Animal Farm

• Animal Farm is a satirical allegorical novella, in the form of a beast fable, by George Orwell, first published in England on 17 August 1945
• Animal Farm reflects events leading up to the Russian Revolution of 1917 and then on into the Stalinist era of the Soviet Union, a period of time when Russia lived under the communist ideology of Joseph Stalin
• Orwell, a democratic socialist, was a critic of Stalin and hostile to Moscow-directed Stalinism, an attitude that was critically shaped by his experiences during the Barcelona May Days conflicts between the POUM and Stalinist forces during the Spanish Civil War
• Orwell described Animal Farm as a satirical tale against Stalin
• Orwell wrote the book between November 1943 and February 1944, when the United Kingdom was in its wartime alliance with the Soviet Union against Nazi Germany, and the British intelligentsia held Stalin in high esteem, a phenomenon Orwell hated
• The manuscript was initially rejected by several British and American publishers, including one of Orwell's own, Victor Gollancz, which delayed its publication
• Animal Farm became a great commercial success when it did appear, as international relations and public opinion were transformed as the wartime alliance gave way to the Cold War
• Animal Farm has been included in various lists of the best novels of the 20th century
• The original title was Animal Farm: A Fairy Story, but US publishers dropped the subtitle when it was published in 1946, and only one of the translations during Orwell's lifetime, the Telugu version, kept it
• Orwell suggested the title Union des républiques socialistes animales for the French translation, which abbreviates to URSA, the Latin word for "bear", a symbol of Russia
• The book tells the story of a group of anthropomorphic farm animals who rebel against their human farmer, hoping to create a society where the animals can be equal, free, and happy
• Ultimately, the rebellion is betrayed and, under the dictatorship of a pig named Napoleon, the farm ends up in a state as bad as it was before
• Mr. Jones is an allegory of Russian Tsar Nicholas II, who was forced to abdicate following the February Revolution of 1917 and was murdered, along with the rest of his family, by the Bolsheviks on 17 July 1918
• Napoleon is an allegory of Joseph Stalin
• Snowball's life parallels that of Leon Trotsky, although there is no reference to Snowball having been murdered (as Trotsky was)
• Squealer is a collective portrait of the Soviet nomenklatura and journalists, such as of the national daily Pravda (The Truth), able to justify every twist and turn in Stalin's policy
• Minimus, a poetic pig who writes the second national anthem of Animal Farm, is compared to the poet Vladimir Mayakovsky, who eulogized Lenin and the Soviet Union, although Mayakovsky neither wrote anthems nor praised Stalin in his poems
• The young pigs who complain about Napoleon's takeover of the farm but are quickly silenced and later executed are probably based on the Great Purge of Grigory Zinoviev, Lev Kamenev, Nikolai Bukharin, and Alexei Rykov
• Mr. Frederick, the tough owner of Pinchfield Farm, a small but well-kept neighbouring farm, briefly allies with Napoleon
• Mr. Jones


  The original owner of Manor Farm, a heavy drinker and an allegory of Russian Tsar Nicholas II
• Mr. Jones goes on a drinking binge, returns hungover the following day and neglects the animals completely
• Mr. Jones' wife hastily throws a few things into a travel bag and flees when she sees the animals revolting
• Mr. Frederick


  The tough owner of Pinchfield Farm, a small but well-kept neighbouring farm, who briefly allies with Napoleon
• Animal Farm shares land boundaries with Pinchfield on one side and Foxwood on another, making Animal Farm a "buffer zone" between the two bickering farmers
• The animals of Animal Farm are terrified of Frederick, as rumours abound of him abusing his animals and entertaining himself with cockfighting
• Napoleon allies with Frederick to sell surplus timber

  But is enraged to learn Frederick paid him in counterfeit money
• Shortly after the swindling

  Frederick and his men invade Animal Farm, killing many animals and destroying the windmill
• Mr. Pilkington


  The easy-going but crafty and well-to-do owner of Foxwood Farm, a large neighbouring farm overgrown with weeds
• Pilkington is wealthier than Frederick and owns more land, but his farm needs care as opposed to Frederick's smaller but more efficiently run farm
• Pilkington is concerned about the animal revolution that deposed Jones and is worried that this could also happen to him
• Mr. Whymper


  A man hired by Napoleon to act as the liaison between Animal Farm and human society
• At first, Whymper acquires necessities that cannot be produced on the farm

  Later he procures luxuries like alcohol for the pigs
• Boxer


  A loyal, kind, dedicated, extremely strong, hard-working, and respectable cart-horse, although quite naive and gullible
• Boxer does a large share of the physical labour on the farm
• Boxer challenged Squealer's statement that Snowball was always against the welfare of the farm, earning him an attack from Napoleon's dogs
• Boxer's immense strength repels the attack, worrying the pigs that their authority can be challenged
• When Boxer is injured, Napoleon sells him to a local knacker to buy himself whisky, and Squealer gives a moving account, falsifying the circumstances of Boxer's death
• Mollie


  A self-centred, self-indulgent, and vain young white mare who quickly leaves for another farm after the revolution
• Clover


  A gentle, caring mare, who shows concern, especially for Boxer, who often pushes himself too hard
• Benjamin


  A donkey, one of the oldest, wisest animals on the farm, and one of the few who can read properly. He is sceptical, temperamental and cynical