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Bedtime Story or Serious Literature for Adults?

Summary:   While `Animal Farm' contains several of the characteristics you would expect of a children's book, there are many more sophisticated points that definitely transform it into a piece of adult literature. Despite first impressions, it is not a bed-time-story but an ingenious allegory of the creation and progression of the Russian Revolution.

George Orwell, or Eric Blair, came from a prosperous family and a rich background but preferred to see the world and make his own way of life. He worked in a restaurant in Paris and was a tramp in London, before settling down in Britain to write. He said himself that 'Animal Farm' was the only novel that he "really sweated over." It does have many of the characteristics of a bedtime story but there are several substantial reasons why I definitely would not read it to a little brother or sister to help them sleep.

The book begins with the once prosperous farmer Mr Jones coming home late from the pub one night and forgetting to feed the animals or milk the cows. That night a meeting is held in the barn where Old Major lives and the old boar telling the assembled animals of a dream he has had for a better society of animals ruling themselves - just like the idea Karl Marx had for a better society of people. Old Major dies soon after and the animals begin their rebellion against the human race, but it is soon obvious that the pigs have their own ideas about how things should be run and the lifestyle of the animals begins to deteriorate.

The beginning is definitely encouraging for any child reading it. It starts off with the 'baddie' (the character depicted as being greedy, selfish and cruel) Mr Jones getting chucked off the farm and the 'goodies' (the poor, downtrodden and hungry animals) getting their own way. Children always like the goodies to win and at the beginning it seems like they have. Because of the talking animals I did begin to think: "Why has our English teacher given us a 'Dick King Smith' animal story for one of our fourth year studies"" I have to say that there is an awfully large amount of adult literature that I have not read but in my experience there are not many adult novels, or short stories even, that are based on talking animals. This is a very childish idea but Orwell manages to pull it off.

He has a variety of characters which are all based on stereotypes; the faithful carthorse - strong but slightly dim Boxer; the cynical old donkey who's always the pessimist and has been around since the beginning of time; the sheep who all copy each other and move as a group; the clever and individual pigs and the loyal guard dogs who'll kill their own mother rather than disobey their master. Children love variety but not change so they understand the stereotypes that Orwell has used. Most of the animals are also very simple, though there are exceptions to intrigue the older reader. Benjamin the donkey says little but when he does say something it's always worth listening to and often humorous, though not in a laugh-out-loud joking sort of way. Phrases like:

"He would say that god had given him a tail to keep the flies off but that he would sooner have had no tail and no flies." And

" 'Donkeys live a long time. None of you has ever seen a dead donkey.' "

It is obvious that he is not trying to crack a joke but you can't help laughing at the sort of odd sentences he comes out with.

Orwell also manages to convey everything he writes in a very simple language. This is the trait of most children's stories and not adult ones but unlike a lot of 'bedtime' stories it is simple but not childish. He uses a wide vocabulary and sometimes uses a word only once in the whole book - because he thinks it is the shortest most precise word to depict what he wants to describe. It must be said that nearly everything he writes is 'fresh'; he doesn't overuse old figures of speech or other phrases. Maybe 'clear' is a better way to describe his style than simple. He laid down his own rules for writing and though the sixth rule was to break any of the previous ones rather than write something "downright barbarous" his first two rules were:

"Never use a metaphor, simile or other figure of speech you are used to seeing in print." And

"Never use a long word where a short one will do."

One metaphor I particularly liked was:

"The grass and bursting hedges were gilded by the level rays of the sun"

These beautifully effective figures of speech are somewhat rare but when he does include them they fit perfectly into the text and are totally original.

This is another reason why 'Animal Farm' is a good book for children to read but underneath it is much deeper than a ten-year-old's animal story.

When Napoleon uses his force to take over the farm and expels his rival, Snowball, he brutally slaughters anyone he thinks could oppose his rule, and a few for effect. By the end of his little demonstration everyone knows who is boss and as it has often been said, there are only two ways to gain power - persuasion or force - and it is hard to fight force with persuasion. It can only be assumed that after he was expelled Snowball suffered the same sticky end that Trotsky faces after he was exiled to Mexico.

George Orwell used his choice of wording and detailed narration to great effect in this passage:

"so the tale of confessions and executions went on, until there was a pile of corpses lying before Napoleon's and the air was heavy with the smell of blood."

This savage description represents the appalling butchery that was the reign of Stalin, the 'Man of Steel'. The animals were shaken, as the people were at first, but soon are persuaded how many 'traitors' their 'great leader' has rid them of, just as the people of Russia did, has rid them of. They soon forget the truth, as Boxer does in this chapter, and don't remember that they had any doubts or queries as to the guilt of their comrades; either they don't want to speak up because they are terrified of what may happen or squealer and the 'propaganda machine' have taken them in. Either way Napoleon retains all the power, like Stalin and he too would probably kill anyone who presented competition within the next year.

Because of the 'propaganda machine' families during the revolution were even persuaded that their own relatives had been guilty - instead of seeing the horrific truth about the millions of unjustified deaths that went on in their homes, streets and the prison camps of Siberia. The animals are persuaded in a very similar way as Squealer jumps from side to side, drilling Napoleons 'greatness' into their heads.

The violence and cruelty shown in 'Animal Farm' would definitely prevent me from reading the book to my ten-year-old cousin.

The whole book is based closely round a template of the Russian Revolution and when you compare the two you can see he made a very good job of it. All the characters are based on an important faction of the Revolution and the main characters are all based on different important and influential historical figures. Jones is Tsar Nicolas II who was ripped from power on the twenty fifth of October 1917 by the Bolsheviks - a party of workers and 'commoners' created by Lenin during that year. The storming of the winter palace is represented by the Battle of the Cowshed - when Jones and his men are driven off the farm. Just as when the palace was taken there were few casualties as the palace guard and Jones's men offered little resistance. Old Major represents Karl Marx as he too dreamt of a better community ruled by the workers but died before it actually happened. This is just as well as he would have been horrified at the way things turned out and probably assassinated by Stalin any way! The seven commandments are derived from the content of Old Major's speech and are reminiscent of the Communist Manifesto created by Marx, which lays down the rules and principles of Communism. Animalism is Communism and the green flag, the horn and hoof, mimics the red flag of the Soviet Union, the hammer and sickle. Old Major is also like Lenin, who started off the revolution but didn't see it grow to the scale that it was at when Stalin.

Napoleon represents Stalin in his ruthless and cruel climb to power. Napoleon had his dogs and Stalin had the secret police that Lenin had created for him (presumably not in anticipation of the destructive and murderous power they would become). Stalin did do some great things for the Soviet Union, but he too started off with the ideas his rival had conveniently left for him. Whilst Napoleon carries out his one-year plan for the windmill Stalin started many five-year plans, which increased heavy industry by a considerable amount; coal production increased by one hundred and seventy three percent! At the same time though, food production fell by between seventy and eighty percent, with the introduction of collective farming, causing thousands if not millions of people to starve to death. This is represented by the ever-reducing rations that the animals receive. Despite this the pigs and important party members still manage to get more than a good square meal and it is a wonder more eyebrows were not raised.

But this is where the 'propaganda machine' comes in. Napoleon has Squealer to convince all the other animals that food rations are actually increasing and Stalin had his agents and his big meetings when he told everyone that life was actually better since the revolution. As Boxer says, he would rather have more food and fewer figures but he is so trusting and totally adores Napoleon, so if he says it - it has to be right.

Boxer personifies the millions of people and workers who believed that things were always better, worked hard thinking that they were working for themselves and trusted and adored Stalin.

Literacy also went up from about twenty percent of peasants reading and writing to eighty percent - though this was mainly to do with Lenin and Trotsky. By the time Snowball was sent away most of the animals could read a few letters and many of the cleverer ones could read and write more or less fluently.

Most of these concepts need a certain amount of knowledge about the Russian Revolution to be understood and I definitely have found it interesting and useful finding out about it because it is obviously such an important and influential part of world history. Most children would find these concepts extremely hard to grasp and as a child I would have found the revolution a boring subject. When I was ten I don't think I had the mental capacity to think on such a large scale and I would have had nightmares thinking about the twenty million Russians that Stalin killed during his rule.

Almost every children's story has a happy ending but 'Animal Farm' definitely doesn't. Their lifestyle turns a full circle and just as your pencil slips in the compass so the end of your circle ends up a full centimetre behind the beginning the animals all ended up worse off than when they started. As Mr Pilkington says in the last chapter:

" the lower animals on animal farm did more work and received less food than any animals in the country"

Just as Britain became Russia's ally, the pigs make their most formal apologies to the neighbouring farms and become indistinguishable from the humans. Napoleon sends Boxer to the knacker just as Mr Jones would have done and every one of the commandments has been or broken. Finally the only writing left upon the barn wall is simply:

"All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others."

This is how Orwell believes the Soviet Union has become and he predicts the break up of the Soviet Union / Britain alliance by showing how both the pig and the man play the same card; it is impossible to tell who has cheated because the pigs and humans have become so alike that it is equally possible for either of them to have done it.

To conclude, whilst it must be admitted that 'Animal Farm' contains several of the characteristics you would expect of a children's book, there are many more sophisticated points that definitely transform it into a piece of adult literature. I hope I have indicated why 'Animal Farm', despite first impressions, is not a bed-time-story but an ingenious allegory of the creation and progression of the Russian Revolution.