Page 77 - DENG203_ELECTIVE_ENGLISH_IV

Elective English—IV

Notes
!
Caution Animal Farm is on one level the novel is an allegory of the 1917 Russian Revolution,
the story is just as applicable to the latest rebellion against dictators around the world.
Animal Farm is short and contains few words that will hamper the reader’s understanding.
George Orwell’s Animal Farm is no Jim Henson-inspired comedy about a pig who just
wants to be a sheepdog or bittersweet tale about interspecies love—it’s a biting satire
about tyrannical governments and a dark warning about the perils of Russian communism.

Old Benjamin: Old Benjamin is an elderly donkey. He is one of Orwell’s most subtle and
interesting characters on Animal Farm. He is described as somewhat unchanged since the
rebellion. Old Benjamin continues to do his work the same way without becoming too upset or
too happy about anything from the past. Benjamin says, “Donkeys live a long time. None of you
has ever seen a dead donkey.” Even though the metaphoric relationship between Orwell’s
critique of communism and Benjamin is not clear, it is sensible to remember that during any
rebellion there are those individuals who never totally accept the revolution. Such people are so
pessimistic that they stop taking help from their leaders. Benjamin represents the older generation
as the criticisers of any new revolt. Benjamin looks like the only animal who seems as though he
couldn’t care less about Animal Farm and Napoleon. It’s almost as though he can look in the
future, knowing that the revolution is just a momentary change, and will fail in the end. Old
Benjamin is probably the only animal who doesn’t expect anything very positive from the
rebellion. His maturity level is very different compared to the other animals. The only time
Benjamin shows concern about the others is when he sees Boxer being carried off in the glue
truck. It looks like the old donkey finally comes out of his shell when he warns the others of
Boxer’s fate. Then the animals try saving Boxer, but it’s too late. It looks like Old Benjamin
finally confronts Napoleon. He finally reveals his knowledge of the pigs’ hypocrisy. George
Orwell states, “Only old Benjamin professed to remember every detail of his long life and to
know that things never had been, nor ever could be much better or much worse; hunger,
hardship, and disappointment being, so he said, the unalterable law of life.”

Example: Allegory occurs when a character or event in a story represents some abstract
idea. An example of allegory in Animal Farm is Old Major’s Dream. The real life event that it
represents is Karl Marx’s Communist Manifesto. Another example is the Battle of the Cowshed.
It represents the Russian Civil War, which ended in 1922 in real life
Rats & Rabbits: The rabbits and rats, considered to be wild animals, represent the socialist
movement, the so-called “Menscheviki”. In the very beginning of the novel the animals vote
only if the rabbits and rats are companions.
Pigeons: The pigeons represent Soviet propaganda, not to Russia, but to other countries, such as
England, Germany, France, and even the United States. Russia had made an iron curtain even
before WWII. The Communist government raved about its advanced technology and its
achievements, but it never allowed scientists or experts from outside the country to check on its
validity. George also states that other farmers got worried and became suspicious when their
animals started singing Beasts of England. Numerous Western governments have faced such
problems with their people in this century. In the 1920s, there was a huge “Red Scare” in the
United States. Joseph McCarthy was a legislative member of the government from Wisconsin in
1950s in the United States. He suspected that hundreds of people from ordinary people to
famous actors in Hollywood were supporting and associating themselves with the communist
regime. Things worsened to such an extent that the fear of communism became a phobia in the
United States and anybody speaking against the government was thought to be a suspect.

72 LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY