ShmoopTube

Where Monty Python meets your 10th grade teacher.

Search Thousands of Shmoop Videos

Animal Farm 80294 Views


Share It!


Description:

How do you insult the Soviet Union and get away with it? Make them animals. (No one will ever know.) That was George Orwell's plan, and it worked. He was able to insult Marx, Lenin, Stalin, and Trotsky, all while masking them as barn animals—which really is an insult in itself. Would you like to be compared to a pig?

Language:
English Language

Transcript

00:02

“Moo” says the cow. “Baa” says the sheep.

00:14

“Believe my Communist propaganda”

00:18

says the pig. George Orwell’s Animal Farm is a satirical

00:21

novella

00:22

that uses animals to represent ideas

00:24

central to the Russian Revolution. With this device, Orwell demonstrates the

00:28

great value of metaphors.

00:30

More or less, each animal represents a specific player in the Russian Revolution.

00:35

Old Major is both

00:36

Karl Marx and

00:37

Vladimir Lenin. Napoleon is an allegory for

00:39

Joseph Stalin. Snowball channels

00:42

Leon Trotsky. So it begs the big question:

00:45

why did Orwell choose animals as characters instead of

00:48

…humans? Our old pals Marx,

00:51

Lenin,

00:51

Stalin, and

00:52

Trotsky are a LOT more interesting than a bunch of barnyard animals, aren’t they?

00:56

We here at Shmoop don’t think so. Orwell’s metaphorical use of animals is

01:00

precisely what makes Animal Farm such an interesting book.

01:03

By using animals, Orwell was able to make his book interesting to both young and old

01:08

alike. Because seriously, who doesn’t love animals?

01:12

For real… Just one more. Really, how can anyone resist

01:15

these <<in baby voice>> fuzzy wuzzy wittle animals?

01:19

Orwell’s use of animals also gives his writing much more power.

01:24

Orwell smart!

01:26

Hulk angry! Using animals gives Orwell the ability to

01:30

criticize the Soviet Union and its leaders without directly endangering himself.

01:35

Pigs bad;

01:36

Humans good. Especially Soviet humans! Orwell also gives himself the freedom to let

01:42

the animals perform primitive actions

01:43

that a human would never, ever, ever perform. Like murdering their own kind…

01:49

…or abusing power and oppressing lower classes…

01:52

…or using the media to trick and manipulate the population.

01:56

Wait…

01:57

what? Orwell was able to successfully emphasize

02:00

and exaggerate mankind’s uglier attributes. What better way to show that man is a pig

02:05

than…

02:06

to make him one? There’s some food for thought.

02:09

Shmoop amongst yourselves.

02:10

YouTube blurb:

02:10

Who let the pigs out? Oink… oink… oink oink. What’s the deal with all of these

02:10

animals running amok – and in a work of classic literature, no less? Isn’t this

02:10

a children’s book? Something’s fishy here…

Up Next

Utopias Becoming Dystopias
29763 Views

This video defines utopias and dystopias, and investigates how a utopia might become a dystopia. Can a seemingly perfect world actually be a dystop...

Related Videos

The Importance of Being Earnest Summary
123036 Views

They say that honesty is the best policy, but Jack lies about his identity and still gets the girl. Does that mean we should all lie to get what we...

The Giver Summary
105891 Views

Ever wish you could remember everything that you ever studied? How about everything that everyone has ever studied? Yeah, pretty sure our brains ju...

Invisible Man (Ellison)
1818 Views

Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man is an American classic. Hope you're not expecting any exciting shower scenes though. It's not that kind of book.

Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night
1255 Views

Do not go gentle into that good night. In fact, if it's past your curfew, don't go at all into that good night. You just stay in your good bed and...