Animal Farm Themes

Animal Farm Themes

Langauge and Power
1. The pigs are able to expliot the other animals as they are intelligent enough to manipulate the truth so that their evil actions seem perfectly acceptable
2. The pigs- particularly Squealer- are able to use language very effectively. The other animals cannot do this
3. Orwell was very concerned by the relationship between language and power
Political Allegory
1. The story has two different meanings- a surface meaning and an underlying message
Beast Fable
1. A fable which makes use of anthropmorphic characters
  1. Anthropomorphic: a description of animals which makes them appear like humans, e.g. they are able to talk and think
Satire
1. The literary technique which focusses on targetinga n issue, institution or idea and attacks it in such a way ro make it look ridiculous or worthy of contempt. There is a purpose of this humour other than just aiming to make people laugh
Power Corrupts
1. As well as being an allegory of Russian history, Animal Farm can also be taken as a more general anaysis of the search for power.
2. It explores the ways in which corrupt figures can gain and manipulate power for their own purposes.
3. Animal Farm exemplifies the famous words of Lord Acton: "power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely"
4. As the pigs gain more power it becomes harder for them to resist the temtations of an easire life- especially as the other animals are too gullible to avoid being manipulated
Dictatorships
1. Napoleon emerges as the farm's leader, his is a slow descent into tyranny. He is driven by power and throughout the book we see him plan to secure his hold on the farm adn the other animals
2. Like in a dictatorship, Squealer completey misrepresents Snowball's actions during the battle of the cowshed and glorifies Napoleon's bravery. As readers we remember that Mapoleon was actually absent during the battle- with implications that this was as a result of cowardice.
Education and learning
1. "Knowledge is power"
2. The pigs are clearly the intelligent animals on the farm and soon take over control of its management
3. They support the revolution by teaching their ideas to the other animals
4. The animals on the farm do not remember Major's speech clearly so the pigs have them simplified down to seven commandments.
5. Snowball tries to teach the other animals to read and write
6. Increasingly the pigs take advantage of the fact that the other animals are not overly intelligent, the gulf between the ideals of the revolution and the reality of their actions becomes wider.
7. The pigs are able to manipulate the animals as they can read, with the knowledge they aquire they are able to hold on to their power
Propeganda
1. The pigs control the animals through clever use of propeganda- a method to convince others of the truth of your arguements
2. Squealer is the chief propegandist in the book, it is said "he can turn black to white"

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