Before I began reading animal farm I had been told that it relates to the Russian revolution of 1917, so while I had been reading animal farm I had also decided to read up on the Russian revolution because to be completely honest the only time I had read about it was when I studied it in grade nine social studies which has been quite a long time ago considering that next year Ill be in grade 12 and almost done with high school.
From what I had read up on many of the characters in animal farm are very symbolic to the Russian revolution and actually represent real groups of people, many of the actions that the animals go through match the actions of those people that were in Russia in the time of the revolution.
Starting with the beginning of the book one of the first characters that is introduced is the old major, an old prize winning pig that represents the ideas of the communist revolution and can be matched to Karl Marx in ideas and his place in the revolution. His dreams inspired the rest of the animals in the revolution against manor farm. This character can also be represented in life as the Russian revolutionary leader Vladimir Ilych Lenin who also helped with the ideas of the revolution against the czar.
The next character that is introduced in the book would be Snowball yet another pig, not as old as old major but just as wise. He influences a lot of ideas into animalism; he wants to spread the ideas of it worldwide. Snowball represents the ideas of totalitarian communism and is characterized by Leon Trotsky.
Napoleon is yet another key pig leader; hes aggressive and doesnt contribute to animalisms establishment of itself. He never showed interest in animal farm itself however he showed interest in personal gain and raising puppies as his secret police, much like soviet leader Joseph Stalin.
There is one more important pig: Squealer. Squealer did not make the decisions in the government but acted more like the controlled media as in the Russian government. His job was to influence the people by exaggerating and re-writing history and sometimes telling plain lies all together. The people would listen to him, and he would always listen to Napoleon.
The other animals in the book animal farm represented the working class, the characters ranged from selfish and lazy to hard working yet dumb. None of them represent individuals but they do represent groups of people in Russia.
For example, the horses:
Mollie, not a very smart horse, she would always wake up late for work after the revolution, and she would complain of mysterious pains, she would get caught by the water staring at her reflection. Mollie ran off during the revolution because she missed the pretty bows that would be in her hair and the sugar that the farmer would give to her, Mollie represents the group of fickle class of nobles who fled Russia after the Revolution.
Boxer is a key horse in animal farm, he was devoted to the revolution and would always work his hardest at all times, and he was always backing napoleon no matter what. He represents the peasants who are mistreated by the political figures for personal gain.
Clover is yet another horse that is loyal and devoted to the revolution, after Napoleon executes animals on the farm clover becomes a motherly figure to the other animals.
The other animals involved:
Moses the raven represents organized religion among Russia, he comes and he goes as he pleases and never does much for the government of Russia itself.
Muriel the goat doesnt represent all that much however she does read the ten commandment to the other animals even though most of the time she doesnt understand what shes reading.
Benjamin the donkey is a very wishy washy character who doesnt seem to care too much about the farm; he more represents the belief of nothing ever changing than an actual group of people.
The humans in animal farm represent quite a lot, the first one who is introduced is farmer Jones, and he represented the czar of Russia. He was overthrown at the beginning of the revolution. Just like the czar was thrown out of Russia and killed at the beginning of the Russian revolution. Farmer Jones is often drunk, he is unkind to the animals and eats all the food while they are left starving.
Mr. Frederick is yet another cruel human character in animal farm; he tortures animals and makes chickens with razors tied to their wings run into each other, he is not a nice neighbor to say the least. This character and his farm represents Germany, the torture of the animals represents what Hitler did to the Jewish, Mr. Frederick obviously represents Adolf Hitler in the 1930s and 1940s.
Mr. Pilkington the last of the human characters, he runs Foxwood farm and is very easy going and laid back, he is enemies with Mr. Frederick and I believe he and his farm represent England.
In my opinion this book was a very good representation of what happened in the Russian, I may not be that knowledgeable on the Russian revolution however it definitely made a lot of sense and connected pieces together very well. Each animal in animal farm is a very key part to the Russian revolution, they each represent something different, but very key to the revolution.
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