Animal Farm

            The novel Animal Farm written by George Orwell is a mirror of the Russian Revolution of 1917 and the years that followed when Russia was corrupted by a brutal dictator and communist government. All of the characters in Animal Farm represent actual people and things that are present during the revolution.
             The novel begins as a pig named Old Major tells the rest of the animals on the farm about a dream that he had. He tells the animals that the reason behind their suffering is the rule of Mr. Jones, the owner of Manor Farm. He tells them of an England where animals are free to rule themselves and be equal. The speech made by Old Major inspires the animals to rebel. Not long after his speech Old Major dies and Napoleon and Snowball rise as the leaders of the rebellion. The animals successfully over throw Mr. Jones and establish a new government based on Animalism. .
             The rebellion begins fruitfully with all of the animals working together based on his or her capabilities; this lasts a short while. Soon the pigs start to form an upper class, Snowball is driven off the farm by the dogs and Napoleon takes the place of absolute ruler. The rest of the animals on the farm are convinced by Squealer that everything that Napoleon says and does is right if they think otherwise he says that it is only their imagination. Napoleon maintains his position of power by using terror and fear. He continuously reduces the ration of the animals while telling them that things are better than they were in the days of the Jones.
             As the novel progresses the pigs begin to take on the characteristics of the humans and a distinct upper and lower class can be seen. The Seven commandments of Animals are replaced by a single one-"All Animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others." meaning the pigs were better than all of the other animals. When the animals can no longer tell the differences between he faces of the pigs and the humans they are horrified.