In a satirical narrative set on a farm, animals overthrow their oppressive human master and establish a revolutionary government. The story symbolizes the Russian Revolution and subsequent rise of totalitarianism.
at the end all the seven Commandments are abbandoned and only one remains: "all animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others"
at first the animals' lives are guided by Seven Commandments based on equality but there are gradually altered by the pigs who become dictatorial
the book is a short narrative set on a farm where a group of oppressed animals, capable of speech and reason, overcome their cruel master and set up a revolutionary government
animal farm
Ramo principale
Sottoargomento
the animals
Napoleon is obviously Stalin
Snowball represents Trotsky
farmer Jones is Czar Nicolas II
old majon stands for a mixture of Marx and lenin
each animal symbolises a precise figure or representative type
plot
the historical background of the book
the book shows how an initial idealism can turn into exploitation and how ordinary people can lose their freedom in small incremental steps
the tone of the book blends humor and sarcasm with horrifying scenes
Orwell's reaction to these events caused him to write Animal Farm
in 1939 Stalin signed a pact with Hitler which enabled the Germans to take over Poland and Czechoslovakia
in the late 1930s news reached the West of Stalin's 'purge trials'