What is another way of interpreting this quote?

Question

I don't understand this quote and need some help - it's for an English essay. I just need somebody to phrase it another way so I am then able to interpret it.

"As an allegory, the story has one enormous failure: the persons of Lenin and Trotsky are combined into one [i.e., Snowball], or, it might even be truer to say, there is no Lenin-pig at all. Such a stupendous omission cannot have been accidental.... Orwell in his essays was fond of saying that both Lenin and Trotsky bore some responsibility for Stalinism; by eliding this thought... he may have been subconsciously catering to the needs of tragedy."

Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

An allegory is where you do a one-to-one equivalent to what you're trying to describe or satirize (make fun of in an intelligent way). Since there is no direct correlation between Lenin and a character and Trotsky and a character, this can't be an allegory. Orwell indicates in his essays that he may not have meant for this to be an allegory, but instead really did intend to combine the Lenin-Trotsky characters, and the author of this quote thinks he must have done this on purpose to illustrate his point of view on their shared responsibility in Russia. Good luck.

Answer 2

The quote by Orwell authority Christopher Hitchens can be found on pages 188-187 of the 2002 book, "Why Orwell Matters."

Hitchens is simply saying that the book fails because Orwell combines two historic characters into one.

"Old Major" -- the first major character described by George Orwell in Animal Farm -- is the inspiration for the Revolution and the book. Shortly after his death, the animals rise up in revolt and oust the men from power. Because the animals hold him in high esteem, they dig up his skull and walk past it and salute it every day, just as Lenin's body was preserved and is kept on display in Moscow. Marx, author of the Communist Manifesto, died before the first communist revolution. However, Old Major, founder of Animalism, dies before the Animal Farm revolution, and his body is saluted by the soldiers every day, even following the revolution.

The critic Hitchens goes on to agree, however, that in the book "the aims and principles of the Russian Revolution are given face-value credit throughout; this is a revolution betrayed, not a revolution that is monstrous from its inception."

Hope this helps.

Answer 3

I have no clue, sorry I could not help!