American Lit Research Paper

Name: Malik Rivera

Date: 2/24/16
Secondary Sources Critics Quotes Organizer
Theme: Corruption
I plan to show the theme is present in the following character(s): Napoleon and Snowball
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I think that this critics statement supports my

ideas because it shows that

Robb

Most directly Animal Farm is an allegory of

Stalinism, growing out of the Russian Revolution
of 1917. It is cast as a beast fable, thus giving the
reader some distance from the specific political
events. George Orwell's use of the fable form
helps the reader go beyond the details of one
revolution and examine the elements of human
nature which produce a Stalin and enable him to
seize power. The novel is thus lifted above the
particularities of polemic and presents a
perspective on universals.

Both Stalin and Napoleon are utter hypocrites and

have gone power mad, and no one dares to question
those Orwell uses the original Seven
Commandments as symbolism of the deal
communism platform, how it is speculated to be
like. As the book goes on, and the pigs gain more
power, the commandments change and spiral into
dictatorship and fascism. They are always what
communism begins with, but never ends in. Stalin
mirrors Napoleons action against the Seven
Commandments and doesnt follow them as he
should, just changes them it suits him and is
convenient to him. This results in dictatorship and
hierarchy, which is the opposite of ideal
communism. During the Russian Revolution, Stalin
started, as the pigs did, peaceful and only with
greater power did her corrupt. The Seven
Commandments are symbolism of how communism
becomes corrupt with power. The Seven
Commandments also mirror the communist
manifesto.

Meyers

George Orwells satire on Russian Communism,

Animal Farm, has just appeared in America, but its
fame has preceded it, and surely by now everyone
has heard of the fable of the animals who revolted
and set up a republic on a farm, how the pigs
seized control and how, led by a dictatorial boar
named Napoleon, they finally became human
beings walking on two legs and carrying whips
just as the old Farmer Jones had done. At each
stage of this receding revolution one of the seven
principles of the original rebellion becomes
corrupted, so that no animal shall kill any other
animal has added to it the words without cause
when there is a great slaughter of the so-called
sympathizers of an exiled pig named Snowball,
and no animal shall sleep in a bed takes on with
sheets when the pigs move into the human

The most intelligent animals, the pigs, inspired the

revolution amongst the farm animals, therefore the
animals felt obligated to follow them and refrain
from questioning. The pigs break nearly all the
commandments by: Joining alliances with the
humans mistreating fellow animals, wearing clothes,
sleeping in a bed, drinking alcohol, killing animals,
and creating a pig hierarchy above all other animals.
Soon, the pigs begin to show strands that resemble
the humans evil dictatorship and it becomes
impossible to draw out the difference between the
men and the pigs. The Seven Commandments start
out fair and equal for all, but towards the end of the
book, power corrupts the pigs motives and they
alter the original rules. They switch and change
them whenever it suits them because they have the
power to do so. They know the farm animals will

American Lit Research Paper

Secondary Sources Critics Quotes Organizer
farmhouse and monopolize its luxuries. Eventually not confront them. Although it begins as equal and
there is only one principle left, modified to all
co-operative, the pigs soon begin to abuse their
animals are equal, but some are more equal than
power and dominance over Animal Farm.
others, as Animal Farm, its name changed back to
Manor Farm, is welcomed into the community of
human farms again after its neighbors have
realized that it makes its lower animals work
harder on less food than any other farm, so that the
model workers republic becomes a model of
exploited labor

Knapp

Animal Farm is one of those rare books before

which critics lay down their pens. As a selfcontained fairy story, the book can be read and
understood by children not old enough to
pronounce most of the words in an average junior
high school history text. As a political satire,
Animal Farm can be highly appreciated by those
who actually lived through the terrible days of
World War II. As an allegory concerned with the
limitations and abuses of political power, the novel
has been pored over eagerly by several generations
of readers. The novel is built around historical
events in the Soviet Union from before the
October Revolution to the end of World War II; it
does this by using the frame of reference of
animals in a farmyard, the Manor Farm, owned by
a Mr. Jones. Drunk most of the time and, like Czar
Nicholas II of Russia in the second decade of the
twentieth century, out of touch with the governed,
Jones neglects his farm (allegorically representing
the Soviet Union, or by extension, almost any
oppressed country), causing much discontent and
resentment among his animals. One day, after
Jones does his nightly rounds, Major, an imposing
pig (Vladimir Ilich Lenin), tells the other animals

The corruption of the principles of the revolution is

illustrated by the changing Seven Commandments,
which are perverted over the course of the book to
the point where, at the end, they read only All
animals are equal, but some animals are more equal
than others and more privileged. The corrupting
effect of power is one of the central themes of
Animal Farm. At the beginning of the book, Old
Major describes the oppression that the animals
experience, and predicts that the day will come
when they overthrow their human masters and build
an equitable society. He and the other pigs begin to
claim privileges for themselves, and eventually he
uses the dogs to purge those who question his
authority. When the animals of Manor Farm drive
off Jones, it appears that day has come. But we
quickly see that the pigs, by virtue of their
leadership of the revolution, quickly become
corrupted by power. Napoleon continues to pay lip
service to the principles of the revolution through
most of the book, but his actions are far removed
from the principles of Animalism.

American Lit Research Paper

Secondary Sources Critics Quotes Organizer
of a dream he has had concerning theories about
the way they have been living. Animals have been
exploited by Mr. Jones and humankind generally,
but Major has dreamed of a time when they will
throw over their yokes and live free, sharing
equally both the profits and the hazards of their
work. Major teaches the animals the words to a
song, Beasts of England (The International), and
tells them to look to the future and the betterment
of all animals; three days later he dies.
Meyers

A really searching satire on Russian Communism,

then, would be more deeply concerned with the
underlying reasons for its transformation from a
proletarian dictatorship into a kind of parody of
the Catholic Church. Mr. Orwell does not bother
with motivation: he makes his Napoleon
inscrutably ambitious, and lets it go at that, and as
far as he is concerned some old reactionary
bromide like you cant change human nature is
as good a moral as any other for his fable. But he,
like Koestler, is an example of a large number of
writers in the Western democracies who during the
last fifteen years have done their level best to
adopt the Russian interpretation of Marxism as
their own world-outlook and have failed. The last
fifteen years have witnessed a startling decline in
the prestige of Communist ideology in the arts,
and some of the contemporary changes in taste
which have resulted will be examined in future
contributions to this column.

Orwell uses animals to represent humans. Some

themes show how power can absolutely corrupt. The
animals mimic humans, including the flaws, which
show the extremity of human corruption. As each
animal has an opportunity to seize power each uses
it for good and bad. Snowball was a character, that
was an equal to Napoleon, with the same amount of
power and such, but he was also the only leader that
did not become corrupt with power.Through this he
demonstrates the corruption of humans. Snowball
was the one everyone could trust, and the one that
would always be there with advice. He spoke the
truth and only the truth, and made promises that he
could keep, unlike the other leaders. As Napoleon
was one of the co-leaders at this time, Snowball did
not possess absolute power. Power, a simple word
that can either destroy a person or save them.
Society today thrives on power, whether it is good or
bad. George Orwells Animal Farm is used to define
power and the corruption that comes from absolute
power. Orwell used animals to portray humans to
prove how power leads to corruption.