Allegory can be found both in literature and in the visual arts, such as painting and sculpture. Allegories are similar to metaphors: in both the author uses one subject to represent another, seemingly unrelated, subject. However, unlike metaphors, which are generally short and contained within a few lines, an allegory extends its representation over the course of an entire story, novel, or poem. Allegories are generally understood as rhetorical, and, as a form of rhetoric, are generally designed to persuade their audience.
George Orwell’s 1945 novella, Animal Farm, is the story of an animal revolution. The animal residents of Manor Farm, spurred on by the dream of the pig, Old Major, decide they will change their “miserable, laborious, and short” lives. They overthrow Mr. Jones, their master, and take over the management of the farm. Rather than living under the heel of their human master, the animals of Manor Farm decide that they will take control of the products of their labor, working for the good of the farm and other animals, rather than for the good of humans.
How is this story allegorical? If an allegory is “a figurative representation conveying a meaning other than and in addition to the literal,” then what is the additional or alternative meaning contained in Orwell’s story of animal rebellion?
Allegories utilize one subject as if it were analogous to another.
George Orwell wrote the story of Animal Farm during the Russian Revolution
There is little doubt that Orwell's description of Animal Farm is a satire based on events in Russia after the October 1917 revolution.
George Orwell wrote the book during the war as a cautionary fable in order to expose the seriousness of the dangers posed by Stalinism and totalitarian government.
In this lesson students will focus on George Orwell’s Animal Farm as an example of this rhetorical device, as it is perhaps the most widely read allegory in the middle school and high school classrooms. Orwell’s 1945 novella is an allegorical indictment of tyranny which utilizes the historical events and players of the Russian Revolution and the subsequent rise of Stalin as a cautionary tale.
In addition, students will be introduced to some of the main figures and events in the history of the Soviet Union. At the time when Animal Farm was published in the 1940s the rule of Stalin and events in Eastern Europe and in the Ukraine and Georgia would have been familiar to the average reader. This background knowledge will help to make the allegorical structure of Orwell’s novella clear to students.
George Orwell’s 1945 novella, Animal Farm, is the story of an animal revolution. The animal residents of Manor Farm, spurred on by the dream of the pig, Old Major, decide they will change their “miserable, laborious, and short” lives. They overthrow Mr. Jones, their master, and take over the management of the farm. Rather than living under the heel of their human master, the animals of Manor Farm decide that they will take control of the products of their labor, working for the good of the farm and other animals, rather than for the good of humans.
How is this story allegorical? If an allegory is “a figurative representation conveying a meaning other than and in addition to the literal,” then what is the additional or alternative meaning contained in Orwell’s story of animal rebellion?
Allegories utilize one subject as if it were analogous to another.
George Orwell wrote the story of Animal Farm during the Russian Revolution
There is little doubt that Orwell's description of Animal Farm is a satire based on events in Russia after the October 1917 revolution.
George Orwell wrote the book during the war as a cautionary fable in order to expose the seriousness of the dangers posed by Stalinism and totalitarian government.
In this lesson students will focus on George Orwell’s Animal Farm as an example of this rhetorical device, as it is perhaps the most widely read allegory in the middle school and high school classrooms. Orwell’s 1945 novella is an allegorical indictment of tyranny which utilizes the historical events and players of the Russian Revolution and the subsequent rise of Stalin as a cautionary tale.
In addition, students will be introduced to some of the main figures and events in the history of the Soviet Union. At the time when Animal Farm was published in the 1940s the rule of Stalin and events in Eastern Europe and in the Ukraine and Georgia would have been familiar to the average reader. This background knowledge will help to make the allegorical structure of Orwell’s novella clear to students.