A reflection upon Animal Farm with an emphasis on its themes and style

1. Animal Farm
by George
Orwell

2. Sources
It was difficult for Orwell to
publish his work since it was
a sort of satire of
totalitarianism. At the end he
succeeded in having it
published with the subtitle “A
fairy story”
2

3. The main themes:

4. ✦ The struggle between humans and
animals standing for any form of
exploitation
✦ The danger of propaganda
✦ The danger of the personality cult
✦ Easy manipulation of masses
✦ The uselessness of any revolution
due to a lack of unifying values,
class consciousness, faith in
revolutionary ideals
4

5. ✦ Control of the language as a
political instrument as in the Seven
Commandments or the teaching of
slogans
✦ The danger of totalitarianism and
its subtle mechanisms
5

6. Style
Orwell is an outstanding example of the
politically committed intellectual who
considers his art as an instrument in the
liberation of mankind.
6

7. He wanted to
change political
writing into art.
He said that prose
should be spare
and simple but
first of all clear
and direct. That’s
why language was
his deep concern
7

8. Historical events alluded
8
The third pig, The
Squealer is the voice of
the leader, the agent of
propaganda
The
utopian
society
advocate
by Marx
The
Russian
revolution
from its
utopian
principles
to its
developm
ents
A new
Communis
t party
under the
leadership
of Lenin
Trotsky is
represented
by Snowball
Stalin is
represented
by Napoleon

9. 9
Orwell is against any form of
propaganda, even against
the Church as religion as
been employed by absolute
governments to keep people
working and making them
hope in an afterlife.

10. 10
Thanks!