what are the symbols and motifs in animal farm Flashcards
what does animal farm symbolise
Animal Farm, known at the beginning and the end of the novel as the Manor Farm, symbolizes Russia and the Soviet Union under Communist Party rule. But more generally, Animal Farm stands for any human society, be it capitalist, socialist, fascist, or communist. It possesses the internal structure of a nation, with a government (the pigs), a police force or army (the dogs), a working class (the other animals), and state holidays and rituals. Its location amid a number of hostile neighboring farms supports its symbolism as a political entity with diplomatic concerns.
what does the barn symbolise in animal farm
The barn at Animal Farm, on whose outside walls the pigs paint the Seven Commandments and, later, their revisions, represents the collective memory of a modern nation. The many scenes in which the ruling-class pigs alter the principles of Animalism and in which the working-class animals puzzle over but accept these changes represent the way an institution in power can revise a community’s concept of history to bolster its control. If the working class believes history to lie on the side of their oppressors, they are less likely to question oppressive practices. Moreover, the oppressors, by revising their nation’s conception of its origins and development, gain control of the nation’s very identity, and the oppressed soon come to depend upon the authorities for their communal sense of self.
what does the windmill in animal farm show
The great windmill symbolizes the pigs’ manipulation of the other animals for their own gain. Despite the immediacy of the need for food and warmth, the pigs exploit Boxer and the other common animals by making them undertake backbreaking labor to build the windmill, which will ultimately earn the pigs more money and thus increase their power. The pigs’ declaration that Snowball is responsible for the windmill’s first collapse constitutes psychological manipulation, as it prevents the common animals from doubting the pigs’ abilities and unites them against a supposed enemy. The ultimate conversion of the windmill to commercial use is one more sign of the pigs’ betrayal of their fellow animals. From an allegorical point of view, the windmill represents the enormous modernization projects undertaken in Soviet Russia after the
how are songs recurring motifs in animal farm
Animal Farm is filled with songs, poems, and slogans, including Major’s stirring “Beasts of England,” Minimus’s ode to Napoleon, the sheep’s chants, and Minimus’s revised anthem, “Animal Farm, Animal Farm.” All of these songs serve as propaganda, one of the major conduits of social control. By making the working-class animals speak the same words at the same time, the pigs evoke an atmosphere of grandeur and nobility associated with the recited text’s subject matter. The songs also erode the animals’ sense of individuality and keep them focused on the tasks by which they will purportedly achieve freedom.
how are state rituals a recurring motif in animal farm
As Animal Farm shifts gears from its early revolutionary fervor to a phase of consolidation of power in the hands of the few, national rituals become an ever more common part of the farm’s social life. Military awards, large parades, and new songs all proliferate as the state attempts to reinforce the loyalty of the animals. The increasing frequency of the rituals bespeaks the extent to which the working class in the novella becomes ever more reliant on the ruling class to define their group identity and values.
how are food and drink recurring motifs in animal farm
In Animal Farm, references to food often serve to represent the labor of the working class or the capital of the ruling class. Under the rule of the farmers, food is provided unequally amongst the different species of animals, often depending on how much labor they contribute. After the revolution takes place, Mollie is enticed back to working under human rule with the promise of treats like sugar cubes—a symbol for the trivial comforts that the ruling class provide to the working class to encourage their compliance. After taking over leadership of the farm, the pigs are found eating milk and apples, despite the understanding that no animal should receive special treatment, continuing the theme of unfair and unsustainable consumption of resources by the ruling class. Rather than being treated with respect in his old age, the loyal comrade Boxer is sent to a glue factory, where he will be killed. The money from his sale is spent on whiskey for the pigs, symbolizing how workers in a capitalist or authoritarian system are worked to death to sustain the lifestyles of the rich and powerful. In the final scene of Animal Farm, the pigs can be seen dining with the humans. The decadence of this feast exposes the immense gluttony of the ruling class at the expense of the vast majority of society.
who are the protagonists in animal farm
The animals, as a group, are the protagonists of Animal Farm. Their goal is to achieve the vision set out by Old Major: equality and freedom for all animals. This goal brings them into conflict with the reality of political power. First they must confront power by rebelling against Mr. Jones. Later they must confront power in a more subtle and dangerous form: the manipulation and deceit of the pigs. While the animals defeat Mr. Jones easily, they are completely fooled by the pigs. By the time the animals recognize that the pigs are stopping them achieving their goal, it is too late. The pigs are in a position to kill any animals who continue to fight for their goal. By the end of the novella, the animals cannot even sing “Beasts of England,” the song that expressed their dream of equality and freedom. In the story’s last moments, the animals finally realize what they have been up against. By defeating their human farmer, they have not defeated the reality of political power. They have only exchanged one set of rulers for another, identical set.
who are the antagonist in animal farm
The animals’ antagonist is the corrupting reality of political power. This abstract idea is embodied by the different characters who wield power at different times. At first, the corruption of political power is embodied in the cruel, lazy Mr. Jones. When Mr. Jones is defeated, the Farm’s new rulers, the pigs, gradually come to embody the reality of political power. Now it is the pigs who oppose the animals, in exactly the same way as Jones did, by exploiting and oppressing them. From the beginning of the novella, the animals’ defeat by the power embodied in the pigs is heavily foreshadowed. Much of the novella’s drama arises from the question of whether, and when, the animals will recognize that their true antagonist is not humans or pigs but power itself. The moment of reckoning comes in the novel’s final scene, when the animals see that the pigs and the humans are exactly alike, because they are equally corrupted by political power.
