Animal Farm Analysis

Animal Farm is an allegory for what happened in Russia between the years of about 1917 and 1943. Some of the latest editions of the book leave this fact out, likely hoping to make it a more "univer...

When Orwell saw a kid whipping a horse, he had an idea: "It struck me that if only such animals became aware of their strength we should have no power over them, and that men exploit animals in m...

The narrator is an uninvolved third person (or possibly third creature) who we know nothing about and never see, and who apparently has no feelings one way or another on the whole thing. He weaves...

Orwell may have subtitled his novel "A Fairy Tale," but we're thinking it's more like a fable.What?Let's get some terms straight. An allegory is basically an extended metaphor—a picture, poem, or...

The narrator tells us that after the four pigs confess, the dogs "tore their throats out" (7.25), just as if he's saying the dogs went for a good run and peed on a tree. We're talking way, way obje...

There's a reason Animal Farm is written in such a friendly style: Orwell was super suspicious of intellectuals. You might have picked up on that, what with the pigs being so shady. He was particula...

You've got a farm. You've got some animals on it. Sounds reasonable to us. Oh, okay, that's not all. The farm starts off as "Manor Farm," switches to "Animal Farm," and then makes a spectacular ret...

By the end of Animal Farm, pigs are walking on two legs, Seven Commandments have become one, and the pigs insist to the other humans that all they wanted all along was to "to live at peace and in n...

A warning about political tyranny isn't particularly effective if no one can understand it—that's the whole point of using a fable about farm animals rather than writing a complex essay about pol...

Another Day Older and Deeper in DebtThe animals are oppressed by a drunken, tyrannical master. This is the first situation we come across, so we're thinking it's the initial one. It's also fairly s...

Everyone's miserable (or drunk), and Old Major announces that what we really need is a revolution. This is about as clear-cut as anticipation gets. Even we're looking forward to the rebellion.The...

I Have a DreamWhen we meet up with our animal heroes, they're enduring tyrannical and miserable working conditions on Manor Farm. Luckily, one pig has a dream—and he manages to pass on his vision...

Orwell is so NOT his real name. It’s Eric Arthur Blair. (Source) Orwell came up for the idea of Animal Farm when he saw a boy whipping a horse. If only the horse were aware of its own streng...

There is literally nothing to see here. Sure, some puppies are born, but we don't see any action. In any case, if you think that's steamy, we really, really can't help you.

Nothing to see here—unless you count the entire book as a thinly veiled shout-out. Which it is.