How George Orwell's Animal Farm Relates to Communism and Social Inclusion

Matthew Warner

Published by: Psytext

George Orwell's book, "Animal Farm" is a 1945 British novel that has been a popular addition to the entertainment media industry and educational facilities alike. The story has been depicted in many forms over the years; from comic books, cartoon adaptions, to feature film. Because of what the tale represents, educational facilities and other media companies have used it as a method for cultural development. It is an easy to read, punchy and interesting story that is fairly short in comparison to other novels of its time period.

One of the predominant elements of communism is that of social inclusion. Interestingly enough, in order for communism to work, the active political powers have to integrate all forms and members of society into one social class. This means those who are not deemed the same as others, are now the same members of that standard class. (Orwell, 1945 pg. 8) .The character development of the story is fairly swift, which makes it easier to follow and stay interested. As the author describes each character, he adds a description of their social value and or standard hierarchy. For instance, Benjamin the Donkey is the oldest member of the community and as such, has . "Animal Farm" is a story about the rise and fall of a separatist nation that has its own new set of untested ideas. But this is no ordinary uprising. The separatist faction is completely made up of farm animals that have overthrown their human master and land owner. 

Idealizm

Winston Churchill personally held strong racial idealism, coupled with core social values that sculpted his legal mandates and form of governing (Ramsden, 2002). The fact that Winston Churchill was at a mature age, had years of military and social experience leadership, and was in extremely poor health was one of the satirical elements of the story. His personality, physical appearance and general historical persona is captured by the character, Mr. Major as he is delivering his monologue during the beginning of the story (Orwell, 1945). The length allows the reader to take in an entire story in a shorter amount of time. Finishing books is crucial for understanding the author's point, and motive for its publication. George Orwell is a writer that has been known to have atheist ideas, but still understands and appreciates Christian values. He is a writer with a long history, dating back to the year he was born, 1902. His first publication was called “Down and Out in Paris and London'', and was released in 1933. It provided him with experience and gave him the confidence to continue his endeavors.

Social Inclusion

The story begins with setting up the scene and explaining the animals' communication methods. It explains to the audience their need to have a secret society that is different from that of the humans that control them. For the most part, the characters are animals, and the writer (George Orwell) uses characterization writing skills to describe each one. The story is told using animals because it makes it easier to absorb, understand and draw comparison. Each animal represents a type of person, class or race of someone living in that time period (Field, 1990). The author uses strong visualization methods in his writing style to describe the personality and appearance of each one. This is done by providing clear descriptions of each animal, and demonstrating its personality by use of action. The author explains each one of the characters visual appearance, followed by physical motion, and or expressional traits. The use of poetry, monologues and fluctuating narratives adds substance, and creativity. As the reader, you can see how each one is depicting a member of human society from a satirical standpoint.  (Orwell, 1945) 

Communist Themes

Like all of the roles in life, farm life has its own set of rules. The animals are arranged by group, as they gather to hear a speech set in place from Mr. Major, the dying elder of the farm. Almost like a community within itself, they draw a clear comparison to how society layers itself, and how it can be compared to life on a farm with the different types of animals. Every animal on the farm has a different role, and a different level of importance. But all of them still need to work together toward one goal. Maintaining the farm itself. Though they all have different sizes, statuses, and abilities their necessity for one another comes into scrutiny when equal rules and measures are put into place. 

          As the story develops, the animals decide to work together against their human oppressors forming a class of their own. They leave the current farm they live on, and create a farm of their own known as; "Animal Farm" (Orwell, 1945). The dying wish of Mr. Major instilled a sense of purpose and drive to the other animals. The new leader, or organizer of the group is known as Napoleon, a pig with strong idealistic values. He is a spunky and direct character who leads the animals in their defensive revolt against their jealous human rivals. Eventually, the pigs take control as the delegators of their new civilization, as they deem themselves “More equal than others''. The quote mentioned in the story is simple: “All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others”. The “war inside” element is essentially what transpires in the story animal house, as their own society begins to crumble (Field, 1990). Over 350,000 British citizens and soldiers died during the second world war. This caused a large amount of mental, and emotional stress for the survivors. Animal house draws a close comparison to the thoughts, feelings and actions of those left to rebuild. The rationing element was used, and also depicted in the book, film and other media publications (Fields, 1990). This analogy describes social changes, trials and negative impacts of a new, and partially segregated society. This is similar to survivors of world war 2, who had to live without legal control measures, hospitals or any governing forces post war (Field, 1990). As the animals develop their own society, they come to the realization that they need to have specific appointed community members to perform farm tasks that suit their abilities, intelligence level, and social standing.. This is enforced by a standard militaristic control measure. As the appointed delegates, that hate deem the large dogs as acting as a security force. As they have more physical strength, and ability than the pigs, but lack the same intellect.  

Communism

Communism is a social standard that expresses the necessity to have different members of society on different financial, social and economic levels. This idea has been tested in many different instances and in different countries, but usually has negative results. Essentially, the problem is; that you cannot have a top without having the bottom. In a world that is completely equal, there will be no one who has more than others, even if they require more. Even if they are earning more, working harder, or simply have the necessity for more they will not receive it. Those who do not work, have the same education or strength levels will receive the same as those who have those opportunities. This is the theme of communism (Bosteels, 2014). 

          The main characters are introduced near the beginning of the story. Mr. Jones, the farm owner, is an alcoholic who loses awareness of the activities the animals conduct when he is not paying attention. Old Major is almost like a mayorly figure that oversees the actions and transgressions of the other animals on the farm. This character enjoys monologues, and long speeches involving political measures against his oppressors. His ideas set in motion the initial plot. He passes on, leaving his message with the remaining animals on the farm.

 Satire is one of the prevalent elements in this book. The word means a way of expressing a serious point from a conical, or object perspective. There are several different types of satire, but they mainly fall into two separate categories. News media satire, and political satire. These can both be integrated together, but in this case, the satire that is used in George Orwell's book Animal House is out of a political nature. It uses comedic elements to highlight serious points that effect society, and express it in a way that is palatable to both adults, and youth (Burges, 2021). There are many different forms of satire, from political, social and economic the satirical element provides comic relief for serious situations. It can be used to explain complicated procedures to developing youth, or accent equally negative situations in a palatable fashion. In order to express a point to the reader, storytelling is crucial. The plot itself mainly consists of the animals independence, while monitoring the developing transgressions between the varying species.  (Macgilchrista, 2020)

Conclusion

In conclusion, the difficulties that stem from a new society will always be prevalent. This story is a commercial, frank depiction of what can and will transpire during these circumstances. There are many short story elements that make up a whole, that explains the transgressions of the reasons behind communism, socio economics, capitalist ideals and social layering. I enjoyed reading the book, I also spent time analyzing the film component, which was released in 1954.  The story itself draws comparison to the dialogues of post world war II life. From rationing, to forming social groups outside of the norm, there are many elements of George Orwell's "Animal Farm" that relate back to life in England in 1945. The elements of rationing are used in the film, and changes based on which animal is deemed more worthy of receiving nourishment, or more nourishment than others. This can be related to wartime/post-war rationing procedures (Field, 1990).

          As resources began to dwindle, there was not as much food to go around as there was before cities were destroyed and crop fields were bombed by enemy combatants. Specific class members take control, and use other members of the community as their sword such as the pigs controlling the dogs. (Orwell,1945). Animal Farm runs adjacent to the changes England went through after world war ii. It depicts a social hierarchy that starts off as a social environment for everyone to benefit from, then changes to one that requires specific members of that society to require more, while doing less physical work. This story is a literary staple that needs to be appreciated. Understanding the point of stories helps you understand other elements in your own personal development.

References

Bruno Bosteels (2014) "The Actuality of Communism" 

published by: Verso Books

https://books.google.ca/books?hl=en&lr=&id=RM1NBAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PT5&dq=info:bSLHlaBFQyoJ:scholar.google.com/&ots=Al1Ie8FUz_&sig=P8wVXWZRlf2LvPGxtSzUhFi9hPs#v=onepage&q&f=false 

George Orwell, (1945) "Animal Farm"

published by University of Adelaide

Christian Burgers, Britta C. Brugman, (2021) "How Satirical News Impacts Affective Responses, Learning, and Persuasion: A Three-Level Random-Effects Meta-Analysis"

First Published July 27, 2021 Review Article

https://doi.org/10.1177/0093650221103 h2100

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/00936502211032100

Felicitas Macgilchrist, (2019) "When discourse analysts tell stories: what do we ‘do’ when we use narrative as a resource to critically analyze discourse?" 

Pages 387-403 , Published online

https://doi.org/10.1080/17405904.2020.1802767

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17405904.2020.1802767

Paul Marx, (2008) "Jim Rouse: Capitalist/Idealist"

Published by: University Press of America

https://scholar.google.ca/scholar?q=capitalist+idealism+scholarly+articles&hl=en&as_sdt=0&as_vis=1&oi=scholart#d=gs_qabs&t=1653530279751&u=%23p%3DP2DDy2cN_OwJ 

Geoffrey Field, (1990), Perspectives on the Working-Class Family in Wartime Britain,          

1939-1945 International Labor and Working-Class History No. 38, The Working Class in World War II, pp. 3-28 Published By: Cambridge University Press https://www.jstor.org/stable/27671888 

Henry Pelling, (1989) "Winston Churchill" published by: Springer, 1989      

https://scholar.google.ca/scholar?q=Winston+Churchill+scholarly+articles&hl=en&as_sdt=0&as_vis=1&oi=scholart#d=gs_qabs&t=1653854401708&u=%23p%3D0yFWwpn5XQIJ 

John Ramsden, (2002) "Man of the Century: Winston Churchill and his Legend since 1945

Columbia University Press" 

https://books.google.ca/books?hl=en&lr=&id=fhiI_jKRM0gC&oi=fnd&pg=PR7&dq=info:QHSaxkIOcQkJ:scholar.google.com/&ots=ZQzPgHWs_E&sig=jYp09vH4gmzeoHOrq2k1Kkg5ZOg#v=onepage&q&f=false