animal farm

the historical background of the book

in the late 1930s news reached the West of Stalin's 'purge trials'

in 1939 Stalin signed a pact with Hitler which enabled the Germans to take over Poland and Czechoslovakia

Orwell's reaction to these events caused him to write Animal Farm

the tone of the book blends humor and sarcasm with horrifying scenes

the book shows how an initial idealism can turn into exploitation and how ordinary people can lose their freedom in small incremental steps

plot

the animals

each animal symbolises a precise figure or representative type

old majon stands for a mixture of Marx and lenin

farmer Jones is Czar Nicolas II

Snowball represents Trotsky

Napoleon is obviously Stalin

Ramo principale

Sottoargomento

Sottoargomento

Sottoargomento

Sottoargomento

Sottoargomento

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

at first the animals' lives are guided by Seven Commandments based on equality but there are gradually altered by the pigs who become dictatorial

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"