Animal Farm
George Orwell
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Character Analysis: The Farmers: Jones, Pilkington, and Frederick
Jones is initially presented as the main antagonist of the story and is the primary reason for the animals’ revolution. He has apparently lost a large sum of money from a lawsuit, and as such, it has turned him into an alcoholic. Due to his heavy drinking, Jones often neglects the farm and forgets to feed the animals: “the fields were full of weeds, the buildings wanted roofing, the hedges were neglected, and the animals were underfed.” Eventually, Jones is driven off the farm, and returns to re-establish control in the Battle of Cowshed, only to be sent off again. He purportedly dies in “an inebriate’s home” away from the farm at the end of the novella. Jones’ inebriated persona as a caricature of the negligence of Tsar Nicholas II, the autocratic ruler of Russia prior to the Russian Revolution. The manner in which Jones neglects the farm deeply reflects the shortcomings of Nicholas II as a ruler.
Pilkington and Frederick are two other farmers who, despite their deep dislike for each other, have a collective fear of the situation on Jones’ farm. They are frightened by the concept of an autonomous farm where the animals have absolute control, and overtly sully the reputation of the farm through lies and rumours. The men of Pilkington and Frederick’s farms join forces with Jones in the Battle of Cowshed but are defeated and chased off Animal Farm. When Napoleon establishes trade relations with neighbouring farms, Pilkington and Frederick have ongoing conflicts, with each wishing to obtain timber from Napoleon. Frederick’s duplicitous nature is revealed when he eventually trades for Napoleon’s timber with a pile of counterfeit notes.
Frederick represents Hitler, whilst Pilkington represents the governments of the West (the US and UK), The heightened tensions between Frederick and Pilkington allegorises the political animosity between the two nations prior to WWII. Napoleon’s decision to trade with Frederick characterises the Nazi- Soviet Non-Aggression Pact. However, Frederick’s eventual betrayal of Napoleon is a stark allusion to the way in which Germany eventually opted to invade Russia in the Battle of Stalingrad.
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Animal Farm
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Animal Farm captures the events of the 1917 Russian Revolution. In February 1917, the oppressive and autocratic Tsarist government was overthrown and replaced with the unpopular Provisional Government, which later, in October,
was also overthrown, this time by the communist Bolshevik Party. The aftermath of this rebellion is reincarnated in the form of a fable, the events of which reflect the hostile political landscape of Orwell’s context and ensuing social injustice.
George Orwell’s Animal Farm begins in Manor farm, where it is revealed that the drunken farmer Mr Jones has been continually mistreating his animals. Old Major, a wise and esteemed boar now approaching his final days, calls together a meeting, where he tells the other animals of his dream – a utopian society, where the farm animals are free to live a life without the burden of slavery by mankind. In this speech, Major declares rebellion to be the key in achieving this idealistic society and patriotically accentuates his speech with the anthem “Beasts of England,” which becomes a symbol of the animals’ freedom and integrity. Shortly after, Major dies, leaving his dream behind for the other farm animals to achieve.
Plans of rebellion are made, with the pigs establishing themselves as leaders of the coup. With a united effort, the animals are able to drive Mr Jones away from the farm and soon find themselves revelling in freedom. Without the control of Mr Jones, the farm flourishes and the animals experience freedom for the first time in a long time. However, the future of the farm shortly becomes a point of conflict between the established leaders, Snowball and Napoleon, as the two pigs have differing aspirations for the farm. The struggle for power culminates in Snowball eventually being driven away, giving Napoleon total unopposed control over the farm. With Napoleon at the helm, the ideals of equality on the farm seem to quickly vanish, with the pigs slowly establishing control through false claims of altruism. Through rhetoric and propaganda, the other animals are compelled to follow the pigs’ leadership.
Life on the farm for all the other animals except the pigs becomes inevitably worse under the rule of Napoleon. The rewards of labour on the farm are used to ensure a luxurious lifestyle for the pigs, subsequently subverting the concept of an equal society once proposed by Major. In fact, life on the farm seems to be worse than it had been under the control of Mr Jones. This is symbolically exemplified in the conclusion of the novella, where the other farm animals witness the transformation of the pigs as they begin to walk on two legs and play cards, eerily resembling the humans who oppressed the animals in the first place.
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