Representation Of Stalinism Era In Animal Farm

George Orwell, we know him as an intellectual of the modernism. He was one of the most known persons at that time. His behaviors were separated him from rest of the other writers, he had different perspective and writing style. He wrote politically and he expressed himself perfectly. There was a claim that if you write politically, it makes your work less universal and timeless. It can be famous for in that time but years after your work can not be understood. Orwell refuted this claim himself, though he still famous even today. He wrote more about politicians than the other writers and he got great rates, his works ware translated in many languages and this makes him so good. We can see him very opposite of that time. Also there are some examples of satirical allegory in his book called as “Animal Farm” and in this book he criticizes the government briefly by using animals.

George Orwell handled primary events during the Stalinist Era in Soviet Union. Animal Farm may be seen as plain animal story when we first look at but this novella is an allegory and satire about Russian Communist Revolution of 1917. He mentions about a revolution against false leadership. During World War II this novella was written by George Orwell and it was published in 1945 as a modern fable, Animal Farm is an allegorical commentary on what went wrong when Communist Russia dethroned the Czarist Russia. It reveals hidden messages which lies under the phenomenon. Orwell was a socialist who believes that industry must be controlled by the workers for the sake of everyone, we can understand from that he was against to the idea of Feudalism and Capitalism. He wanted to show the negative sides of communism when it is taken so far. His one opinion was also remind us that totalitarianism could be harmful to one society. When we consider totalitarianism, it is a system of government that is run by one who dictate its subjects, it means all authority is in the hands of the state you can not be opposite to the state or its claims. And also Animal Farm addresses not only the circumstance of the USSR but also that of all nations. John Rodden (1999) claims “The Animal Farm mirrors our human world, which is sometimes referred to as “the human circus” because the various types of human personality can be compared to the character types of animals” (p.21). Before I move on to the character analysis I just wanted to point out this idea, because in Animal Farm we associate animals with some known personalities and I also agree with him some humans have some characteristics of animals not only in a good way but also in a bad way, it is up to them but we can clearly see that. We have this Manor Farm in one hand and we have Russia in the other hand, they are associated so the story was settled in Manor Farm, and this farm ruled by Mr. Jones as known as Czar of Russia whose name is Nicholas II. He is also known as last czar of the Russia. Then there is a pig called as Old Major, we may consider him as a communist and socialist like Vladimir Lenin. There is Old Major at the head of the riot, he leads his comrades before he is about to die. He encourages animals to take the control from the hands of a human. He thinks that they do not deserve to rule by a human being, he claims that Mr. Jones exploits themselves and uses them for his own good. When we consider Vladimir Lenin we see this similarities on him as well. He also wants a classless society which is not possible and dies on this way, so he left his position to Stalin like as Old Major left his position to Napoleon. Before Old Major dies he makes an utterance to his comrades to persuade to the revolution, he wants to make them see things crystal clear like how Mr. Jones uses them and while doing this he touches on some points. He suggests a rebellion and he says “all men are enemies, all animals are comrades.” (George Orwell, 2003,p.7). This is important because it will reverse through and at the end of the story. Although Old Major says that all animals are equal one question appears. They wonder if it contains creatures or not. They make an election about creatures even though they are all animal. We see here some distinction in the very first step because there is no such a thing like classless society, but they create a classless society struggle by saying that all animals are equal. Old Major left them with some rules, they are suppose to not to do what humans do but one you get overmuch ambition you are obliged to lose yourself. These rules do not make any sense when you break them. Old Major teaches them an anthem which they will forget eventually. It’s name is “ Beasts of England”. After a while this rebellion happens anyway and Mr. Jones is exiled by animals. This incident directly refers to the expulsion of Nicholas II. After rebellion conditions get worse they think that all will be good after rebellion but when we look at Russia at that point, they all also wanted a riot against government and a classless society, they introduced themselves as a socialist but we can easily grasp that this did not work out as it was wanted. Ambition has been described as good thing by most people for ages, however, when it is used extremely it can be dangerous not only for an individual but also for a nation. Finally Manor Farm is changed into Animal Farm by Snowball as a victory and they have a movement now called as “Animalism” resemble to “Communism” in Soviet Russia. Focusing on characterization pigs are the smartest ones of farm Snowball and Napoleon remind us the relationship between Leon Trotsky and Joseph Stalin. They are always their opposites, they conflict with each other all the time. Snowball is the smartest one he show his intelligence but Napoleon fools the society especially sheep. Also even today we call sheep to people who can easily being fooled, this is a good reference to daily society. And also novella has this proletariat includes horses Boxer and Clover. They do unconditionally whatever they are told. We should not forget the media part, Squealer fulfilled this task as a supporter of Napoleon, Moses stands for Orthodox Church. While Napoleon and Snowball are keep going on debate Napoleon takes newborn dogs from their mother. His aim is educate and run them for his errands. Finally he uses them to exile Snowball. In 2013 Soule reported that “ The young dogs are alone selected for schooling; later they appear as the secret police. Is this a picture of Soviet education?”, this is questionable. Everything starts to change at that point. He starts to act like Mr. Jones because he has this spirit of run the people, from this point there are no debates any more in their daily meeting, they have to do what Napoleon says to them. When they question Napoleon’s actions they are mad at themselves because of being so disloyal or traitor. Squealer and Napoleon threaten animals by asking them whether they wish to see Jones back or not (42). In the cases of encountering this kinds of questions Squealer and Napoleon think that it is scary to say them that. Napoleon also shows known prototype of a governor because he knows how to treat to his subjects and creates a picture of loyal, hardworking self. He shows as if he works harder so animals can accept his authority and if they question his ideas they can blame themselves, as a result of that the average of questions and doubts can reduce. The most iconic matter of this novella is breaking rules, their “seven commandments” are strict and unbreakable, they give this hearts but time consumes all your faith as we can see. Situations of animals change day by day no matter how they do not want to resemble to humans they can not help themselves. It is impossible not to think that if there is a leader or ruler why it would not be a human? They claimed that all animals are equal therefore in a proper consideration there must not be a animal leader, maybe a facilitator but not a leader. In a situation like animals word of leader sounds ridiculous. When they started to to question again, since they gave whole power to hands of Napoleon it was too late. After a while part of proletariat can not understand what they are doing or what are fingering for. We see this during World Wars all around the world. Not just proletariat most people were confused and regretful. In here Orwell’s aim is show us how was people during the wars. If we compare Napoleon and all the other rulers of our society we can see a lot of resemblances, for example Napoleon is in trade with other farms, Orwell’s trade vision occurs here, perhaps he wanted to show us that without trade ruling a country is meaningless and impossible. Every country needs materials for its citizens and if it does not has stuffs it has to trade one way or another. Ignorant of this fact is impossible. Napoleon declares a war against other farms, it includes Mr. Pilkington and Mr. Frederic so it refers to World War II which has Adolf Hitler and Winston Churchill. After a great loss they win the war without being aware of what they are celebrating. At the end of the story where we can not distinguish between humans and animals Animal Farm becomes Manor Farm again as if everything was for nothing, everyone died in vain.

When conditions of Modernism is considered it is a quite beneficial thing that Orwell wrote a book like Animal Farm. He reflected his era and its politics, now a generation can comprehend easily what people experienced before. Orwell says;

“When I sit down to write a book. I do not so to myself “I am going to produce a work of art.”. I write it because there is some lie that I want to expose, some fact to which I want to draw attention and my initial is to get a hearing” (2004, p.3)

While saying that Orwell now inspires to most people all around the world, he reflects how people were questioning the everything in Modernism, how that era was an era of revolution all around the world. In that time people encountered some wars and they had this anxiety. This affected mostly writers because most them fought in war, they wrote to their beloved ones and folks, they mentioned disaster, horror and brutality which can be clearly seen in Animal Farm. There was an awareness of the problematic nature of language, language was not enough for them to express their feelings. Perhaps that’s why George Orwell preferred to write about the government. They focused on how we see instead of what we see, it shows Orwell’s criticizing ability. Jeffrey Meyers recorded that “ Orwell saw political writing not only as a powerful tool for conveying ideas, but also as a demanding and enthralling art with a moral imperative to search for truth. (2005, p.2). When at his times he was a literary editor of the socialist “Tribute” (p.5). His success is unquestionable fact although he faced a lot of difficulty he did his best for what he is now. For instance Animal Farm was understood wrongly by politicians. John Rodden mentions “ It was rejected by editors because they did not want to offend Soviet Union by publishing its history.” (1999, p.22). However after that it become best-seller. (p.23).

So Orwell in a quite realistic way criticized occasion of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 1945. If it is said in a proper way “Orwell exposes the socialist ideals in allegorical manner with the cruelty which befalls on Russia.” (Nawab, et.al, 2015, p.49). He reflected victim of hate and war, we see these things in Animal Farm clearly. Animal Farm teaches to an individual that it is easy to judge someone and put all the quilt on somebody’s shoulders, but first an individual needs to learn how to make a good self-criticism, maybe one is wrong to think that all bad things happen because of others, should not blame someone before looking at yourself in the first place. Since Manor Farm animals did not do that their dream became a nightmare. Eventually we can come up with the idea of “all animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others.” (80). Modernism puts the individual in the centre of its attention. Animal Farm animals while wanting to care individuals rights, freedom and importance they lost their paths and many moral lessons were learned. George Orwell wrote a allegorical and strong satirical work of art and showed to society how powerful he is by criticizing a strict government.

REFERENCE LIST

1. Afzal, F., Bibi, A., Jabeen I., Nawaz, S., Rao, T. & Sadaqat, S. (2005). International journal of academic research and reflection. Allegory and Satire on Animal Farm by George Orewell, 3(5), 48-50
2. Collins, R. (1992). Acta sociologica. The Rise and Fall of Modernism in Politics and Religion 35(3), 171-186
3. Rodden, J., (Eds.). (1999). Understanding animal farm: a student casebook to issues, sources, and historical documents. London: Greenwood Press
4. Hitchens, C., (Eds.). (2003). Animal farm and 1984 New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company
5. Meyers, J. (2005). George orwell and the art of writing. The Kenyon Review New Series 25(4), 92-114
6. Orwell, G. (2004). Why I write. London: Penguin Books
7. Soule, J., (2013 September 239. In 1946, the new republic panned george orwell’s “animal farm”. New Republic. https://newrepublic.com/article/114852/1946-review-george-orwells-animal-farm