Literature Analysis: Animal Farm

     All the animals on Manor Farm are under the care of their drunken master, Mr. Jones. Old Major (the oldest pig on the farm) tells all the animals about a dream that he had. In the dream, all animals are free and don’t have to work to produce food for humans. He says that a revolution must eventually take place, and he teaches the animals the song “Beasts of England.” Three nights after Old Major dies the rest of the pigs create the idea of Animalism. Eventually the animals have their revolution and run Mr. Jones off the farm. Manor Farm is renamed Animal Farm. Everything goes smoothly until a pig named Napoleon chases off his comrade Snowball (Also a pig). Napoleon is started to become the evil dictator that Mr. Jones was. When the animals work tirelessly to build a windmill only to have it fall down, Napoleon blames Snowball. Any animal that opposes Napoleon and his power is immediately killed by 9 attack dogs. (Puppies that Napoleon took under his wing to “educate.”) Napoleon starts to sleep in beds, drink whisky, and trades will other humans. All acts that go against the rules of Animal Farm. The other animals are now worse off then they were when Mr. Jones was there. When Boxer’s (The most dedicated and strongest worker that animal farm has) strength fails him, he is sold to a glue factory so that Napoleon can buy more whisky. By now, the pigs trade excessively with humans, wear clothes, and walk on two legs. The original rules, or commandments, of Animal Farm (Now called Manor Farm again because it is “correct”) have been replaced with, “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” As the other animals watch the pigs trade they can no longer tell the animals from the humans.

      The theme in this novel is the corruption of the Soviet Union. The story of Animal Farm parallels the Socialist Ideals of Stalin’s Soviet Union and directly reflect his rise to power. The struggle for power between Snowball and Napoleon represents the struggle between Leon Trotsky and Joseph Stalin. Just like Stalin, the pigs made themselves the higher and ruling class on the new farm. The less powerful Snowball is ejected from the farm much in the same was Trotsky was ejected by Stalin. The ideals of Animal Farm quickly become corrupt and only serve the benefit of the pigs. Orwell’s tone is very satirical and ironic throughout the novel. The novel was written to satirize the Russian Revolution. The use of animals parallels people such as Stalin and Trotsky.

 The tone could also be considered dim and pessimistic. Because Orwell knew that the story was going to end in sadness and defeat his outlook and attitude towards it was never hopeful or optimistic. “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” "No question now, what had happened to the faces of the pigs. The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which." “They had come to a time when no one dares to speak his mind, when fierce, growling dogs roamed everywhere, and where you had to watch your comrades torn to pieces after confessing to shocking crimes.”

   Imagery: The way that Orwell describes each scene allows you to visualize it perfectly in your mind.

"The animals were happy as they had never conceived it possible to be. Every mouthful of food was an acute positive pleasure, now that it was truly their own food, produced by themselves and for themselves, not doled out to them by a grudging master."

Parallelism: The entire novel was written to parallel Stalin’s rein over the Soviet Union.

 "It had become usual to give Napoleon the credit for every successful achievement and every stroke of good fortune. You would often hear one hen remark to another, 'Under the guidance of our Leader, Comrade Napoleon, I have laid five eggs in six days'; or two cows, enjoying a drink at the pool, would exclaim, 'Thanks to the leadership of Comrade Napoleon, how excellent this water tastes!'"


Personification: Obviously animals can’t talk, but Orwell used the animals to satirize the main point.

 "Napoleon had denounced such ideas as contrary to the spirit of Animalism. The truest happiness, he said, lay in working hard and living frugally."

A Tale of Two Cities

In the first 10-15 pages of A Tale of Two Cites, we learn that the novel takes place in both London and Paris in 1775.  In England, everyone is worrying about a "cock-lane" ghost and in Paris there is violence erupting everywhere.  In November, a mail coach is driving from London to Dover in the middle of a very big storm.  A man comes along who wants to speak with Jarvis Long because he has a message for him.  He informs the men that they are supposed to wait at Dover for "Mam'selle" and Jarvis replies, "Recalled to life."  The messenger is confused by the response but rides off to deliver it anyway.