JL5
c v - * « » v /AS v
İVE A R EAST U N IVERSITY
FACULTY OF ARTS
&
SCIENCES
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE & 1 IT E RATURE
A CRITICAL APPROACH TO
GEORGE ORWELL’ S
ANIMAL F A R M
WITH SPECIAL EMPHASIS ON THE EFFECTS
OF MARXISM ON ORWELL
(Undergraduate Thesis)
Submitted to:
A sso c.P ro f.D r.Gül Celkan
Submitted by:
Ümit Gören
TRNC
CONTENTS
I - P R E F A C E
I I - I N T R O D U C T I O N
C H A P T E R 1 ' M A R X I S M ’ A-W HAT is MARXISM?
B-WHA T is COMMUNISM? C -WHO is KARL MARX?
D - N I N E T E E N T H CENTURY ENGLAND a-The C H R O N O L O G Y
b - H I S T O R Y
E- THE I N F L U E N C E of MARXISM on V I C T O R I A N ENGLAND F-THE I N F L U E N C E of MARXISM on EN GL ISH L I T E R A T U R E
G-DAS K A P I T A L and the C O M M U N I S T M A N I F E S T O as L I T E R A R Y WORKS
C H A P T E R 2 A N I M A L FARM A - G E O R G E O R W E L L
B - H I S T O R I C A L and POLITICAL B A C K G R O U N D C - S T R U C T U R E and STYLE
D - ANIMAL F A R M and SATIRE E-PLOT F - S U M M A R Y of CHAPTERS G - C H A R A C T E R S H - C O N C L U S I O N - F O O T N O T E S - B I B L I O G R A P H Y
I have always been interested in literature and politics. For that matter, I decided to concentrate on Marxism and George Orwell to point out the
truth called fcommunismf. Reading Animal Farm as a child and a grown up made me realize how the English Department developed my level in English and in literature
I would like to thank to the President Dr. Suat Günsel, for establishing such a higly esteemed department at the university and I also want to
thank to our chairperson, Associate Prof. Dr. Gül Celkan for her teaching for five years and for helping me while writing this undergraduate thesis. I also want to thank to her secretaries Gülay and Ajda for their helping during my schooldays and particularly Taşkın and Yakup for their company.
I N T R O D U C T I O N
M a r x i s m is a social and economic philosophy, emerged in the N i n e t e e n t h Century, in England. M a r x i s m developed on behalf of the working class which, Marx thought, was being exploited by the capitalists. M a r x i s m is a s s o c i a t e d with communism.
The first principles of M a r x i s m a ppeared in 1848 with the
C ommunis t M a n i f e s t o , which a s s e r t e d a classes society where
everybody were equal. However, The demands of Marx has never been realistic; it has never been applied in the right sense. In order to emphasize this fact we will c o n ce nt r ate on
Animal Farm (1945) a novel by George Orwell in which communism is declaired, However, the leaders use M a r x i s m and C o m m u n i s m
so as to carry out their d i c t a t o r s h i p tendencies.
In this thesis we will define Marxism, communism, suggest their effects on the V i c t o r i a n England and on English
1 . A-WHAT IS MARXISM?
Ma rxi sm is the pursuit of communism with e mp has is on Karl M a r x ’s p u b l i c a t i o n s such as Das Capital and
The Communist M a n i f e s t a t i o n . M a r x ’s p u b l i c a t i o n s were the sign of a new r e v o l u t i o n a r y regime. Simply it was called
’c o m m u n i s m 1. The Oxford Dictionary defines M a r x i s m as : ’’Political and economic theory of Karl Marx, stating that class struggle is the force behind historical change and
that c a p i t a l i s m will inevitably be replaced by s o c i a l i s m and a classless society: C ommunism is based on M a r x i s m .
l.B-WHAT Is C O M M U N I S M ?
C o m m u n i s m is a social and an economic system in which all
the members of the society are c o n s i d e r e d as equal. In such
a society p r o d u c t i o n is not under the control of the b o u r g e o i s i e class, i.e , private o w n e r s h i p is prohibited. C o m m u n i s m
developed as opposed to capitalism. The origin of the word co m m u n i s m comes from ’c o m m o n ’. C o m m u n i s m as a doctrine or as a theory , is the i d e n t i f i c a t i o n and e x p o s i t i o n of
capitalism. In c o m m u n i s m , no mat te r what sort of profession you deal with , you just get the same wage as everyone.
This means that the h i e r a r c h y is ab o l i s h e d , i.e. , the social classes are abandoned.
The union of workers , their upraise and ca pt uri n g the government are the main targets of communism. When the
r ev olu ti on is done , the p r o d u c t i o n m a c h i n e s get under the control of state and the pr e v a l e n c e of the c a p i t a l i s t s ends. The state manages e v e r y t h i n g r e p r e s e n t i n g the public.
C o m m u n i s m , as in other economic systems , did not emerge
spontaneously. There should be a h i s t o r i c a l course of time, there should be capitalism; the number of factories should
be s uff ecient for the needs of the public; the p rol eter ia ought to be tortured by the bourgeoisie. These c on dit io ns are n e ce ssa r y to make a revolution.
There are two ways of doing revolution; the first one is the union of workers and their upraise against the dominant
classes; the second way is rather difficult; the state
involves in a war and gets defeated , a f t e r w a r d s a r e v o l u
tionary leader takes over the country and pr o c l a i m s the new regime. For instance in Turkey: After the O t tom an s got
defeated in the First World War , M u s t a f a Kemal , the main commander of the army , e s t a b l i s h e d R epublic of Turkey in
October 29, 1923.
In c o m m u n i s m the rise of war is less then in capitalism. E co nom ic reasons play an important part in wars. For
instance , S a d d a m H u s e y i n , the dictator of Iraq , attacked Kuwait for its petrol. As will be written later on , the
notion of state d i s a p p e a r s in communism. For example ,
Soviet Russia c o n s i s t e d of many countries , therefore there was not a rise of war among them since they were under the
same roof. C o m m u n i s m does not have a na tio nal purpose but an i n t e r n a t i o n a l one.
There is no design of profit in communism. Nobody can ever run a business at all. Communism is a s s o c i a t e d with the
left wing , its colou r is red and its symbol is the
c o m b i n a t i o n of a sickle , hammer and a star. C o m m u n i s m is against re l i g i o n s since religions make d i s c r i m i n a t i o n among people .
When the c o m m u n i s t regime is proclaimed the notion of state disappears. When the public is divided into classes , i.e. c a p i t a l i s m , the state is the source of social justice.The
state is i n e v i t a b l e when the social and e conomic differences exist. The policy of the state is not ayways the same : as the p u b l i c fs e c o n o m i c structure changes the policy changes as well. H o w e v e r , the reason of a s t a t e ’s ex istence is
always the same: to make a social justice by force. If the p r o d u c t i o n is a d e q u a t e for everybody and when everybody is equal , then there is no reason for the e x i s t e n c e of the
state. In c o m m u n i s t couhtries it remains to control the p r o d u c t i o n and p u b l i c fs labour , r e p r e s e n t i n g the public.
So far , the c omm uni s t countries have been Soviet Russia , Bu lga ri a , C z e c h o s l o v a k i a , China , and Cuba. Today only Cuba and China remain. The most s uc ces sf ul
communist country was Soviet Russia which fell apart in 1991 with Gorbachov.
Now let us turn to Marx , his reasons to think of such a system and his ideas;
l. C- WH O is KARL M A R X ?
Karl Marx was born in May 5, 1818 in Ren, Germany. He is
originally Jewish. He was the son of H e i n r i c h Marx who was an intel lec t ua l advocate. H e i n r i c h M a r x was Jewi sh but
later on he became a Christian. H o w e v e r , Karl Marx was not a very religious person , but he was i n t e r e s t e d in the Jewish problem. When Marx was in Treves at the time , he kept his
relations with the Jews and with that s o c i e t y he asked for better c o n d i t i o n s for the Jews from the governme nt.
Marx graduated from high school at sixteen and went on to
study at the U n i v e r s i t y of Bonn. Ha vin g g r a d u a t e d , he gave his doctorate thesis. Then he found a job at a newspaper
where he wrote s o p h i s t i c a t e d articles. D u r i n g his childhood and adult life , Marx led an e x t r e m e l l y poor life. Despite being u n r e a l i s t i c he should be c o n g r a t u l a t e d on his success of finding such a system because of his toil , dedicated for
this design. Marx died in March 14, 1883.
Marx , a hard worker at the time , was i n f l u e n c e d by the
chaos , taking place all over the world. M a r x believed in ultimate freedom. He asked himself MH o w can this world
change ?".
There was a great r e v o l u t i o n a r y m o v e m e n t in E u r o p e starting with the French R e v o l u t i o n in 1789. An u p r a i s i n g in a
country effected other countries es well. The most
d i s ti nct i ve reason for Marx to write the C o m m u n i s t Manifesto and Das Kapital was the attitude of the e m p l o y e r s toward
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the workers. In Europe , in the N i n e t e e n t h Century , there was a tremendous i n d u s t r i a l i s m which caused the number of
the workers to increase: the working class , having been de g r a d e d , started to look for ways to o v e r c o m e this
injustice. England was the greatest m a n u f a c t u r i n g country in the nineteenth C e n t u r y and M a r x ’s p r o p o s a l s appeared in
this century. To u n d e r s t a n d the social s i t u a t i o n in England we should go back to the E i g h t e e n t h C e n t u r y ;
The Industrial R e v o l u t i o n started in about the 1770s in
England. This r e v o l u t i o n , which reached its peak point at the end of the E i g h t e e n t h Century , finished in about the
1830s. During this r e v o l u t i o n new m a c h i n e s appeared , fa c t o r i e s became bigger and the m i d d l e - s i z e d factories
disappeared". Before the Industrial R e v o l u t i o n in Great . B r i t a i n the r e l a t i o n s h i p s between the w o r k e r s and the e m p l o y e r s were good , ho wev er , now it became violent. E m p l o y e r s started even torturing their labourers.
The workers who were not very clever started to damage the m a c h i n e s in the fa c t o r i e s instead of taking their control. They needed someone who could teach them what to do.
In 1815 this rebellion reached its most viol en t degree and spreaded all over the country. This act is known as
"The Ludite M o v e m e n t ” . However , the d o m i n a n t classes replied to this act terribly: those who d e s t r o y e d the m a c h i n e s were given death penalty.
The proleteria thought that this act should have developed and that they needed some pr opaganda to become more
successful. The Engl is h O l i g a r c h y which feared, to laaeii.fes, d o m i n a n c e , decided to take strict precautions. The worker
a s s o c i a t i o n s which had r elations with each other were banned. The English working class was deprived of uniting.
As a reply to these r e s t r i c t i o n s ; the w o r k i n g class tried to regain its rights. This struggle , s t art in g in 1817 , ended up with the M a n c h e s t e r Reform Me et ing which was
dispersed by the military. However , the r e v o l u t i o n a r y
struggle lost its temper: in 1824 the w o r k e r s gained some rights which provided them with better conditio ns.
In England only the l a n d l o r d s had the right to vote at the time. Later on the b o u r g e o i s i e also gained. But somehow, the working class was excluded from this. T h e r e f o r e the
labourers founded the ’Lo ndo n W o r k i n g m e n A s s o c i a t i o n ’ , the purpose of which was to es t a b l i s h a labour party. W i l l i a m Lowett was the leader of this association.
Lowett and his friends were called C h a r t i s t s and they had
five demands: the right to vote , hidden vote , the renewal of the parliament every year , payment to pa r l i a m e n t leaders and abolishing the l i m i t a t i o n of voting with a standart
property and the p r o v i s i o n of equal rights among the
election regions. During the Chartist M o v e m e n t Marx was 19 years old and it reached its peak point when Marx was an
a d u l t .
’’The R e f o r m Bill of 1832 was passed in r e s p o n s e to the demands of the middle classes who were g r a d u a l l y taking
control of E n g l a n d ’s economy. It extended the right to vote to all males owning p r o p e r t y worth 10 pounds or more in
¿L annual rent."
All this time w o r k e r s ’ co n d i t i o n s grew worse , they could hardly satisfy their hungers and the ’Corn L a w s ’ made this
even worse: bread was more expensive
"Even without the p r o v o c a t i o n of u n e m p l o y m e n t , conditions in the new in d u s t r i a l and c o al -m in in g areas were terrible enough to create fear of revolution. W o r k e r s and their
f amilies in the slums of such cities as M a n c h e s t e r lived h o r r i b l y crowded , u n s a n i t a r y housing and the conditions
under which women and c h i l d r e n toiled in mines and factories
2
,
were u n i m a g i n a b l y brutal."
In 1846 ’Free T r a d e ’ was initiated whereby i m p o r t a t i o n could be done with paying the m i n i m u m duty tax.
In May 1, 1848 the w o r k i n g duration was reduced to ten hours from fifteen hours, however, the workers wages decreased as well. Every year May 1 is celebrated as the Mayd ay ,i.e. ,
the l a b o u r e r s ’d a y . In 1848 many r e v o l u t i o n s took place in Europe and they had impacts on England.
To u n d e r s t a n d M a r x i s m well , we should have a look at the Co mmunist M a n i f e s t o and Das Kapital ;
Marx wrote his famous C o m m u n i s t M an ife st o in a group called ’The Co mmu nis t L e a g u e ’ . Marx , being e xpelled from his
c o u n t r y travelled all over Europe. The C o m m u n i s t League was an a s s o c i a t i o n of w o r k e r s in London. Marx , in London , was
s um mon ed by the w o r k e r s to join in The C o m m u n i s t League and to write a c ommunist m a n i f e s t o . C o m m u n i s t Manifesto
was the product of The C o m m u n i s t League. It was not only r el ate d to a cert ai n c o u n t r y but all the world where the
b o u r g e o i s i e existed. Now let us have a look at the p h i l o s o p h y of the C o m m u n i s t Manifesto ;
a-The history of every society is the struggle between
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classes. This struggle , sometimes apparent and sometimes covered continued in a nonstop manner. This s t rug gl e will end up with the victory over the dominant classes.
b-The society splits into two blocks , i.e. , the bourgeo i sie and the proleteria.
c-The free c o m p e t i e n c e law has given power to the b o u r geo i sie which causes injustices.
d-The bourge oi si e causes to develop a social and a united society that is opposed to itself.
e-Workers can get rid of economic slavery by de f e a t i n g the b o u r g e o i s i e and by creating social c i r c u m st a nce s.
f-In the beginning the struggle of the working class is national but later on it turns to be i n t e r n a t i o n a l .
g-The working class should be organized in every country to conquest the government and to hand the fa c t o r i e s over to
the state.
The main targets of the Communist M a i f e s t o are as follows ;
I-The possession of land and the profits gained from land should be handed over to the state.
I I - M a x i m u m c o l l e c t i o n of tax.
1 1 1 -The credit should be gathered in one bank that is
e s t a b l i s h e d by the state.
îv-All the public t r a n s p o r t a t i o n v ehicles ought to be under the cotrol of the state.
v-The number of factories and p r o d u c t i o n m a c h i n e s should be
increased and fields should be cu l t i v a t e d a c c o r d i n g to a plan.
vi-The same social wor ki ng c o nd iti o ns for e v e r y o n e and good o r g a n i z a t i o n for industry and ag r i c u l t u r e .
m
v n - T h e a b o l i s h m e n t of the contrast betw ee n cities and c o u n t r y s i d e s in order to ally industry and agriculture.
v m - T h e free study of c h i l d r e n at the state schools and p r o h i b i t i o n of c h i l d r e n ’s labour.
The purpose of the C o m m u n i s t League was to defeat the
b o u r g e o i s i e and r e c o n s t r u c t i o n of a new soc ie ty which did not have classes and private ownership. The ultimate
ph i l o s o p h y that prevails t hr ougho ut the m a n i f e s t o is 2
"The economic p r o d u c t i o n of every society and the social structur e caused by this , generates the social and
p h i l o s o p h i c a l history of every single age; t h e r e f o r e all the hi sto ry is the history of the struggle bet wee n classes ,
between the e x p loi ti n g and the e xploited classes.
Das Kapital has got a d ifferent p h i l o s o p h y compared to the C o m m u n i s t Man if est o . The former one tells the social ,
e conomic , political and the p h i l o s o p h i c a l stages of a
p r o d u c t i o n starting from the raw m a t e r i a l till it is consumed.
It also contains the s alvatio n wars all over the world , history of the C har ti st Movement , slavery , banks ,
a g r i c u l t u r e , Corn Laws , the poverty of the p r o l e t e r i a .After reading it , the injustic es expose themselves automati cally. Marx ‘refers "to English" Li ter ature characters such as "Shylock". as a t errible capitalist.
Das Kapital consists of three volumes. The first volume was w r i t t e n in 1867 , the second one in 1885 and the third one in 1894. When the secord volume was published Marx was dead. F r i e d r i c h Engels used to work with Marx and he always kept a copy of M a r x ’s writings; therefore Engels prepared the second and the third volumes for p u b l i c a t i o n . T h e philosophy
°f Das Kapital is as follows:
nMarx claimed that a w o r k m a n ’s labour possesses more
i ntrinsi c value than is required to support him , and that the surplus is filched from him by exp loiti ng ca p i t a l i s t s , which is their profit. Thus there is nothing in common
between the employers and the employed , the proleteriat:
the latter must therefore develop a c l a s s - c o n s c i o u s n e s s and unite , e v e n t u a l l y to wage a class war in which the whole
II S c a p i t a l i s t system would be overthrown.
M a r x i s m c o nsi de r s economic conditions as the basis of life: political and other systems merely being a ’s u p e r s t r u c t u r e ’ which undergo changes along with them. One q uotation is
worth reproducing: ’the workers have nothing to lose in this (revolution) but their chains. They have a world to gain.
Wo rke rs of the world , u n i t e . ’’
As c a p i t a l i s m developed , M a r x i s m ‘became a s u p e r i o r power and started to have a great impact on the labour masses. The
Communist Ma n i f e s t o became well-known, it became more
popular. In Das Kapital Marx made a c r i t i c a l analysis of the capitalist economic system. Before Marx, the situation of workers was as follows: we can resemle the workers to
people who lost their way to home, walking on every street; Marx appears suddenly in the misty darkness of the night and
instructs them how to go home. Marx owes some of his work to F r i e d r i c h Engels who was also a c ommunis t like Marx but who
always lived in the shade of Marx.
We mentioned about the situation of the p r o l e t e r i a in the N i n e t e e n t h Century, about Das Kapital and the Communist
M a n i f e s t o . Now we will have a look at the other aspects of the Victorian Society;
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1 •D - N I N E T E E N T H C E N T U R Y E N G L A N D
a- The C h r o n o l o g y
1 8 3 8 - ’Great W e s t e r n ’ steamer crosses the Atlantic.
1839-Chartists riot at Birmingham. (The C h a r t i s t s were agitating for certain political e lec tor a l reforms).
1840-Penny postage introduced.
1842-Great Chartist d e m o n s i t r a t i o n in London.
18 48- Wid e sp rea d r e v o l u t i o n a r y m o v e m e n t s on the continent. French Republic proclaimed.
18 51 -Submarine telegraph between B r i t a i n and France. 1851-The Great E x h i b i t i o n in Hyde Park , London.
1854-War between England and Russia. Armies land in Crimea. 1856-End of Crimean W a r ( R u s s i a n s defeated).
1857-Indian Muti ny breaks out. 1861-American Civil War begins.
1863-Slavery abolished in America by decree of president L i n c o l n .
1865-Lincoln assasinated. Civil War ends.
1868-Disraeli Prime Minister. Resigns, s u c c e e d e d by Gladstone 1 8 7 0 - F r a n c o - P r u s s i a n W a r ( e n d s 1871).
18 74- Gla dstone min ist ry resigns. D i s r a e l i succeeds«
1875-Britain purchases K h e d i v e ’s shares in the Sues Canal. 1878-Cyprus ceded to Britain.
1879-Wars in Z u l u l a n d (this the period of B r i t i s h c o l o n iza t ion in A f r i k a ).
1882-Cairo occupied by B r i t i s h troops. 1886-Upper Burma annexed.
1887-Queen V i c t o r i a ’s Gold en Jubilee c e l e b r a t i o n s .
1893-Irish Home Rule Bill rejected by House of Lords. 1894-The Dreyfus scandal in Paris.
1895-Ashanti expedition.
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1897-Queen V i c t o r i a ’s Diamond Jubilee. 1899-Boer War b e g i n s ( s o u t h Africa).
1900-Relief of Mafeking. Boxer o u t b r e a k in China. transvaal a n n e x e d to Britain.
b- Hi s t o ry
V i c t o r i a was the Queen of England in the N i net ee n t h Century. She reigned from 1837 until 1901. V i c t o r i a n Age was the
period of many problems. The focus on industry caused the c o u n t r y s i d e r s to move to the cities. With the progress of
c a p i t a l i s m and technology, human emotions and values started to decay. Social and economic circles gave way to spiritual loss. the priority was given to materialism. In 1851 The
Great E x h i b i t i o n show took place in Hyde Park,, where the
p r o d u c t i o n s of modern industry was shown. England, for its industry, became the greatest power in the world and London became the most important city in Europe.
In 1859 Charles Darwin published his famous Origin of Species c l a i m i n g that human beings are the d e s c end a nts of apes. This caused a big crises of belief at the time. Religion was in
c on fli ct with reason: "Some chose to assume that evolution was s y no nym o us with progress, but most readers recognised that
D a r w i n ’s theory of natural s election conflicted not only with the concept of creation derived from the Bible but also with l o n g - e s t a b l i s h e d a s s ump ti o ns of the values attached to
A
h u m a n i t y ’s special role in the world. However, there was
not only a crisis in religious belief , but in the belief of people toward one another.
In 1859 The C r i m e a n War broke out. R u s s i a wanted to conquer the Balcans and they fought against England, France and The O t t o m a n Empire. Fnance and England did not want to involve
in a war but in e v i t a b l y they were in the battle field. They were not keen on the war because they thought that its
c o n s e q u e n c e s will be bad even if they finish the war with victory. Marx was keen on the war since England , Russia ,
France and The Ottoman Empire were c a p i t a l i s t and i m per ial i st c o u n t r i e s and they would have lost power. The duration of
war was more than it was expected and it ended up with the vi cto ry of England, France and The Ottomans.
"During V i c t o r i a ’s reign the p o p u l a t i o n grew from two
m i l l i o n to six and a half million"*! In the V i c t o r i a n Age the rich became richer and the poor became poorer. With the
i n i t i a t i o n of ’Corn L a w s ’ the poor became even poorer.
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1•E- TH E I N F L U E N C E of M A R X I S M on V I C T O R I O N E N G L A N D
In about 1960s The Chartist M ove me nt lost all of its impact on the proleteria. Some of the h ist oria ns claim that traces of it d i s a p p e a r e d just after the movement. However, the
Chartist M o v e m e n t in 1850 and during the Crimean War started to bloom. Chartism, with the help of Marx, his friends and
Ernest Jones benefited from the disapproval of the p r o l e t e r i a during the C r i m e a n War. This is the time when C h a r t i s t s ’
newspaper " P e o p l e ’s P a p e r ’’ became one of the most important n ew spape rs in the country. When the war was over, C h a r t i s t s lost their p u b l i c a t i o n media because of some reasons as
f o l l o w s ;
The most im p o r t a n t reason was the mi gra tio n of wo rke rs to
America and Australia. Two m i l l i o n workers m i g r a t e d who were young and healthy, therefore the old and the c hil dr en were
left in England. The source, from which the C hartist
M o v e m e n t took its power, was running out. There were some
a s s o c i a t i o n s which attracte d the a ttentio n of wor ker s such as the one a g a i n s t alcohol and the c o - o p e r a t i v e m o v e m e n t s which were managed by the C h r i s t i a n Socialists. The main aspect
of communism, i.e, the p r o l e t e r i a was reducing in number,
Later on C h a r t i s t s started to e s t a b l i s h c o - o p e r a t i v e s which
did not d i s t u r b the dominant classes. This caused s y nd ica t es to emerge in about 1850s. The first proper s y nd ica t e came
out in 1851. The two h a r d w o r k i n g chiefs of this s y ndi cat e managed to defeat the typical E n g l i s h ’craft s p i r i t ’.
Because of the craft spirit there was the t r a d i t i o n of having s y n d i c a t e s only in one or two cities. Despite the
ft
de v e l o p m e n t , the syndicates were destined to stop their
de v e l o p m e n t at a certain point which was not the full success. There was a big depression b e t w e e n 1857-58. Great
u n e m p l o y m e n t prevailed the country. The employers were
imposing a heavy oppression on the workers; they d e cre as e d
their wages, extended the d u r a t i o n of working hours. However , the workers replied to this as t o n i s h i n g l y ; they broke a
general strike in 1859. This was one of the biggest strikes London has ever experienced. There were big m e e t i n g s in
England e s p eci al l y in Hyde Park. When this strike was over the ’Trade U n i o n ’ was e s t a b l i s h e d for the ficst time in
London, which became the most e f f e c t i v e worker council in 1861.
The Great Ex h i b i t i o n in 1851 made an o p p o r t u n i t y for the French ,Germa n and English w o r k e r s to come together.
In 1860 a new commitee was establ is he d, the name of which was ’The First Inte rn at io nal L e a g u e ’ . Marx was one of the
members of this new commitee. He proposed some new ideas
and ex plained the reasons of the defeat of workers in 1848, and their gains. This e x p l a n a t i o n is known as Introduction. The I n t r o d u c t i o n was the i n t r o d u c t i o n to the Regulation.
One of the gains was the ten hour w o r k i n g period. Another
one was the c o n st ruc t ion of c o - o p e r a t i v e factories. However, Marx thought that c o - o p e r a t i v e s i n cl ude d only a certain
number of workers, therefore it could not serve as a solution. Marx in the introdu c tio n said that there is only one success
factor for the workers that is the union of them; the workers should have mixed with each other and that they should have
followed k n o w l e d g e and science. Marx, with a different
s o p h i s t i c a t i o n , reached the same basic results in his new w o r k .
The I n t r o d u c t i o n was written s e v e n t e e n years after the C ommunis t M a n i f e s t o . The h i s t o r i c a l time and the
o r g a n i z a t i o n they were written are different. Marx, in the Introduction, expresses the demands and the targets of the
proleteria. It consists of two parts; principles and p r o b l e m s of the o r g a n iz a tio n;
The s alvatio n of the proleteria sould be done by the
proleteria. The salvation policy of the proleteria is not for abo lishi ng the class privileges but for equal rights
socially and for ending any sort of class dominance .
The reason of slavery and social i n ju st ic es are the cause of w o r k e r s ’ d e p e n d e n c e on factory owners .
To succeed this we should unite i n t e r n a t i o n a l l y .
The s alv at io n of the proleteria is a matter of union of mo der n c o u n t r i e s .
This is the I n t r o d u c t i o n of the regulation.
During its f o u n d a t i o n , the name of the organization was
altered to ’The International W o r k i n g m e n A s s o c i a t i o n ’. The main aspects of the regulation are as follows;
a-This a s s o c i a t i o n is established in order to protect the
workers in various countries, to make them progress, q u i c k e n their s a l v a t i o n and to make the c o m m u n i c a t i o n among the
s y n d i c a t e s .
b-The name of the a s s o c i a t i o n will be fThe W o r k i n g m e n A s s o c i a t i o n ’•
c-Every year a general w o r k e r s ’ meeting will be done , the
members of which will be from the delegates of every branch. This meeting will inform the w o r k e r s ’ common e x p e c t a t i o n s and
it will take precaut i o ns for the a s s o c i a t i o n to operate p r o p e r l y .
d-Every single meeting will decide the date of the next
meeting. In e x t r a o r d i n a r y cases the a s s o c i a t i o n may summon the delegates for an unplanned meeting.
e-The general counsil will consist of wo rk ers from various countries and they will choose the secretaries.
f-All the workers in one country will be a c q u a i n t e d with the movements in other countries.
g-The a s s oc iat i on will toil for all the f r a g m e n t a r y associations to attach them to itself.
The Internat ional W o r k i n g m e n A s s oci at io n had a few m e e t i n g s
but all of their decisions melted in theory and it ended soon.
As a step on the way to democracy, civic workers got the right to vote in 1867. Although it is partial, this event is a great success for the workers.
At the beginning of the 1880s a change occured in the E u r o p e a n w o r k e r s ’ act. M a r x i s m gained power. In 1876 Social D e m o c r a t
Party was proclaimed to be illegal. Marx said that this was a scandal. Marx died in 14 March, 1883.
*
l.F-The INFLUENCE of M A R X I S M on E N G L I S H L I T E R A T U R E
Perhaps the first English author to be c o n n e c t e d with M a r x i s m was, the poet and painter Wil lia m Morris. Morris, himself a man of independent means, was too much of an indivi du al is t to follow Marx in every respect, but he shared with Marx a
c o n v i c t i o n that Utopia could be a c h i e v e d only after the working classes had,by revolution, taken the control of
g o ve rnm e nt and industry. Morris was deeply attached to his own literary master John Ruskin. Like Ruskin, he became
p r o g r e s s i v e l y d i s sat is fi ed with the drabness of the modern in dustrial world and, in later years, became convinced that
political revolution was a necessity to restore humanity to a state in which working could be enjoyed, without the
e x p l o i t a t i o n of workers that seemed to be prevalent in
V i c t o r i a n Period. In his late poem the P i l g r i m of Hope (1885) Morris prophesies a changed society in which: "Hope is awake
in the face angerless now no m o r e , / T i l l the new peace down on the world, the fruit of peoples war". And in his prose
na rr ati v e News From Nowhere (1891) he e x p r e s s e s more ex p l i c i t l y his ideal partly derived from his study of Karl Marx but more
from his lifelong love for the colour and vitality of medieval life. Morris, in _A death S o n g , says:
Here lies the sign that we shall break our prison; Amidst the storm he won a p r i s o n e r ’s rest;
But in the cloudy dawn the sun ari zen
Brings us our day of work to win the best.
Not one, not one, nor thousands must they slay, But one and all if they would dusk the day
John Ruskin was anoter author, in fluenced by Marxism.
The interest in the stultifying effects of in d u s t r i a l i s m led Ruskin into economics. After 1860 he became an outspoken
critic of l a i s s e z - f a i r e economics. His c o n c e p t i o n of r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s of employers toward their workers, is
expressed in his Unto This Last (1860). What he was la b o u r i n g to show was that self-seeking business r e l a t i o n s h i p s might be
made over on the principle of d edicate d service, taking as a model the learned professions and also the military'. His
writings inf luenced William Morris, G e o r g e Bernard Shaw,
D.H Lawrence and the founders of the B r i t i s h Labour Party.
The Scottish writ er Thomas Carlyle c r i t i z e d cap italism since it encouraged a situation in which p a y m e n t s of cash became
the only c o n n e c t i o n with human beings. He believed that this situation could cause revolutions. He wrote 0_n H e r o e s , Past and P r e s e n t , The French R e v o l u t i o n .
Elizabeth Gaskell lived in M a n c h e s t e r and she had close
knowledge of the working people there. She wrote Mary Barton and North and S o u t h .
Toward the end of the Victorian Period, M a r x i s m helped
develop a new literary movement called ’a e s t h e t i c i s m ’: "In part a e s t h e t i c i s m seems to have .been a kind of reaction
against the m a t e r i a l i s m and c a p i t a l i s m of the later Vi cto ria n Period; and also against the P h i l i s t i n e s who embodied what has
!0
been described as the fBourgeois e t h o s ’". The phrase ’Art for a r t ’s s a k e ’ developed from aestheticism. A e s t h e t i c i s m o bje ct ed political and didactic writing. It dealt with the c o nc ep ti on
of beauty, and, above all, it was a g a i n s t the literature done for money i.e., capitalism.
Another issue, developed by the i n fl uen c e of Marxism is, the
'Marxist criticis/n '; "Marxist principies
,
attitudes and ¿nodes
of thoughts and inquiry have been adapted to create a M a r x i s t theory of literature: what it has been and what it might and, perhaps, should be. The Marxist critic (who tends to be
primarily i n t e r e s t e d in content) wri tes from definite s tadpoint of M a r x ’s p h i l o s o p h i c a l ideas, and from his view of history in which the class struggle is fundamental, or in terms of socio- historical f a c t o r s . 3
The first E n g l i s h Marxist critic was C h r ist op ne r Caudwell. In Illusion and The or y and Studies in ^a Dying Culture he
attempted d e f i n i t i o n s of Marxist theories of it. Another critic was Raymond Williams, who a t t e m p t e d a historical
assessment of culture and literature in Marxist terms. His works are: C u l t u r e and S o c i e t y , The long Revolution, M a r x i s m and L i t e r a t u r e . The principal theorist of Marxist c r i t i c i s m in Britain is Terry Eagleton who wrote Marxism artd Literary
C r i t i c i s m , C r i t i c i s m and ideology, and Aesthetics and I d e o l o g y .
"The concept of ’social r e a l i s m ’ marked an important advance
in the d e v e l o p m e n t of Marxist and c o m m u n i s t views on l i t e r a t u r e and art in general. Basically, social realism required a
writer to be c om mit ed to the w o r k i n g class cause of the party. And it required that literature should be progressive and
9
should display a progre ss iv e outl oo k on society".
There were some authors who were e f f e c t e d by Marxism i n d i r e c t l y such as W.H Auden, Charles dickens, and Alfred Tennyson who
dealt with the problems of the p r o l e t e r i a and the loss of emotions against materialism.
In my opinion the most di s t i n c t i v e author who dealt with communism was George Orwell, who had a r e a l i s t i c approach
toward Marxism. He sa tirized the Stalinist period of Russia in his Animal F a r m . The r e l a t i o n s h i p be tw een M a r x i s m and
Animal Farm is as follows;
Communism was the regime in Russia when S t a l i n was ruling.
The founder of Soviet Russia was Lenin who was effected by the principles of Karl Marx, i.e., Marxism. The policy, therefore, carried out by Stalin was based on Marxism. In other words,
Orwell did not only s atirize Soviet Russia but also M a r x i s m as well.
The fact that Lenin followed M a r x i s m was obvious; after the Bolshevic R e v o l u t i o n in 1717, the Co m m u n i s t Ac ade my was
established in Russia, a department of whi ch was called
’Marxist H i s t o r i a n D e p a r t m e n t ’. We can say that Soviet Russia was based on Marxism.
The com mu nis m that took place at the time of Stalin was
therefore based on Marxism. While s a t i r i z i n g the Soviet Union, Orwell bore M a r x i s m in his mind as a criteria. In the novel,
’old M a j o r ’ , one of the characters, is a m i x t u r e of Lenin and Marx: ’’Lenin o r g a n i z e d and led the October Revolution, and
was the founder of both the Communist Party and the Soviet Union. He t r a n s l a t e d the Mar xia n p h i l o s o p h y into practice and action, cutting t h r o u g h millions of M a r x ’s words to
fundamental p r o p o s i t i o n s , such as the c r e a t i o n of party; the overthrow of b o u r g e o i s supremacy and the basic conquest of
political power. There is something of Marx, too, in O r w e l l ’s presentation of old Major. Karl Marx was a German economist
and the founder of i n t e r n a t i o n a l r e v o l u t i o n a r y socialism.
In 1847 he drew up the manifesto which may be regarded as the modern socialism, and his classic work, Das K a p i t a l , in three
volumes, dealt b a s i c a l l y with the surplus value. Marxism
c onsider s economic co n d i t i o n s as the basis of life: political and other systems m e r e l y being a ’s u p e r s t r u c t u r e 1 which
i f 1 C
undergo changes along with them .
This is the r e l a t i o n s h i p between M a r x i s m and Animal F a r m . The latter will be dealt in detail in the proceeding pages.
l.G- _ DAS K A P I T A L and the COMMUNIST M A N I F E S T O
as L I T E R A R Y WORKS
Das Kapital and the Communist M a n i f e s t o are not only
political works but , in my opinion , they are also li ter ar y works, i.e. , they are fictional. They do not reflect the
reality.
To prove this thesis , the definition of l i t e r a t u r e and the way it is done should be demonstrated: l i t e r a t u r e is a kind of art , done with the arrangement of words, a ppe ali n g to
our senses and spirit and we find such a r r a n g e m e n t of words Tb e a u t i f u l T ,i.e., we feel a special e x c i t e m e n t in us.
Li t e r a t u r e c o n s i s t s of fictional e l e m e n t s based on reality, i.e., fiction is parallel to the reality. For example ,
when we say 'she is a r o s e ’ there is an i m p o s s i b l i t y that she can be a rose; the reality is that she is beautiful. The
truth fb e a u t y f is a sso ciat ed with its u n r e a l i s t i c r e s e m b l a n c e to a rose.
In M a r x ’s works the designs and the dreamed U t o p i a are u n r ea lis t ic and they contain fictional elements. When
somebody reads them he says ’what a nice place , however, he knows that it is unreachable. The d e s c r i p t i o n s are nice but they are u n l i k e l y to come true. This is the fictional part of M a r x ’s works that appeals to only our senses and spirits. The reality can either that there is no such a place or the
sufferings of the workers in real life. The l iterary form of M a r x ’s works can be a ’fairy t a l e ’ as they are good
i m ag ina t ive and un r e a l i s t i c works.
Why I find M a r x i s m u n r e a l i s t i c is'*that c o m m u n i s m can by no means be achieved in the right sense and even if it is
a ch iev ed it does not serve as a remedy to social problems. In a d d i t i o n to this, it spoils human a bilitie s because in c o m m u n i s m one can not do a job that he is good at , for
instance, an artist may work in a factory. C o m m u n i s m can also kill the ’f a m i l y ’ c o n ce pt i o n. Women have m o t h e r h o o d
instinct in them but when they are deprived of looking after their c h i l d r e n the family c o n c e p t i o n disappears. Human
beings are born with different a b i l i t i e s and roles in this world, th e r e f o r e they should be free to decide what to do.
C o m m u n i s m provides the social e q u a l i t y by force »everybody may not be keen on this. C o m m u n i s m also deprives people from
9
c ar ryi ng out their r eli gio u s ne c e s s i t i e s . C o m m u n i s m makes
people robots; start work in the mo rni ng and come back in the evening: this is the u l t i m a t e r ou tin e life of a communist
citizen. C o m m u n i s m fr u s t r a t e s i n d i v i d u a l s ’ success. we can see the si t u a t i o n of c o m m u n i s m just by looking at the world; the s u p e r p o w e r Soviet Russia fell apart; whole Europe is
cleared off from communism. The only dominant economic and social system in the world is c a p i t a l i s m and it will be in the future as well.
These are the reasons why I find c o m m u n i s m u n r e a l i s t i c and unac hi ev ab le. To support my idea f u r t h e r m o r e I will write
about George O r w e l l ’s Animal Farm since it decries c o m m u n i s m , re f e r r i n g to the Stalinis t period of Soviet Russia.
C H A P T E R 2
2 . A - G E O R G E ORW EL L
"George Orwell was the pseudonym of Eric Blair, who was born in India , where his father was a B r i t i s h civil servant.
Orwell was sent to private school in England and won a
s c h o l a r s h i p to Eton, the foremost 'public school' in the country. It was at these schools that he first became
c on sci ou s of the d i f f e r e n c e between his own background and the wealty b a c k g r o u n d of many of his schoolmates. On
leaving school he joined the Imperial Police in Bu rma(both Burma and India were then still part of the British
C o m m o n w e a l t h and empire). His ser vi ce in Burma from 1922 to 1927 produced a sense of guilt about Br iti sh Colonialism and a feeling that he must make some kind of personal expiatio n
for it. This he would later do with a fiercely a n t i c o l o n i a l i s t novel, Bur me se Days (1934), and ess ays like Shooting an
Elephant (1936). He returned to E n g l a n d determined to be a write r and a d o p t e d a ps eu don y m as one of escaping from the
class position in which his birth and education had placed him. He went to Paris to try to make a living by teaching while he made his first attempts at writing. He found that he could keep al ive in Paris only by taking the menial jobs, and even then he barely survived. His experience there was
followed by a spell as a tramp in England, and both e x p e r i e n c e s are v i v i d l y recorded in his first book,
Down and Out in Paris and London (1933). Orwell did not
have to suffer the dire poverty that he seems to have a c t u a l l y c o u r t e d ( h e had i n f l u e n t u a l friends who have been glad to help him); he wanted, however, to learn about the life of the poor firsthand, part ly out of humane curiosity, partly because, as he wrote, if he did so "part of my guilt would drom from me".
The Road to W igan Pier (1937) d i s c u s s e s the experiences Orwell shared with the u n e m p l o y e d i n the north of England.
The book p lea se d neither the left nor the right, for by now Orwell was showing what was to become his c h a r a c t e r i s t i c
i n d e p e n d e n c e mind on political and social questions: he wrote of what he knew firsthand to be true and was c o n t e mpt u ou s of ideologies. He never joined a p o l i t i c a l party but r e gar de d
h im sel f as a man of the uncommi t ted and indipendent left. He took part in the re publican side in the Spanish Civil War,
which broke out in 1936 when France raised his rebellion against the R e p u b l i c a n government, and returned to write
- Homage to C a t a l o n i a (1938). This book strongly criticized the communis t part in the civil war and showed from his own e x p e r i e n c e how the Communist Party in Spain was out to
destroy anarchists, Trotskyists, and any other on the
r e p u b l i c a n side who were suspected of not toeing the St alinist line; it aroused great indign at io n on the left Britain and
elsewhere, for leftists believed that they should solidly support the Soviet Union and the C o m m u n i s t Party as the
natural leaders in the struggle against international fascism. Orwell never w ave re d in his belief that while profound social change was n e c e s s a r y and desirable in capitalist countries of the West, the so-called socialism e s t a b l i s h e d in the Soviet
Russia was a pe r v e r s i o n of s oc ial is m and a wicked tyranny.
In Animal Farm (1945) he wrote an animal fable showing how such a p e r v e r s i o n of socialism could develop, while in
Ni net ee n E i g h t y - F o u r (1949), when he was an embittered man dying of tu bercul osis, he wrote a sa vag el y powerful novel
depicting a t o t a l i t e r i a n future in England where the g o v e r n m e n t uses the l a n g u a g e of socialism to cover a tyranny that
s y s t e m a t i c a l l y destroys the human spirit.
It was Or wel l's independent innocence of eye that made him
both a permanent misfit p o l i t i c a l l y and a b r i l l i a n t l y original writer. He was an out standing journalist , and the essays he wrote r egu lar l y for the left wing British journal Tribune
AH
and other periodicals include, some of his work".
»
2.B - H I S T O R I C A L AND PO L IT IC A L B A C K G R O U N D
Animal Farm • was written in 1944 and pu b l i s h e d in 1945. This h i s t o r i c a l time clashes with the Second World War and the
rule of Stalin in Soviet Russia, the main concern of George O r w e l l ’s satire. It is also closely related with M a r x i s m
which a p p e a r e d in the Nineteenth Century.
In S e p t e m b e r 1, 1939 Germany, with the shame of losing the First World War, attacked Poland by land and air. Germany
and Italy allied and in September 3, England declaired war on Ge rma ny with a treaty with France and Poland. England had
heavy loses in Dunkirk and France, d efeated , signed an
armistice. G e r m a n y defeated Poland and p a r t i t i o n e d it with
Russia. In April 1940, Russia attacked Finland, and G e r m a n y invaded D e n m a r k and Norway. Italy a t t a c k e d Abbyssinia, and
Albania. G e r m a n y invaded Austria, C z e c h o s l o v a k i a , Greece, N e t h e r l a n d s and Belgium. In April 1940, Ger man Air Force
attacked England. In 1941, Germany a tt ac ked its ally Russia; Japan invaded Philippines, China, Pearl H a r b o u r ; U S A involved in the war. In 1943, Churchill, R o o s e v e l t and Stalin met
each other to argue the situation and decide what to do. In the same year USA attacked Germany and the allied forces
attacked S i c i l l y and they also invaded Rome in 1944 and Paris got liberated. Germany attacked England for the last time.
In 1945 R u s s i a n s invaded Warsaw , Berlin and c o n s e q u e n t l y
Germany got defeated. USA bombed H i r o s h i m a and Nagazaki with nuclear bombs which heralded the end of the Second World W a r .
The reason of the war was the growth of fasc is m in Italy and Germany , and their lust of power all over Europe. M u s s o l i n i and Hitler tortured thousands of people, hitler even burnt
them alive. Having been defeated, he c o m m i t e d a suicide.
As is said before, Stalin was the'lead er of Soviet Russia ' who ruled between 1924-53 . Animal Farm is based on this
period of Russia. The main principle of s o c i a l i s m and
c o m m u n i s m is the fact that all the i n d i v i d u a l s are equal.
However, in Russia this remained only as a theory, it did not come true in practice. The hi er arc h y in c a p i t a l i s m also took place in communism. Those who were m a n a g i n g the country had some privileg es compared to the rest. The T u r k i s h Society ,
living in the borders of Russia were deg ra ded by Russians, who were supposed to be against fascism and racialism. The
c o m m u n i s t police forced people to work by to r t u r i n g , even women. They had power compared to the o r d i n a r y public.
The r e v o l u t i o n did by Lenin was supposed to be a remedy for
all the injustices using M a r x ’s views as a p r e s c r i p t i o n for a Utopia. George Orwell, a writer of p o l i t i c s , w a s against the
in j u s t i c e s in Russia. "Orwell Belived that so cia li s t and co m m u n i s t countries could become d i c t a t o r s h i p s in which
12-o r d i n a r y pe12-ople were n12-ot free". The quotation: "All animals are equal but some are more equal than ot her s" justifies the
i n j u s t i c e and hypocrisy of Stalin. It is true that Soviet
Russia became one of the most powerful c o u n t r i e s in the world c o m p e t i n g with USA, however, Russia s uc ce ede d this by means of d i c t a t o r s h i p and e x p l o i t i n g its public.
The essence of c o m m u n i s m in Soviet Russia was ’M a r x i s m ’, a social and political system , emerged in the N i n e t e e n t h
Century. T herefor e , the origin of c o m m u n i s m in Russia goes
back to the N i n e t e e n t h Century. As is m e n t i o n e d before M a r x i s m i.e., c o m m u n i s m , is a system in which all the members of the public are equal, c o m m e r c e is forbidden. T h e r e f o r e in
the Animal Farm f we will also see how M a r x ’s principles are p e r v e r t e d in practice by the evil sides of human (animal)
p s y c h o l o g y .
These are the h i s t o r i c a l and p o l i t i c a l backgrounds, i.e., the Second World War, The Stalinist per iod of Russia and M a r x i s m which emerged in the N in ete en th Century.
2 . C - S T R U C T U R E and STYLE
Animal Farm is w r i t t e n in chapters and its n arration is in the third person. Two important aspects we encounter in the novel are : the time sequence of the of the plot and the
narrative time.
The time sequence suggests us that Orwell is loyal to his
principle of clear prose; we are convinced about where or when the events are taking place. The period between the first
and the last cha pte r is three years. The particular time ex p r e s s i o n s are cle arl y expressed and the story flows in a c h r o n o l o g i c a l order.
As to the n a r r a t i v e timing: the majority of Animal Farm
would appear to be strange and faulty if logical conclusions and sequences were fully pursued. For instance, it is clear that human beings could eventually defeat animals; The Animal Farm consists of more than milking, sowing and harvesting;
the c o n s t r u c t i o n of windmill, both in theory and practice
would soon have stopped over technical p r o b l e m s insuperable
even to the most clever animals. But Orwell skillfully avoids geting involved in such detail and problems, for they would
hold up the i n t e n t i o n and pace of the story. For instance, the breaking down the stones for the windmill; lifting,
co l l e c t i o n and sorting is never mentioned.
Linked with this, is the timing and p i cki ng- u p of threads
and ideas before they have had a chance to be forgotten. The result is a subtle c r i s s - c r o s s i n g of material, brought out for emphasis or climax as the occasion demands. This is achieved
with great skill, and a few may suggest lines of enquiry.
For example, the detail of M a j o r ’s speech and when we c o n s i d e r how, th roughout the novel, different aspects of it are
reechoed, usually satirically. It is almost as though it had been written last as a deliberate parody of all that follows. Another e x a m D l e i s the r é i n t r o d u c t i o n of dogs or the whole
windmill sequence. These and similar elements are i n t r o d u c e d in a logical and a meaningful pattern. In such a way the
essential ideas of the novel are allowed to flag or become
forgotten. This ’t i m i n g ’ ,this skillful bringing into notice or emphasis relevant material at the a c c u r a t e and op p o r t u n e
moment, is a feature easily overlooked, a firstrate instance of ’art c o n c e a l i n g a r t ’. The m a j o r i t y of O r w e l l ’s works,
directly and indirectly, is taken up with illuminating and often provoking remarks on this topic. He admitted that
Animal Farm was only one of his books he really sweated over and that it was the first book in which he tried, with full
c o n s c i o u s n e s s of what he was doing, to fuse political and artistic purpose into one whole.
The most obvious thing that strikes us is O r w e l l ’s use of
’s a i d ’; half of the novel consists of only ’s a i d ’. There is a re p e t i t i o n of number three in the plot sequence such as
’three nights l a t e r ’, ’three m o n t h s ’ , and ’on the third S u n d a y ’. There is also a tendency to start the sentences with ’b u t ’
and ’and ’ .
The sequence , logical and ch ron olo gical, have been m en tio ne d: the questions of where, how many, how much, when, how are
always clear in any situation. There is no multilayer
interpretation, no significant detail is missed and there is no a b a n d o n m e n t of any theme. The p a r a g r a p h i n g and the
sentence c o n s t r u c t i o n within the p a r a g r a p h s is varied and never boring.
The bare bones of the story are c l e v e r l y c onc eal e d by c i r c u m u m s t a n t i a l detail, which helps to t ran sl at e the
f a b l e - l i k e s t r u c t u r e and message into real and human terms.
We thus see and a p p r e c i a t e the c h a r a c t e r s as the animals they are, though they r e p r e s e n t humans in human conditions.
Orwell draws in realistic, often detailed, backgrou nd scenes , so that we can suspend our di sb eli e f in the literal
i m p o s s i b l i t i e s of the basic idea. P a r t i c u l a r l y strong and telling examples of this are to be found in the old M a j o r ’s speech, the sc een es of the farm and farmhouse, the details of the harvest, the whole campaign of the Battle of the
C o w s h e d and the long drownout sequence c o n c e r n i n g the windmill and its fates. They are all explicit, spe sif ic and i m me dia t ely acceptable, un a m b i g u o u s , clear and sharp.
As to the pace of the narrative: it should be noted how, in
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s t r a i g h t f o r w a r d descri pt io n, the detail a c c u m u l a t e s swiftly
pushed on speed towards a sharp climax, of terminating in some telling sentence. In this sense , the i n t r u d u c t i o n and
c o n c l u s i o n of each chapter are noteworthy; but internally too, the device keeps the story going, c o v e r i n g a great deal of
ground in a little s p a c e , brought' up every now and then to a
sharp peak. Some e x amp le s are: old M a j o r ’s s p e e c h (chapter 1) , t e r m i n a t i n g in the exciting singing, the drunken shot of
Mr J o n e s (chapter 5) the r e vo lut i on i t s e l f (chapter 2),
the e x p o s u r e of S q u e a l e r (chapter 8), the Boxer e p i s o d e ( c h a p t e r 9).
S u m m e r i s i n g the m ain features of Q r w e l l fs style, here are its simplicity and directness; it has pace and zest, but it is
never loose, u n e v e n or out of control. His style is
p u r p o s e f u l and a c c o m p l i s h i n g , its satire nimbly and without
hysteria, and its s y m b o l i s m is never obvious or blatant. Its s y s t e m a t i c satire serves a serious p o l i t i c a l purpose.
Animal F a r m , in its light h e a r t e d n e s s and smoothness, in its
delightful c r e a t i o n of scenes of animal life, vivid, realistic and set in really absurd conditio ns; betraying a warm and
sincere love of animal world, yet direct, wry, observant and sharply serious.
These are the c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s of the structure and the style.
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2.D - A N I M A L FARM and S A T I R E
There is not only one label for Animal Farm but many. It can be regarded as an allegory, a fable and a satire.
It is allegory since the a n i m a l s ’ s i t u a t i o n stand not just for a human state, but a particular class of humanity, a pa rticular society in a spesific condition. The animals and actions in
the novel may r epresent any people and any time. This means
that it has an appeal and a meaning at various levels. In one level it can be h umo rou s and it can be po l i t i c a l in another
l e v e l .
Secondly, it is a fable since animals act as though they were
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human beings. The savage sides of a n i m a l s are focused on so as to point out the behaviours of human beings.
Finally, Animal Farm is a satire w r i t t e n on the Stalinist period of Soviet Russia. It is a w a r n i n g and a portent of
what seems to Orwell the inevitable d e s t i n y of manking, given c er tai n conditions, the ultimate o b j e c t i v e of power seekers.
The novel itself is humorous: it e xp ose s the way in which
d e m o g o g u e s seek to obtain power and e x p l o r e s the humbugging h y p o c r i t i c a l methods. Much of the novel is comic,
for instance, Major with his p s e u d o - p o l i t i c a l meetings
(chapter l)and S n o w b a l l ’s Animal C omm itees; Orwell makes fun of working class by resemling them to animals.
The general method of the whole novel is the deliberate
e x a g g e r a t i o n to the degree of r i d i c u l e and a b s u r d i t y of the new s o c i e t y fs ethics and behaviours, suggesti ng all the time a com parison with what we c o m p r e h e n d generally more humane,
the better, the more correct and civilized, the more
a c c e p t a b l e codes of human moral s and manners, wh ich is the principle of satire.
2 . E - P L O T
Upon the dream of old Major, the animals of Manor Farm conquest the farm of Mr Jones, in the neglect of him.
Napoleon, Squealer and Snowball become the leaders of the rest of the animals. Every single animal work hard in order to
achieve the Utopia. The animals are of the opinion that they are against human beings. Regular meetings, co mmitees and
classes take place in the farm to be more successful.
However, the pigs have more privileges than the other animals.
Later on, Mr Jones tries to regain his farm by force which
becomes u n s u cc es sf ul which is called TThe Battle of C o w s h e d r .
The c o n t r a d i c t o r y policies of N apoleon and Snowball leads them to quarrel. The dogs of N apo le on chase Sn ow bal l from the farm permanently. N a p o l e o n obtains the u l t i m a t e s o v er eig n it y
with Squealer as his servile m o u t h p i e c e and apologist.
N a p o l e o n decides to build a windmill, which su pposedly will
ease everyones toils. However, its building is a slow process in spite of B o x e r ’s great efforts. The pigs move into the
farmhouse, p r evi ous l y out of bounds: they sleep in beds, and
one of the early C o m m a n d m e n t s is found to have been consequently and suitably amended. One night in a storm, the windmill
de m oli sh es and N a p o l e o n accuses Snowball for this and
sentences him to death in his absence. It is decided that another windmill will be constructed.
A cold winter is faced, and rations are reduced although the outer world is d e l i b e r a t e l y misled about such situations.
Animals hold Snowball for all the problems and they suggest
that his secret agents lurk in Animal Farm. One day N a p o l e o n and his dogs execute some animals who have shown reluctance*
