Story Analysis of "Animal Farm" by George Orwell

Essay by koshysx7Junior High, 9th gradeA+, October 2006

download word file, 1 pages 0.0

Downloaded 2225 times

"Animal Farm" is a novel that talks about the struggles of animals that live on a farm, oppressed by their owners. They decide to run out their worthless human masters and tend to the farm by themselves. However, greed takes over the pigs, causing them to take over the farm by deceiving their fellow comrades.

One theme that runs through the entire novel is the fact that naivety can be the downfall of people. The animals never try to sort out their feelings or to see or think why they can't remember the new changes to the commandments. They never question the pigs, for, as Squealer said, they fear that they will have to go back to the ways of Mr. Jones. What they don't know is that they are being treated worse than Mr. Jones treated them. One major example of the animals' naivety would be how Boxer always say "Napoleon is always right," no matter what the situation is.

The power of persuasion plays an important role in the novel as well. The pigs need to persuade the animals to follow them without rebellion no matter what, so they use many means to attain their trust and loyalty. Napoleon breeds his dogs so that they can defend him and frighten the animals into doing different things. Squealer is an expert at convincing the animals that everything is all right, and that whatever the pigs do wrong is actually completely right. He also constantly reminds the animals of the days of Mr. Jones to encourage them not to slack off.

The title of the novel both describes what the book will be about and tells us the name of the setting. Hearing Animal Farm gives the reader the idea that the book will talk about animals in a farm. It also clues the reader that animals will most probably be the main characters in the book. Since the entire book takes place in the farm, it is called Animal Farm as well.

Animal Farm is a tale that unfortunately ends in tragedy. Although the animals did get freedom from humans, they had yet to gain total freedom from themselves as well.