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Russian Revolution SymbolismThe book Animal Farm by George Orwell brings the serious tone of the Russian Revolution, World War I and World War II into a fable about farm animals. Find the symbolisms and the keys to understanding the historical events, as well as this wonderful book’s humor behind the scenes. There are many metaphors found in George Orwell’s “Animal Farm” referring to the Russian Revolution. These metaphors show change over time and how a pure dream of freedom turned into Russia’s nightmare. These metaphors in the book Animal Farm provides an in-depth indirect analysis on the Russian Revolution. In Animal Farm Mr. Jones is the master of the Manor Farm. Mr. Jones in history is actually the Russian ruler Czar Nicholas II, who was the last of the Russian Czars. The hard life and poverty shortages in Russia caused the middle and the low class people to slowly realize that their life was not so good. In 1917, The Russians, who were tired of fighting against Germany in World War I and tired of large food shortages, finally ended the rule of the Russian Czar. They were led by a radical group called the Bolsheviks, who followed the ideas of philosopher Karl Marx. Little did they know, the Russian Bolsheviks would be no different than their former Czars, and in fact, they were soon to find out that history repeats itself with their beloved new government and their beloved new leader. In Animal Farm, that leader was Comrade Napoleon. In Russia, that leader was Joseph Stalin. He used his fame and respect from the people of Russia to boost his own personal welfare and his own public standing. Stalin began his rule as a leader who was paranoid of power struggles. He tried to provide for the good of the Russian people, who are represented as the “Beasts of England” —all of the other animals of Manor Farm in the novel. But Stalin quickly turned out to be a power hungry, vindictive and malignant dictator.?Very soon, even people who had fought hard for the people, freedom and the Revolution were targeted. One such leader, Leon Trotsky, who had worked hard to improve the lives of the people, was pressured and then forcibly exiled in the same way that Snowball was run off the farm by Napoleon and his dogs.?Stalin and his followers gained luxury and power while the common people of Russia suffered like slaves year after year. Stalin’s international and national political status changed drastically while the welfare of Russia became unchanged or worse. As Orwell wrote about the animals, “Somehow it seemed as though the farm had grown richer without making the animals themselves any richer–except, of course for the pigs and the dogs.”The idea of Communism was adapted from Karl Marx. The character Old Major portrays Karl Marx in the book. Old Major’s revolutionary ideas are eventually compiled into the ideology the animals call Animalism. History remembers Marx’s philosophy as Communism, a political system in which everything is owned and enjoyed collectively by all of the people—at least in theory. Using the people’s excitement about a communist utopia, Stalin twisted the rules to justify his rise to power, and the new “Animal Farm”—or Communist Russia—slowly became a cruel dictatorship known as the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, or for short, the Soviet Union or the USSR.Jones’s Farm House from the book is actually the Kremlin State Palace in Moscow. This building was used by the Communist Congress Party to host their meetings and for official purposes. Kremlin and Red Square in front of it were used to host huge military parades in the Soviet era. Lenin’s embalmed body is put on display at red square. All official proceedings of the Russian government were done at Red Square. Even the old Czars’ crowning had taken place at Red Square. But just as the pigs start using the Farm House as their headquarters, using Red Square just proved once again that the new government was little different from the old.The Gun and the Flag in the book Animal Farm represents the communist symbols of the hammer and sickle. The hammer and sickle started out to represent the working class of the Soviet Union. Then it turned into a symbol for the Soviet dictatorship and oppression. The gun and the flag also started out as a symbol for the animal’s freedom only to become symbols for Napoleon’s oppression and rule.Religion was abolished from the Soviet Union. This is symbolized in the novel when the Raven Moses is exiled from the farm. Sugarcandy Mountain represents Heaven and religious ways of viewing the world. Many Russians were faithful Orthodox Christians who were devoted to their faith. Stalin viewed their faith as a challenge to his power and so attempted to eliminate religion entirely. Eventually however, once his rule seemed secure, Stalin allowed a weakened version of religion back in, just as Moses returns to preach about Sugarcandy Mountain in the novel.The crushed and hopeless people of Russia and their thoughts about their life are portrayed truly in this book. Historians agree that around 20 million Russians died from malnutrition, imprisonment, exile and murder in some way caused by Stalin’s regime. And they are not alone. The same story has played out again and again throughout the 20th century alone—witness Nazi Germany, the Khmer Rouge of Cambodia, and Afghanistan’s Taliban to name a few. ................
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