Animal Farm Themes

Power- We see different forms of power throughout the story, the brutal power wielded by Jones and Napolean, the wisdom and authority of Major, the physical power of Boxer and the intellectual power of the pigs.

The pigs gradually become more corrupt until they decree only one rule, the oxymoronic, "all animals are animals, but some animals are more equal than others". The other animals are too inarticulate to oppose the pigs. Napolean uses Squealer to manipulate the information to the other animals. Napolean's dogs demonstrate how terror can be used to suppress disent and keep a population subjugated.

Animal Farm allegorizes the rise to power of the dictator Joseph Stalin. Much like the Soviet intelligentsia, the pigs establish themselves as the ruling class in the new society.

Equality- Major's speech establishes the idea that a perfect society is an equal one. We see there is natural hierarchy as the animals enter the barn for Old Major's speech.

The animals with lower levels of intelligence are dependent on their leaders (the pigs). Orwell expects us to agree that the perfect society is an equal one, but putting Old Major's ideas into practise is not easy. "All animals are equal" is one of the seven commandments however this is altered towards the end of the allegory when the pigs gain leadership.

When the pigs take control they move into the farmhouse and sleep in beds - creating inequality between themselves and the other animals, "you would not have us too tired to carry out our duties?"

The inequality on the farm parallels to the Russian Revolutuon where Stalin received all of the luxuries.

Propaganda- Orwell believed that controlling language allowed propagandists to control thought.Orwell successfully used propaganda in the novel to express his opinion on how the communist system of the Russian Revolution gradually went from an equal system, to a system that was overcome by greed and dishonesty from the authorities.

Using the animal’s stupidity to his advantage, Squealer played with the minds of all the animals, describing a twisted version of the events of the Battle of the Cowshed, one of the battles that were fought during the rebellion. He had the ability to turn "black into white". Squealer describe everything in so much detail that it “seemed to the animals that they did remember it”.

Class- Before the Revolution of 1917, Tsar Nicholas II ruled Russia. The ruling classes had money and power, whilst most of the population were poor, exploited peasant workers or from the working class. These people lived in terrible conditions and what they farmed was taken from them leaving them to face starvation and poverty.

The Revolution that came in 1917 sought to overthrow the Tsar and change the balance of society to give power back to the working class. The animals, like the working class of Russia, had short, difficult lives, working to produce things that the ruling class would take for themselves. "It is for your sake that we drink that milk and eat those apples".

"No animal in England is free".

Religion- Moses might be a manipulative liar, but his little tale about "Sugarcandy Mountain" is also the only thing that keeps the animals going after a long day of hauling hay.

At first, the pigs find him irksome, since they want the animals to believe that Animal Farm is a paradise and fear that the animals will be prompted by Moses' tales to seek a better place. However, as conditions on the farm worsen, the pigs allow Moses to stay because his tales offer the animals the promise of rest after a weary, toilsome life. As Karl Marx famously stated, "Religion is the opium of the people," and Moses' tales of Sugarcandy Mountain likewise serve as an opiate to the animals' misery.

Rebellion- Old Major's ideas are taken and expanded by the pigs, led by Snowball and Napoleon; Snowball is an idealist, while Napoleon seeks personal power.

After the rebellion the animals are free from the tyranny of Mr Jones and seek to establish equality amongst themselves, this is ironic because as the allegory progresses and Napolean becomes dictator, life on Animal Farm is worse. In the Russian Revolution the people wanted to overthrow Tsar to bring back equality to the social class.