George Orwell’s “Animal Farm” — A Study Guide

Orwell uses a “fairy story” of seemingly cute animals to illustrate the horrors of authoritarianism, the corrupt nature of power, and reality control.

George Orwell is immortal. Nineteen Eighty-Four was one of the most relevant books of 2017, thanks in large part to the Trump administration’s “alternative facts”, tendencies that border on gaslighting, and blatant disregard for the truth, but Animal Farm is just as relevant for its commentary on similar themes.

Animal Farm — formally titled Animal Farm: A Fairy Story — is a novella that serves as a direct allegory for the Joseph Stalin era of the Soviet Union in the early 1900’s, but Orwell’s portrayal of authoritarianism makes Animal Farm allegorical to modern authoritarian or pseudo-authoritarian regimes, too, such as Kim Jong-Un’s North Korea.

Authoritarianism

Authoritarian governments are somewhat of a specialty of Orwell’s. It’s the most glaring connection between his two greatest works, and he was clearly deeply concerned about it. Nineteen Eighty-Four’s Big…