Animal Farm Oral

Hi, today I am going to talk about George Orwells Political Allegory Animal Farm. Animal Farm was
written after the Second World War, as a Critique of the Russian Revolution, and the corruption in the
Russian Communist system. Animal farm is not direct in its criticism, or even in its description of
events in the USSR. Instead Animal farm represents the Russian Revolution, from its start in an
English Farm setting. All the main players in the revolution are represented in the book through
animals. Symbolism is an integral to the story telling in Animal farm, and is used to portray politicians,
and to explore the ideas and themes in the book.

The Revolutionaries, Stalin, Lenin and Trotsky are represented by pigs, Karl Marx is represented by
Old Major the Boar, the Russian Working Class by the working horse Boxer, the cynics in society by
Benjamin The Mule, the church by Moses the Raven, The Tsar by Mr. Jones The Nazis by Mr Fredrick
and the Western powers by Mr Pinchfield . Animal Farm follows the story of how the pigs lead the
animals into a rebellion, and oust the humans from the farm, and take control due to their intellects.
The Animals then set up the rules, and make a plan for a perfect, equal, Utopian society, in which they
believe with ought the humans will mean a better life for all.

The book shows how the pigs are corrupted by their power, and slowly bit by bit exempt them selves
from the rules, and slowly take everything from themselves. They keep telling the other animals that
one day they will achieve their goal, but this never happens, and the living conditions for the animals
only deteriorate, while the pigs live in luxury. In the end of the story, the pigs take up all the humans
old ways, and live in the house, start walking on two legs, wearing clothes, sleeping on beds, drinking
alcohol, and finally, they collaborate with the humans, and go against everything the fought for.

Animal Farm is most definitely a classic, and is probably the best known book of its kind. What makes
animal Farm a classic is not only how well it achieves its aim, but its timelessness, and the broadness
of its themes. Because Animal Farm, never directly mentions the Russian Revolution, or even says a
name of a real person, the book can be interpreted in an endless amount of ways. It can be seen not
only as a critique of communism, but of any revolutionaries, or just politics in General.

Animal Farm explores many real world themes, even though it is about a bunch of pigs and ducks.
Animal Farm is an excellent way to understand the Russian revolution, and the failure of communism.
It is an excellent book for anyone who doesnt want to know all the dates, and names, just an outline of
what had happened. Many historical events are represented in the book, while at first glance they
sound quite irrelevant. One example of this is the card game the pigs play with the humans, which
represents the Tehran Conference, where the west and the Russians flatter each other, ironically while
cheating at the same time.

You dont need a degree in history to understand it, but the more knowledge you have, the more the
details in the book surface to be symbols. In this way animal farm is a great educational book, and
easy to understand, even 60 years after it was made. Animal farm is still extremely detailed and the
more the book is analysed, the more details surface. This means that animal farm can be read at a
primary level as just a sad fairy tale, at a high school level as a discussion of its themes, or analysed
at a university level, comparing it to its historical context.

Animal farm is very tactful in its critique, but is critical none the less. It is met by many differing points
of view, and not all people may like it. The beauty of it is that animal Farm is Relevant in the past,
present, and will continue to be in the future. The themes Animal Farm explores are corruption, more
specifically in the USSR, The tendency of society to develop a class stratification, the abuse of
language to gain power and the dangers of a Nave working class. Corruption is still very alive today.
There have been countless occasions of where a dictator has been in control, corrupt and greedy, and
another leader promises the people a revolution, and they support him, but this leader takes power,
and adopts the same corruption as his predecessor.
This can be seen in Uganda, Congo, Chile and Zimbabwe. Not all incidents of corruption are this
obvious though. Even in many developed societies, it still exists; tough it may not be as large in its
scale. The book also explores how society tends to sort it self into layers, or classes, and that
capitalism is almost inevitable, and this can be seen in modern Communist countries, such as Vietnam
and China. Furthermore Animal Farm explores the power politicians have, and how language skills,
can give individuals huge amounts of power, if utilised correctly to cover up your mistakes, and rally
people to you cause.
It shows how any good politician can twist words to make anything go his way. The book also shows
the danger of blind followers. In the book the animals are lead down the wrong path by the corrupt
pigs. This is possible in real life also, and happens often in disadvantaged countries, with un-educated
working classes. Unlike Australia, these countries dont have a well regulated, independently governed
and transparent system. This makes it easy for power hungry individuals to take advantage of the
people. As you can see, all these themes are still very relevant in real life. This is why animal Farm

Transcends time and place, even though the book was written in the 1940s, about soviet Russia, what
it symbolises is still very significant today, and the lessons that it teaches are very important. Animal
Farm is very different to modern literature, and is very unique. This also adds to the importance of this
book, as no other piece of literature or media manages to do what it achieves. Animal farm is a true
classic, and a unique piece of literature, which at first glance seems like a piece of fiction, but when
explored deeper is much more.