George Orwell's Animal Farm symbolizing Totalitarianism
George Orwell's Animal Farm symbolizing Totalitarianism
Totalitarianism – a type of government that attempts to assert total control over the lives of its citizens. This form of tyranny was a 20th -century development that was instituted to serve the goal of transforming society according to socialist principals. All previous political institutions and constitutions were relinquished and replaced by new ones. This thought of government was meant to make everyone equal and ironically strips everyone of his or her basic rights. Totalitarianism is expressed in literature, evident in humanity and negatively impact’s society.
George Orwell is the author of two notorious novels best known for their strong argument against authoritarian rule. He is a believer in equality and undermines those who differ. As a child, Orwell was in the lower-middle class and was put into a preparatory school where, despite his high achievements, he felt demeaned because of his low social standing. This explains why in his works, Animal Farm and 1984, he expressed his dislike for class differentiation, and yet its inevitability. In Modern Critical Interpretations of 1984, Harold Bloom suggests that Orwell’s pessimistic extremism rests on the skepticism of disappointed idealism. Orwell devoted his works as a warning against the horrors totalitarianism.
Orwell’s first outward anti-message against totalitarianism was Animal Farm. Animal Farm is an allegorical fable against the Russian Revolution. The word ‘allegory’ originates from the Greek word allegorian. It means, “to speak as if to imply something other” (Rodden 3). Orwell states in 1947 that “…animal farm was the first book in which I tried with full consciousness of what I was doing, to fuse political purpose and artistic purpose into one whole”(Draper 2576). He succeeded, and produced a notorious novel, which made a huge impact on one’s thoughts in the time of need. Every character and event may be seen as symbolic of historical Russian figures and events of the Russian Revolution.