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Animal Farm is a novella written by George Orwell, an English novelist. As an allegory, it embodies ideas that circulate around four main topics: corruption, politics, social classes, and power. Through the novella, Orwell paints a connection between these topics and the Russian Revolution of 1917 starting the story off with a farm of animals and the owner of the farm, Mr. Jones.

After years of labor under Mr. Jones, the animals he had ordered around rebel and set up their own society against unfair living circumstances. Creating their own rules and systems of living on the farm, they also direct the delegation of powers to the “smartest” animal species, the pigs. Throughout the story, power transitions from one to another leaving rules established before to change through greed for power. Laws such as “no animal shall sleep in a bed” change to “no shall sleep in a bed with sheets”. As these rules change corruption expands when what was extremely prohibited before becomes regularly permitted.

 The rest of the animals, generally lacking education, do not seem aware of these changes and deem it to be normal. As time flows, interaction with other humans from other farms becomes regular and Napoleon, the leader, influences his citizens to believe and act upon his words. Napoleon uses violence, fear, and Squealer who convinces that everything Napoleon has done was for the good of the animals to impose this influence. As the work becomes more tedious then it had been under Mr. Jones' authority, Napoleon gains more power leading him to socialize with human beings which was one of the main rules that was imposed against it before. Later, what was to be equality for all animals, the reason for their rebellion, gets changed to more equality for some animals above others in the end. 

With the correlation this novella has to the Russian Revolution of 1917 it creates a picture of the historical past with the other farms mentioned in the story representing Germany and Britain, alongside Napoleon representing once Russian ruler, Stalin. Not only are historical actors and figures used to communicate the overlying message of corruption, but propaganda is used as well through the character of Squealer.

The groups of animals which are perceived to be either the lower class or higher class also expand to the representation of character development in the story and the perspectives in which they saw their current situation through. Clover, a horse, representing the lower class showcases how her perspective had changed on their living conditions. Hoping for change with less labor and happier equality, Clover supported the rebellion only to realize how things had fallen for the worse. This then opened the covers of the book towards questions of how education played a role in the own rebellions of the animals against their fellow animal leaders. Representation of how Moses, a raven, symbolizes the Russian Orthodox Church also leads to interpretation and analysis of the impact it holds for the rest of the animals.

This book goes over very deep thinking including political systems such as totalitarianism alongside different techniques of propaganda usage. It conveys irony, foreshadowing, and other linguistic techniques. It also creates links between the fiction and real world of our past, causing the need and development of strong comprehension of the allegory. 

Animal Farm may be difficult to understand at times especially with the time period it 

was written in and how it connects to events portrayed in Russia with political tension and other historical factors. Understanding the message inside the novel incorporating only the fictional characters and the plot is easier to acknowledge. However, including events from the Russian Revolution and the connection it has to the story such as which characters represent which historical figures, and what lesson Orwell wishes to convey may be difficult to see.

However, despite this, I found the novella to be really interesting and suspenseful, causing further anticipation of what was to come next in the story. It causes levels of interpretation that can enhance one’s reading level and can also develop analytical skill levels to capture the overall message Orwell conveys in his work. 

This book is especially great for those who enjoy analyzing these texts and for those who enjoy connecting the fiction to the real world. I especially recommend this to those who enjoy learning about history. Even for those who don’t, it is also a wonderful novel to read as it includes great story development along with character development. The storyline and plot twists are very rewarding and eye opening with the topics like the amount of education received and the impact it holds for the real world is brought up. The amount of different perspectives that are shown within the books also receive my appreciation along with what happened in the novel in general. This is definitely worth every minute’s read. I definitely recommend this novella!

Check out Animal Farm at the Newport Beach Public Library!