of what is said. It is one of the main devices of which

the satirist make use. As Richard (1976) wrote,

“Irony assumes double meaning and double audience one of which is

deceived by the surface meaning of the words, and another that

catches the hidden sense and laughs with the deceiver at the

expense of the deceived. In order to operate irony, the satirist

uses imaginary or fictional characters or events by which s/he

allow the double flow of meaning to be maintained (p.130).

Chapter

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Presentation

This chapter is concerned with the procedure of the research which

was carried out to collect necessary sources for the study and

method of the study.

Procedure

Since the subject of this study mainly concerns with George

Orwell’s Animal Farm, first the book was read. After reading the

book, sources about George Orwell’s life and Animal Farm were

cited. When investigating Orwell’s intention in writing the book

and his political convictions, mainly his essays were used as

primary sources. During this period it was found that the Spanish

Revolution was of great influence. Information on the Spanish War

was mainly drawn from secondary sources.

Since the book is strongly related to the Russian Revolution,

Socialism, Communism and Marxism, several sources and Internet

sites were searched for to find out important dates and events in

the Revolution, and to gather basic information about the

principles of above maintained ideologies. In the parts related to

these subjects of the study, again, mostly secondary sources were

used.

Information about Satire is mainly drawn from secondary sources.

Finally, comparison of Animal Farm and the Russian Revolution in

terms of characters, events and some specific elements, mainly

based on the information gathered from primary and secondary

sources.

Chapter

ANIMAL FARM AS SATIRE

Presentation

In this chapter, under the light of information given in the

chapter-1 and chapter-2, Animal Farm will be examined. It aims at

to show the elements of satire in Animal Farm, and to compare

characters, events and some elements of Animal Farm and The

Russian Revolution

Elements of Satire In Animal Farm

Orwell, as quoted before, clearly explains that his main purpose

for writing Animal Farm was to write a satire on the Russian

Revolution (In Shelden, 1991, p.399). Through animal satire,

Orwell attacks on the Stalin’s practices in Russia and in wider

scope, on totalitarian regimes. Taking Bozkurt’s (1977)

classification into consideration, Animal Farm would be said to be

a Juvenial satire. S