Transcript La fattoria degli animali

GEORGE ORWELL
Animal Farm
° George Orwell was born in India
° He studied in England
°Orwell fought for the Spanish
government against Francisco Franco’s
Nationalist uprising, in the Workers’
Party of Marxist Unification
°During the second world war he
worked as a journalist for BBC
ANIMAL FARM
Animal farm is a satirical novel published in
1945 after the Second World War.
George Orwell writes this story after his
experiences during the Spanish Civil War.
He exposes and condemns what he sees as
the Spanish corruption of the original socialist ideals.


It tells the story of a revolution and its failure in
which the animals, the protagonists, are used as a
symbol for real historical characters.
Clearly Orwell shows an iron Russian Revolution and
its betrayal by Stalin, all described as animals
The plot
Old Major, the old boar on the Manor Farm, calls the animals on the
farm for a meeting, where he compares the humans to parasites
and teaches the animals a revolutionary song, ‘Beast of England'.
When Major dies, two young pigs, Snowball and Napoleon, assume
command of the factory. The animals revolt and drive the
irresponsible Mr. Jones from the farm, renaming it "Animal Farm".
Seven Commandments of Animalism are written on the wall of a
barn. The most important is the seventh, "All animals are equal’’.
But at the end of the story the pigs, that are more intelligent and
organized than the other animals, gradually become leaders of
farm like human beings. Especially Napoleon assumes all the
control of the farm and Snowball is declared an enemy and a
traitor.
The Seven Commandments , so, are reduced to a single sentence: "All
animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others".
THE CHARACTERS
Mr. Jones : the farmer, appears
as a drunkard
He symbolizes corrupt government.
He represents Tsar Nicholas II.
Old Major is a pig respected by the other animals.
He represents both Marx and Lenin.
Pigs : most important beings on the farm.
They represent dictators.
Napoleon represents Stalin: he wants to increase his power
and does not seek the common good.
Snowball represents an idealist leader as Trotsky.
All the other characters in the novel symbolized real
historical figures : dogs, cats, horses donkeys and goats.
THE MESSAGE
This story is definitely a satire on Soviet
communism.
Although Orwell believed strongly in socialist
ideals, he felt that the Soviet Union realized
these ideals in a terribly perverse form
Orwell in Animal Farm does not criticize
revolution in itself but the corruption,
wickedness, indifference, ignorance, greed and
myopia of leaders, who in fact, in real life, ignore
the horror of a revolution
The gradual disintegration and perversion of the
Seven Commandments illustrates this hypocrisy
of tyrannies with vivid force.
In fact if initially laws are supposed to keep order
and equality, later the pigs corrupted by the
absolute power, modify the Commandments only
for their interests.
"All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than
others", and "Four legs good, two legs better!" as the pigs
become more human.