Inspirational Leader Of The Farm Animals example essay topic

The animals compared to people from the Russian revolution. By Julian Sym Most of the characters in animal farm have counterparts from the Russian revolution, or are related to different parts of the revolution in some way. Since the book was based on the Russian Revolution, the main animal characters and people in the story represent individuals, or different groups of Russian citizens. The book starts out very much like the actual Russian revolution; with hopes for a new empire where all are equal, and the unfair, unjust leader is thrown out. This is related to when Mr. Jones is overpowered by the starving animals (as written on page 12). Then it goes into where different individuals begin to take more power than they should.

Gradually the "rulers" have taken over the "kingdom" and the farm is back to functioning as it was under Mr. Jones. I will compare the characters form Animal Farm to the Russian revolution from 'top' of the social class to the "bottom". At the top of the ladder were the pigs. Each pig represented someone different in the revolution. Old Major the prize-winning boar was the inspirational leader of the farm animals. Old Major inspired the animals to revolt against Mr. Jones and humans by telling them of his dream of a perfect world which he called "Animalism".

Old Major's speech carries on through the first eight pages. Old Major was like Karl Marx. Karl Marx was like Old Major because he dreamed up a wonderful new form of government by and for the people where everyone was equal. It was as a result of this vision for a better world, and Karl Marx's convincing ways that the Czar and his family were killed. Unfortunately his dream would never work out as planned, neither did Old Major's dream. The second is Snowball.

Snowball believed one hundred percent in Old Majors hopes and dreams. He wanted all the things Old Major wanted, such as the freedom of the animals. This is shown when he leads the animals in the battle of Cowshed with his daring heroics, here is a passage from page 27". The pellets scored bloody streaks along snowballs back, and a sheep dropped dead. Without halting for an instant Snowball flung his fifteenth stone against Jones's leg" He wanted so much to continue what Old Major had started that he was willing to sacrifice his life. In the Russian Revolution his counterpart would be Trotsky.

Trotsky believed and wanted the same things as Karl Marx and tried to share the ideas of Marx but unfortunately Karl Marx grew less powerful and Trotsky was forced to leave the country, so too was Snowball forced to leave the farm. Another example is Napoleon. Napoleon was selfish and greedy. He did not want to share the power or the decision making with any other animal.

This was the same for Stalin. At first Napoleon and Snowball shared the decision making and had debates about what course of action they would take. This worked for a while. Then Napoleon grew tired of long debates, and he thought he could make the decision by himself. He then forced Snowball out of the farm and started to spread lies about Snowball to get the entire farm against him. Stalin did the same thing against Trotsky and forced Trotsky into hiding in Mexico, where he was eventually assassinated.

Both Stalin and Napoleon ruined any hopes of a Utopian society and instead set up dictatorships. Then comes the final important pig, Squealer. Squealer is an interesting character because he was very manipulative and persuasive with his use of propaganda, Orwell said, "He could turn black into white". Squealer throughout the book was the animal that everyone would turn to for help and in the animals eyes they had no reason to believed what he said was false. Squealer was able to get away with anything because when he talked he looked so believable and he sounded so believable. For example page 23 " do you know what would happen if we pigs failed in our duty?

Jones would come back! Yes, Jones would come back 1 Surely, comrades,' cried squealer almost pleadingly, skipping from side to side and whisking his tail, 'surely there is no one among you who wants to see Jones come back". Squealer could be compared to the Russian newspapers, TV's and radios. The use of propaganda in everyday life back then was very high because they wanted people to hate the English. Other animals were the worker class type citizens. The types of citizens range from hard working to selfish and lazy.

Molly, for instance, only cared about her ribbons, and wasn't much of a thinker. All she wanted to do was eat sugar, and look pretty. Molly is compared to the rich and important citizens who wanted to keep their rich and luxurious life so they fled the country. Benjamin was a critic who always said things like, "I've seen that before" and "It " ll never work". But he still did his work the same way, never becoming too excited or too disappointed about anything that has passed. He doesn't seem to care about anything, the only time he shows any emotion is when boxer is carried away in the glue truck.

Although it doesn't show from the start, through the book you realize that Benjamin always knows everything about what's going on around him but he never seems to be surprised. Benjamin can be compared to those who crit ised the idea of a utopian world and knew that nothing was going to improve. The cat was just plain lazy, and was always disappearing whenever work had to be done. The ducks were weak and did not get much done. Then there were donkeys's, which worked much harder and never thought of their own needs.

The pigeons acted as message carriers spreading propaganda between farms, spreading Napoleon's words from farm to farm, or in the actual Russian Revolution, country to country. Although all these animals are very different, they all shared one common trait. They were all weak. They all let Napoleon take over without much resistance. Just like Stalin took over Russia. These animals were too weak, too scared, or just lacked the intelligence required to do something about it.

This is where it is the fault of the animals. They should have stood up to Napoleon for what they fought for in the first place. The people must stand up to those who would destroy the system or else all is lost. Through this essay you can see that Orwell deliberately made the characters similar to different people in the Russian revolution. Orwell made the characters less confusing by making all leaders the pigs (and I'm sure he had a reason for that too) and all the other animals the different forms of the working class. The book demonstrated how easily people will just go along with change without realizing, and how the use of propaganda can change people's beliefs for better or for worse.

It also shows that if you don't believe in what is happening you should stand up for your beliefs. If you don't you " re going to end up getting pushed around. All around I think that the book was very accurate to what happened in the Russian revolution.