Animal Farm is a book written by George Orwell which is kind of a satire based on equality, in which all animals gradually started to learn to live free from the clutches of human masters’. The book was published during the world war II in England in the year 1945 and in the United States in the year 1946. This book was written so as to expose the big dangers presented by Stalinism and the Government.
To rebel by Old Major, animals on Mr. Jones’ Manor farm promote Animalism and stage a revolution to achieve an idealistic state of justice and progress. A dominating pig, Napolean, becomes a dictator who lead the Animal Farm into strict oppression. The main motive of animal farm was to act on the Russian Revolution of 1917. The most popular line from this book ‘ Animals are Equal , But some are more equal than others’ is symbolic of the changes that George Orwell believed that would be followed in the 1917 communist revolution in Russia. The line is also typical of Orwell’s belief that those in power usually manipulate language to their own benefit.
The Russian Revolution was a significant period of political and social revolution among the Russian Empire which started with the banning of the sovereignty and ended with the establishment of the soviet union by the end of the civil war. The animals represent the actual leaders of the Russian revolution. The book contains solid and specific characters so as to make a point about them. The writer has included all three ethos, pathos, and logos so as to obtain a strong effect the readers.
127 our experts are availableright now
Many of the characters are parallel to the ones in the Russian revolution. In short, the Manor farm which later turned into the animal farm is a model of Russia. Chapter one of the book consists of Old Majors speech which is a good example of ethos. He represents Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin who inspired the theories developed from Marxism and Lenin’s interpretations. He quotes that, ”I have had a long life, I have had much time for thought as I lay alone in my stall, and I think I may say that I understand the nature of life on this earth as well as any animal now living”.
He uses ethos as in his credibility being the eldest among all the animals to influence them. Just like Karl Marx has been know as one of the most influential people in the human history, Old major too, drew up the principles of revolution that fueled the rebellion. In chapter 2 of the book , Napoleon a scary looking boar and of who the other animals are scared of, uses the form of ethos to intimidate them. Throughout the book Napoleon’s method of convincing the animals involves terror and advocacy that couldn’t be resisted by any of the animals. Old Major’s words not only inspired Napoleon to fight, but to also seize the opportunity of becoming a dictator.
Napoleon’s character represented Joseph Stalin, a Soviet politician who led the Soviet Union for almost 30 years. Napoleon undertakes the leadership after Old major’s death just as Stalin does after Lenin’s death. Another evidence of ethos is in chapter 8, that the pigs start killing the animals that they believed betrayed the farm. They did this to show that they had control all over the farm. The descriptive literature shown in the book shows how each animal was portrayed and that’s how the readers find the evidence for ethos in the text.
Logos intends to the use of reasoning and logic. In this book , Squealer a porker, who represents Vyascheslav Molotov who was one of the prominent figures of the Russian Futurist movement. His relation with the soviet was always known to be very complex and he had an increasing involvement in the development of the state. Squealer manipulated the thoughts of all the animals and finally convinced all of them that whatever Napoleon was doing was for their best.
He was the only one who has been supporting Napoleon’s deeds disregarding how selfish it may be. For example, when the animals question Squealer over Napoleon stealing the milk and apples he covers all of it by saying that it is for the well-being of the pigs. He makes all the animals repeat the slogan “Napoleon is always right.”. Playing the role of Napoleon’s savior he ultimately uses his credibility which also represents the Ethos mode of Persuasion. Focusing on the logos, Orwell represents the text through fiction but in a more logical manner so as to make it much more easier for the audience which includes the general people of the soviet union to understand it better and beware to reduce the mistakes made in the past.
Pathos is an appeal to a person’s emotions. This includes Snowball which is a character in the book who represents Leo Trotsky. Leo Trotsky was exiled and so was Snowball in the book. Stalin and napoleon used to make stories about him being a traitor so as to get him exiled as they both wanted to spread communism or animalism. Even Squealer uses pathos by crying during his speeches persuading the animals tat life is better without their farmer Mr. Jones, who neglects them all. Mr. Jones is the owner of the farm and he represents Nicholas Alexandrovich Romanov commonly known as Nicholas II. He was one of the leaders who neglected his country and he was one of the prime reasons behind the revolution that started in Russia.
In this text, when ethos, logos, and pathos come together it increases the power of credibility of the speaker in the text. Ethos is the strongest amongst them as the writer George Orwell makes his animals behave like real life human beings. In the last chapter of the text, He shows the way through which the pigs ultimately betray each other just like the human beings tricked and betrayed each other. His intended audience in this text were the general people of the Soviet Union and the next generation so they would know in advance how communism affects lives. He used animals characters as leaders of the Russian revolution who being the richer people deliberately took advantage of the poorer ones. He has presented the whole text in third person and in an impersonal point of view. He believes that we should have conscious and not just let anybody snatch everything from us.
Animal Farm is not only aimed towards revolution but also towards the corruption side of the revolution. His only aim is to create a society where people can be equal, free, and happy. George Orwell’s inspiration to write ‘Animal Farm’ was when he saw a small boy whipping a cart-horse. He stated that “It struck me that if only such animals became aware of their strengths we would have no power over them, and that men exploit animals ”.
Animal farm represents the soviet union as that is the name that Russia got after the revolution, just like animal farm got its name .The Hoof and the horn which represented the animals in the book was like the hammer and the sickle on the soviet flag. The windmill represents the Five year plan which was made by Stalin. He had promised that this would shorten the amount of workdays, increase production, and make life easier. And this is exactly what napoleon said but both of these turned out to be a failure.The Battle of the cowshed represents the civil war between the Bolsheviks and the anti-Bolsheviks. At the end of the chapter which includes the battle of the windmill represents the battle of Stalingrad which is exactly when Germany invaded Russia. All of this concluded what Frederick did.
Writer George Orwell has done a really good setting to present the issue in a satirical manner. According to him, rulers such as napoleon are going to continue to grow in number only if the people sensible enough to know these leaders “noble” ideas.
