Why did Orwell write Animal Farm?

Question

just asking, any ideas?

Answer 1

He wrote it to make a political statement. It is a satirical allegory of the Russian Revolution. For example, Napoleon represents Stalin.

"Orwell wrote the book following his experiences during the Spanish Civil War, which are described in another of his books, Homage to Catalonia. He intended it to be a strong condemnation of what he saw as the Stalinist corruption of the original socialist ideals. For the preface of a Ukrainian edition he prepared in 1947, Orwell described what gave him the idea of setting the book on a farm.[2]

'I saw a little boy, perhaps ten years old, driving a huge carthorse along a narrow path, whipping it whenever it tried to turn. It struck me that if only such animals became aware of their strength we should have no power over them, and that men exploit animals in much the same way as the rich exploit the proletariat. '"

Furthermore, " the book encourages the reader to ponder whether rebellion will eventually resort to a sort of dictatorship — whether that particular power in society is merely part of human nature. This is shown in the way that the pigs, through their own power, lack of equality, and their domination become indistinguishable from the old regime in creating layers of power and concentrating power at the top."

Answer 2

He wrote Animal Farm because at that time, the USA and the USSR were having struggles so he wrote Animal Farm to show how communism would not work out.
Like Napoleon in Animal Farm was Stalin...etc.

Answer 3

because he was a writer. He also happened to be against totalitarianism, and he felt he could get his ideas across better by using animals instead of people. It's not really a satire, but it's animals as people. It shows how the animals try to make things better, but become facisists in the attempt and become worse then the society that they tried to fix.

Answer 4

a rapid be conscious...mutually as Karen is right approximately what the events signify, she won't have made it sparkling that an allegory is a narrative wherein characters and events signify or signify events interior the greater desirable worldwide. I additionally see modern-day parallels interior the tale, yet on the time the tale replaced into written, it replaced into broadly seen as a condemnation of the failure of the Soviet device. It replaced into written related to the comparable time that the "chilly conflict" between the west and the U.S. replaced into having further and extra impression over modern-day politics in western societies. The Russian czars have been thrown out of skill in a revolution that brought about Russia to tug out of worldwide conflict I to tend to enterprise at domicile. in the time of worldwide conflict II, the U. S., Britain, and the west have been allied with the Soviet Union, even nevertheless it replaced into an uneasy alliance. on the top of WWII, the tensions grew to become further and extra overt, and the branch of Germany cemented the hostility between the U.S. and the western governments. Animal Farm replaced into written presently after WWII. i do no longer undergo in thoughts the real e-e book date, even nevertheless it replaced into interior of a decade, and particular much less.

Answer 5

Because The Odyssey had already been written.

Answer 6

to highlight the pitfalls of a communist government and how easily some would become "more equal than others

Answer 7

To denounce communism.

Answer 8

Orwell based major events in the book on novels from the Soviet Union during the Stalin era. Orwell, a democratic socialist, and a member of the Independent Labour Party for many years, was a critic of Stalin, and was suspicious of Moscow-directed Stalinism after his experiences in the Spanish Civil War.

The events and characters in Animal Farm are all carefully drawn to represent the history of the Soviet Union; Orwell makes this explicit in the case of Napoleon, whom he directly connects to Stalin in a letter of 17 March 1945 to the publisher.

...when the windmill is blown up, I wrote 'none the animals including Napoleon flung themselves on their faces." I would like to alter it to 'all the animals except Napoleon." If that has been printed it's not worth bothering about, but I just thought the alteration would be fair to JS [Joseph Stalin], as he did stay in Moscow during the German advance.
The other characters have their parallels in the real world, but care should be taken with these comparisons as they do not always match history exactly and often simply represent generalised concepts.

Napoleon is the leader of Animal Farm after the rebellion. Based on Joseph Stalin, he uses his military/secret police (of nine attack dogs) to cement his power. Napoleon uses force to drive out his opponent, Snowball, and instill fear in the other animals. He takes the role of a dictator over the farm and changes the original intent of the animal society.

Snowball is a rival of Napoleon who contends for control of the farm after the rebellion. Inspired by Leon Trotsky, Snowball is a passionate intellectual and is far more honest about his motives than Napoleon. While he is not immune to the corrupting effects of unchecked power (illustrated in his willingness to support a sophist argument that windfall apples belong primarily to pigs), Snowball does seem to at least have the integrity to prioritize the farm's well-being in general over the pigs in particular, and his dedication wins the loyalty of most of the farm's animals. This dedication does not suffice to save him from later being driven out by Napoleon's attack dogs (much as Trotsky was driven into exile in Mexico, where he was eventually assassinated). After his departure he is used as a scapegoat and blamed for everything that has gone wrong. Snowball fought bravely at the Battle of the Cowshed. However, after his departure, Squealer manages to convince the forgetful animals that Snowball was censured for cowardice. Later on, he convinces them that Snowball was the leader or double agent of the human forces in the battle and makes him a scapegoat for all the misfits on the farm.

Squealer serves as Napoleon's public speaker. Inspired by Vyacheslav Molotov and the Russian paper Pravda, Squealer twists and abuses the language to excuse, justify, and extol all of Napoleon's actions. He represents all the propaganda Stalin used to justify his actions. In all of his work, George Orwell made it a point to show how politicians used language. Squealer limits debate by complicating it, and he confuses and disorients, making claims that the pigs need the extra luxury they are taking in order to function properly, for example. However, when questions persist, he usually uses the threat of Mr. Jones's return as justification for the pigs' privileges. "If this doesn't happen Jones will come back etc. etc.". Squealer uses statistics to convince the animals that life is getting better and better. Most of the animals have only dim memories of life before the revolution so they are convinced.

Minimus is a poetical pig who writes the second and third national anthems of Animal Farm after the singing of "Beasts of England" is banned, representing admirers of Stalin both inside and outside the USSR such as Maxim Gorky.

Old Major is based upon both Lenin and Marx — Old Major is the inspiration which fuels the rest of the book. Though it is a positive image, Orwell does slip some flaws in Old Major, such as his admission that he has largely been free of the abuse the rest of the animals have suffered. As a socialist, Orwell agreed with some of Karl Marx's politics, and respected Vladimir Lenin. However, the satire in Animal Farm is not of Marxism, or Lenin's revolution, but of the corruption that occurred later. Old Major not only represents Karl Marx in the allegory, but also the power of speech and how it can and was used to evoke and inspire people. Old Major also represents the generation who were not content with the old regime and therefore inspired the younger generations to rebel against the regime under which they were living.

Pinkeye is a small piglet who tastes Napoleon's food for poisoning.

Piglets are hinted to be the children of Napoleon (albeit not truly noted in the novel), and are the first generation of animals to actually be subjugated to his idea of animal inequality.

Rebel Pigs are pigs who complain about Napoleon's takeover of the farm but are quickly silenced and later executed. This is based on the Great Purge during Stalin's regime.

Mr. Jones is the owner of Manor Farm. He is based on Czar Nicholas II. There are also several implications that he represents an incompetent and autocratic capitalist.

Mr. Frederick is the tough owner of Pinchfield, a well-kept neighbouring farm. He represents Nazi Germany and Adolf Hitler.

Mr. Pilkington is the easy-going but crafty owner of Foxwood, a neighboring farm. He represents the western powers, such as Britain and the U.S. The card game at the very end of the novel is a metaphor for the Tehran Conference, where the parties flatter each other, all the while cheating at the game. The irony in this last scene is present because of all of the Pigs being civil and kind to the humans, defying all they had fought for. This was present in the Tehran Conference with the Alliance that the Soviet Union formed with the United States and Britain, capitalist countries that the Soviet Union had fought so hard against in the early years of the revolution. At the end of the novel, both Napoleon and Pilkington draw the Ace of Spades (which in most games, is the highest-ranking card) at the same time and begin fighting loudly, symbolizing the beginning of tension between the U.S and Soviet superpowers.

Mr. Whymper is a man hired by Napoleon to represent Animal Farm in human society. He is loosely based on George Bernard Shaw who visited the U.S.S.R. in 1931 and praised what he found.

The three horses, Boxer, Clover and Mollie represent the three social classes. Boxer represents the lower class, Clover the middle and Mollie the upper. In the end, Boxer, or the lower class, is the one that gets the most exploited by the pigs.

Boxer is one of the most popular characters. He is a Shire horse. Boxer is the tragic avatar of the working class, or proletariat: loyal, kind, dedicated, and the most physically-strong animal on the farm, but naive and not clever, never progressing beyond the fourth letter of the alphabet. His blind trust in the leaders, and his inability to see corruption ultimately leades to his demise when he is no longer able to work.

Clover is Boxer's mate and a fellow draft horse. She helped and cared for Boxer when he split his hoof. She blames herself for forgetting the original Seven Commandments when Squealer revises them. She represents the educated, but essentially naive lower middle class people who acquiesce to the subversion of principles by the powerful. Clover is kind and good as is shown when she protects the baby ducklings during Major's speech. She is also upset when animals are executed by the dogs, and is held in great respect by three younger horses who ultimately replace Boxer.

Mollie is a white mare who likes wearing ribbons and sugar cubes (which represent luxury) and being pampered by humans. She represents upper-class people, the Bourgeoisie who fled from the U.S.S.R. after the Russian Revolution. Likewise, she quickly leaves for another farm and is rarely mentioned for the rest of the story.

Benjamin is a donkey who is cynical about the revolution — and just about everything else. More specifically, he represents the Jewish population, (as well as authors and poets, due to his cynical and cryptical nature) in Russia who were there before the Revolution and fully expected to be there after the Soviet Union fell (which they were). Though he is as wise or wiser than the pigs and is the only animal who sees the pigs for they tyrants they are, he doesn't make an attempt to change anything, replying to questions only with the cryptic response of "Donkeys live a long time. None of you have ever seen a dead donkey".

Moses is a tame raven who spreads stories of Sugarcandy Mountain, the "animal heaven." These beliefs are denounced by the pigs. Moses represents religion (specifically the Russian Orthodox Church), which has always been in conflict with Communism. It is interesting to note that, while Moses initially leaves the farm after the rebellion, he later returns and is supported by the pigs. This represents the cynical use of religion by the state to anaesthetise the minds of the masses. Moses also shows some characteristics of Grigori Rasputin. The acceptance of Moses by the pigs could be seen to represent Stalin's relaxed attitude towards the Russian Orthodox Church during WWII, as the Church was a way to raise funds for the Russian war effort.

Muriel is a goat who reads the edited commandments. She may represent intelligent labour. It is also possible she serves as a Deus Ex Machina, because she is the only non-pig (excluding Benjamin) that will read. The fact that she dies near the end of the book may imply that her generation of intelligent labour was ultimately extinct.

Jessie and Bluebell are two dogs who give birth in Chapter III. Their puppies are nurtured by Napoleon to inspire fear, representing the formation of the NKVD.

The Hens represent the Kulaks, landed peasants persecuted by Stalin. They had refused to give up their eggs, the way the Kulaks had strongly resisted surrendering their lands in the Soviet Union of the 1930s. Napoleon promptly starved the hens to death — the exact same punishment Stalin had inflicted upon the Kulaks.

The Dogs are Napoleon's secret police and bodyguards (inspired by Cheka, NKVD, OGPU, MVD).

The Sheep show the dumb animal following of the proletariat in the midst of the Russian Civil War, and the masses during Stalin's reign. (“Four legs good, two legs bad!” eventually becomes "Four legs good, two legs better!").

The Cat shows the unethical, silent rejections of the new order — unwilling to work, yet encouraging others to do so, and acting bravely in the face of threats, but disappearing when there is actual danger. Some say the cat represents the flaws in Animalism or Communism. The fact that she attends Old Major's meeting at the beginning "without listening to a word he is saying" also implies that she is unwilling, or ignorant, of how else to live.