What the Work is About

Abstract

Animal Farm is a multi-level work. As the section ‘The Choice of a Form’ makes clear, these levels can be combed out to be looked at separately, and each strand would probably bring to the forefront a different theme or issue to be considered. It is firstly a fairy story, or a humorous tale about animals which can be enjoyed for its own sake, but the fable form is not far behind this reading of the story and we find that its moral is that ‘hunger, hardship and disappointment’ are an unalterable law of life, that principle gives way to expediency and personal ambition and the pursuit of power are tendencies of human nature that prevent amelioration from taking place. As Benjamin says, nothing ever really changes. Animal Farm can be read as an exposition of the pursuit of power, of the ruthless and cynical exploitation of one group in society by another, or of the whole of a society by an individual. Orwell seems to be suggesting that those who effect revolutions are, perhaps, too unscrupulous to rule justly, and the work comes down strongly against all revolutions, finding them unsatisfactory methods of effecting any real change for the better. Animal Farm can be read as a satire on revolutions generally and on the Russian Revolution in particular. Orwell has used allegory to clarify his satire and keep it close to actual events, but he did not have to do this.