Animal Farm And Its Relation To Government

Animal Farm

In Animal Farm, the author has created an environment similar to that of the former Soviet Union. The main character Napoleon is a representation of Joseph Stalin, former leader of the USSR. Napoleon like Stalin rises to power through a revolution.

In the book the revolution takes place because the animals feel they are being oppressed by the humans. This idea is spread by Old Major, the wisest of the animals. He orders a meeting and there he preaches about the harsh treatment of the animals and that they need to rebel. The animals Napoleon and Snowball spread the idea of Animalism just the way the idea of Communism was spread in the USSR. The animals are soon "brainwashed" by this idea and will do anything to see that their plans are accomplished.

In the novel the animals are originally tricked into believing that once they over throw the present government (the rule of the humans) and switch to their Animalism government that they will be able to live a happy life from then on. The original idea of animalism is representing communism, a government type in which all are equal and there are no social classes. The novels animalism is just like communism in the fact that in the beginning of the take over everyone is equal. The animals write the Seven Commandments which state the rules for their society. The idea of animalism is a good one, but like communism will never work because just like in history one rises to power and becomes a power-hungry leader. This leader is Napoleon, he is often troubled by Snowball the other pig put in charge of the rebellion. Napoleon starts to crave the power he has but still he wants more. Just as Stalin did with Trotsky, Napoleon has him run off the farm and from their lives for good. With his power secure Napoleon becomes a dictator. In my opinion I think that the animals approach their government the wrong way, just like I think our class is doing. The animals try and do it as fast as they can, they don't look down the road and see what is in store for them in the future. I think that they should have put more thought into who would lead and if one got out of hand what will be done to protect the security of each individual animal.

Napoleon's