Animal Farm Essays

George Orwell’s novella, in the guise of a satirical allegory, Animal Farm, was first released in England on August 17, 1945. It depicts a band of farm animals who rise against their human farmer to establish an animal-friendly society.

Written just before World War II’s end and published in 1945, Animal Farm metaphorically retells this history through the cunning actions of the boar Napoleon to drive out his rivals and seize control of the farm. Through his insistence that the animals build an electricity-generating windmill, which prevents them from growing food, and through his purges of alleged traitors to the animals’ uprising against Mr. Jones, the farmer. 

To provide a nuanced critique of one of the most problematic regimes in modern history, Orwell picked the challenging genre of the fable, which is frequently connected with children’s literature. He succeeds by portraying both genuinely and amusingly the qualities of many of the animals and convincing the reader that these features lend themselves, at least metaphorically, to understanding human life in the totalitarian framework.