Animal Farm/ Pov free essay sample

English Essay 3. Of all of the characters in Animal Farm, are there any who seem to represent the point of view of the author? Which of the animals or people do you think come(s) closest to achieving Orwells perspective on Animal Farm? George Orwell brings to life many characters in the novel Animal Farm. He introduces very interesting characters like Boxer, Benjamin, and Napoleon.All of which are very interesting, however, none of them fully represent Orwell’s point of view. In Animal Farm, Orwell shows the reader the revolution as a glorious thing in the beginning then he turns Napoleon into a dictator, which causes the revolution to take a turn for the worse and in the end it is considered to have failed completely.It is believed that Snowball is the closest character in the story to the narrator’s opinion by many people including Malcolm Bradbury and many publishers of Orwell’s time; old Major’s speech is also very influential in the portrayal of how the author thinks ; one of the very important things in the novel is the way the names and descriptions of the characters portrayed which characters George Orwell was more inclined towards; it has also been noticed that the author portrayed the events in a way that would show Snowball as the only person who was right in his thoughts and his actions. Animal Farm is considered an allegory to the Russian revolution. Although this is not the only moral of the story it is one of the most perceived and understood morals. The claim that Animal Farm is an allegory is supported by the fact that most of the events that happened in the story are very similar to what happened in real life. For example, the sudden attack on Snowball is a representation of the attack on Trotsky, also the final meeting in Animal Farm between the humans and the pigs is also very similar to the meeting between Stalin and Churchill and Roosevelt.Since it is an allegory most characters either represent a real person or a real organization. For example, Old Major represented Karl Marx since his teachings were implemented after he died and they caused a revolution. This is very important to understand since George Orwell’s feelings towards the actual events are reflected in the story. Because this is viewed as a very political novel it represented a challenge to Orwell to publish the book. However, the fact that it was a political novel was not the exact reason for the book being rejected so many times but n fact the issue that the publisher’s had with book was the fact â€Å"that it came from someone of Troskyite Sympathies†(vi), which is the person that Snowball represented. Old Major’s speech was a very important part of the story. It represents the beginning, not only the beginning of the story but also the beginning of the revolutionary era. In the old Major speech the author paints a happy, perky image at the end by saying â€Å"And then, after a few preliminary tries the whole farm burst into ‘Beasts of England’ in tremendous unison. The cows lowed it, the dogs whinnied it, the sheep bleated it, the horses whinnied it, the ducks quacked it†(8).By using phrases like â€Å"the whole farm burst† and â€Å"tremendous unison† the author creates this imagery of joy and happiness. He also gives a feeling of unity by mentioning many different types of animals together and he balances all the phrases with the same amount of words in each phrase giving a sense of harmony in this time of delight. At this point of the story it is easy to argue that any animal represents the author’s opinion, however, it is a much more convincing argument that the author is in agreement with old Major, Napoleon, Squealer and Snowball. The reason for which is that the Author is in clear belief and conviction of old Major’s teachings and so do the other three pigs, Napoleon, Squealer and Snowball. This is expressed in the text when Orwell writes, â€Å"These three had elaborated old Major’s teachings into a complete system of thought to which they gave the name of Animalism†(9-10). One very important aspect of the story is the name of each character. Every name is clearly well thought out and very precisely chosen.This is obvious in some cases like with Napoleon as he was described in the story as someone who is â€Å"not much of a talker but with a reputation of getting his own way†(9), this is very similar to the actual Napoleon who actually took his crown away from the pope at his coronation to show his power and get his way. Squealer description in the novel said, â€Å"He was a brilliant talker†(9). That was practically his job throughout the whole novel he was as his name sug gests a squealer also known as a person who â€Å"give short cry†(the Mac dictionary). Then there was Snowball, he was described as â€Å"a more vivacious pig than Napoleon, quicker in speech and more inventive, but was not considered to have the same depth of character†(9). His name and his description suggest that he is a cheerful pig and that he was more spirited and fun than other pigs. Another interesting thing is that when a person throws a snowball to a wall it crumbles and the same goes for Snowball when he’s confronted with true power he crumbles. This shows that the author’s view is more inclined towards Snowball since the author described him in a more positive way than other animals.He also pointed out quite clearly how Snowball is better than Napoleon with three positive qualities that Napoleon didn’t have while he only mentioned one quality that Napoleon had over Snowball and he did it in a subtle way, as if he was trying not to point out the bad qualities in Snowball. The last and most influential point is the way the events i n the story are presented. Orwell shows Manor Farm as a place that is mistreated in the first line of the story. He then portrays the revolution as something glorious that has brought happiness to all the animals which is something that most points of view agree on.The animals were doing well in the harvest and were moving along. They were also able to defeat the humans in the â€Å"Battle of the Cowshed†. Later on when Napoleon and Snowball were opposing each other in all of these meetings, Orwell described Snowball as being the productive one of the two when he said, â€Å"Snowball had made a close study of some back numbers of the Farmer and Stockbreeder which he had found in the farmhouse, and was full of plans for innovations and improvements†(32).At the same time Orwell made sure that Napoleon was viewed in an unproductive and negative way when he said, â€Å"Napoleon produced no schemes of his own, but said quietly that Snowball’s would come to nothing, and seemed to be biding his time†(32). He also presented Napoleon in a crude manner when after Snowball men tions his plans for the windmill to everyone, by explaining that Napoleon one day went to examine the plans for the windmill, â€Å"then suddenly he lifted his leg, urinated over all of the plans and walked out without uttering a word†(33).The last event to comment on that supported the fact that Snowball has the closest opinion to the author is all that happened after Snowball was kicked out of Animal Farm. The best way to describe the corruption that happened in that time is to talk about the final meeting that the pigs had with the humans at the end of the story. When Mr. Pilkington commented on how â€Å"the lower animals in Animal Farm did more work and received less food than any animals in the country,†(92) illustrating on how Napoleon’s dictatorship was more deceiving than the normal dictatorships in the rest of the country and that it was the strictest.Even though Squealer had always assured the animals with exact numbers that the animals were currently in a much better state than they were in before the revolution. This illustrates that the author was always in favor of Snowball since without Snowball Animal Farm just turned back into a much worse and much more cruel Manor Farm. One would conclude that snowball is the closest character in thought towards George Orwell because of four things.One, because it is common knowledge that Orwell was in support of Trotsky who was represented by Snowball in the story, two, old Major’s speech was shown in a very glorious and adoring way which was Snowball’s belief on old Major’s teachings, three, the names and descriptions of the characters reveals the way that Orwell felt towards them, and four, the series of events in the story were presented in a way that was in favor of Snowball. It is one’s belief that if it were George’s choice he would have given Snowball the power instead of Napoleon and then Snowball may have not abused his power the same way that Napoleon did.