论文总字数：29646字

摘 要

乔治奥威尔是英国著名小说家，新闻记者，也是社会批评家。《动物庄园》是他最具影响力的作品之一。《动物庄园》和《1984》是他的代表作，均包含着反乌托邦与抨击集权主义的思想。经查阅文献，不难发现之前大多研究针对的是《1984》中的反乌托邦的思想，关于《动物庄园》中反乌托邦思想的研究较少。乔治奥威尔用象征手法在《动物庄园》中陈述了一个寓言故事：关于动物革命的故事。带领起义的两头猪虽然破除了农场主人的牢笼，却因它们内部的斗争而再次将农场带向独裁统治。

根据有关乔治奥威尔和他写作背景的研究，其特定生活年代的经历造就了他的两本旷世巨作《动物庄园》和《1984》。本篇论文将从史实角度对该小说中的反乌托邦思想进行研究。论文背景信息部分阐述了小说情节与作者生平。文献综述部分分析了国内外的文献，继而从人物分析和历史事实角度分别对该小说中反乌托邦的思想进行研究。文末将从权利分配和作者写作意图角度分别陈述反乌托邦思想研究的结论。该研究将帮助读者了解史实，并形成对反乌托邦和反集权思想的思考。

关键词：《动物庄园》 反乌托邦 史实 人物

Introduction

1.1 Research background

Animal Farm is one of George Orwell’s influential works. In this fable novel, a story of animal revolution mirrors what the author has experienced in Spain. Under the torture of Mr. Jones who governs the farm and exploits animals, animals plotted a revolt against him. Old Major made an account of the ideal farm, which is a kingdom of equality and democracy. Accordingly, the pigs guided the resistance and finally attained equality of all the animals. However, the two leaders fought for extreme power after the revolution. After the issue of building the windmill, Snowball was misunderstood by other animals and lost his power. With the new dictatorship of Napoleon, animals worship the new rule that some animals can be treated more equally than others. In the end, animals suffered from the totalitarian system created by them and the utopia vanished. Despite the sober minds like Benjamin, the rest animals are disguised by the fake prosperity put forward by Napoleon. In fact, the animal farm is no more than a tyrannical government.

The author conveyed the main idea that equality and liberty are limited, evanescent and even impossible. That is to say, without democracy and law, the political revolution will end up with dictatorship, though it stems from fighting against totalitarian system. “In this story, a group of animal with the ideal vision tried to break the old regulation, which should make them out of the cage but actually jump into another trap. The only difference is that in the human farm, the human control the animals while in the animal farm, animals are under the rule of leading animals, which is a great pity.” (Alok, 1998: 35)

1.2 George Orwell and his political views

As a novelist, journalist and critic, most of George Orwell’s works contain impressive insights and scathing comments on his living society. He experienced poverty and prejudice in his early years, which engendered his idea of equality and liberty. In the 1920s, he worked as a colonist policeman in India, where he found how colonists had ruined the Indian people’s life. After leaving India, he wandered around in Europe and embarked on his writing career in 1928. From 1936 to 1937, he joined the Labor Party Civil Army to struggle against the Spanish Inner War, when he advocated the ideology of Communist and criticized the totalitarian system both directly and indirectly in his journals. In 1945, Animal Farm was based on the fact that Stalin ruled the nation with his authority and resulted in the decline of the Soviet Union.

Animal Farm contains a lot of characters. They have something to do with certain political figures in the 20th century. They are actively influencing the shape of the global politics. Old Major put forward the idea that if human beings exploit animals, animals must resist, which is what Lenin and Marx. The leading pigs Snowball and Napoleon represent the politicians Trotsky and Stalin respectively. Benjamin epitomizes the author himself, who has independent attitudes towards the totalitarian society but has no ability to change the situation.

1.3 Need for the study

The themes in Animal Farm such as equality, liberty and democracy are still vital in today’s world. Only with liberty and democracy can a nation attain sustainable development. The study of the theme of dystopia in this novel can make the readers reflect on the historical facts and think critically on the ideology of totalitarianism.

2. Literature Review

2.1 Previous studies on dystopia

Before analyzing dystopia, the root of the word: utopia needs mentioning. Utopia comes from Greek by Sir Thomas More for his first 1516 book Utopia, describing a fictional island society where everything is in perfect order with minimal crime, violence and poverty. Dystopia is a term first put forward by John Stuart Mill, who made a parliament speech to define a society opposite to utopia: “If utopia is commonly regarded as too good to be practicable, then dystopia is too bad to be practicable.” (Vieira, 2011:80) Dystopia means extreme power, social chaos and natural catastrophe or any other disastrous elements.

Gregory Claeys has produced a more nuanced and historical approach to synonyms of dystopia. “Dystopia literature was a reaction to the French Revolution of 1789. Its commonly anti-collectivist character is attached with great importance, and other themes, such as dangers of science and technology, of social equality, of corporate dictatorship, of nuclear war, are also traced. ” (Gregory, 2017: 66) In 2011, Gregory Claeys has also revealed the origin of dystopia, analyzing the three representative authors and tracing back the history of dystopia.

Most of the research on dystopia literature is based on a specific text or even the comparison between the different texts. Most of the research studied the dystopian elements from George Orwell’s 1984.

Marcelo Pelissioli (2008) says that he approached the duo Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four in styles of symbols and allegory. He worked on political approach of these novels and used symbolism to explain the required and desired meanings. The aim of Pelissioli is to analyze the novels according to text and to connect it with Orwell’s life and views. Both novels give ideas about totalitarianism which are closely observed by Orwell in his life.

Andreia Irina Suciu (2013) states, “How a political system changes the ideology and the way of living in any society.” (Suciu, 2013: 688) Suciu owes dystopia to totalitarianism and regards the abuse of human value as “a heinous trait of totalitarianism, and the advanced interpretation of totalitarianism will rule the masses permanently.” (Ibid. 690) All the studies are mainly based on George Orwell’s 1984.

Syed Ahmad Raza (2016) aims to interlink the terms of totalitarianism, Marxism and dystopia. He studies the impacts of totalitarianism and Marxism towards the creation of dystopia in George Orwell’s selected fictions, including Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four.

2.2 Previous studies on Animal Farm

George Orwell has been studied by lots of critics from different perspectives, including self-identity, political theory of novel creation and characters, the theme of war and reality. Studies abroad comment it from the perspective of dystopia are often made it as a comparative text and often connects dystopia with totalitarianism. Domestic studies on dystopia are also in shortage. Most of the studies only generally discuss the implications of the story itself.

Likewise, many scholars in China also focus on George Orwell’s another masterpiece 1984, which reveals and attacks totalitarianism, and warns the public to be alert to its dangers. The study in 2000 by Zhu Guangling reveals its realistic meaning to the readers. Similarly, Cui Jiahui (2018) analyzes “what is the premise of totalitarianism and how it appears and develops. Moreover, the study of Animal Farm is beneficial to the governance of each country.” (Cui, 2018: 115)

There are some scholars discussing the topic by analyzing the content and characters. For example, Bai Xue (2015) have described the background information of the story and reviewed George Orwell’s life experience to interpret the certain contents.

After careful research, only a MA thesis from Yan Fang (2014) discussed the dystopian elements thoroughly from Michael Foucault's power mechanism and through the comparative study between Animal Farm and other traditional Utopian works. She concludes, “The study of dystopia in Animal Farm shows the author’s political views. Namely, the fable shows the enmity of the oppressed towards the autocrat and the general ideal of utopia.” (Yan, 2014)

3. An Analysis of the Characters and Their Implications

In Animal Farm, characters are designed to reveal the historic facts in the 20^th century. In this section, the main characters will be analyzed respectively to give a glimpse of the underlying meaning expressed by the author. Since the novel is produced in 1945, most of the characters can be interpreted as the main political figures who influenced the development of the Soviet Union.

3.1 Old Major

From the very beginning, Old Major performs as an advocate for rebellion. He suggests that animals get rid of man and enjoy the produce of their labor on their own. His suggestions spring from the tyranny of the owner of the farm Mr. Jones who profits from the animals without his own labor. The motto of his ideology is that all animals are equal. According to this blueprint, animals made joint efforts to destroy the world ruled by man and endeavored to create a whole new world where all the animals truly enjoy equality and freedom.

In the 19^th century, Karl Heinrich Marx put forward the profoundly influential theory of scientific socialism in the book Manifesto of the Communist Party (1848). Communism is the highest level of scientific socialism where people can enjoy whatever they want in an orderly way and everyone is bound to fulfill their responsibilities and to lead a meaningful and complete life. In the beginning of the 20^th century, the disciple of scientific socialism, Lenin has developed his own ideas, called Leninism. In his own theory, he emphasizes democracy and freedom of all the people. From this aspect, Old Major represents the theorists like Marx and Lenin who advocate the destruction of dictatorship by capitalism and the construction of democratic system and a kingdom of freedom. However, the theorists themselves are not always the actors in the practice of the theory. Accordingly, the author arranged another two major characters in Animal Farm who give rise to the realization of the ideal rules which guide the orderly life of all the animals and make a difference to the fate of all the animals.

3.2 Napoleon and Snowball

In Animal Farm, Napoleon and Snowball begin their practice in rebellion against the rule of man. They made the Seven Commandments as per Old Major. The contents can be reduced to a single maxim, namely, “Four legs good, two legs bad” (Orwell, 1994: 30), which is the essential principle of the ruling. Gradually, Snowball and Napoleon always have disputes so the order of the farm changes after couples of debate where Snowball uses its eloquence and wisdom to win its proponents while Napoleon is good at winning his advocates by lobbying his disciples. The turning point of the debate goes to the issue of the Battle of the Cowshed. The key character Squealer, a trusted aide of Napoleon, has triggered a heated discussion on who is the contributor of the battle. In this debate, he has stealthily wiped out the traces of Snowball’s contribution by misinterpreting his courage in the battle and warning other animals of the malice of Snowball. In addition, he has disguised the conspiracy of Napoleon by praising his intention of equality of all the animals and expelling Snowball on the ground of his planning windmill. The cunning plot finally caused the dictatorship of Napoleon. The followers are required to call him “Our leader, Comrade Napoleon”. The cult of Napoleon resulted in the crazy worship by his followers. Though some of them cast doubt on his power, the mass were being slaved by his totalitarian system and worship his words blindly.

Before the October Revolution (1917), both Trotsky and Stalin are the faithful followers of Lenin. Trotsky was regarded as the best candidate who can continue the undertaking of Lenin. He was a great elocutionist, revolutionist and political leader who tended to apply theories to his revolt against the feudal rule. On the other hand, Stalin was inept at speaking and seemed to be a poor leader for his short figure. However, in the 1930s, Stalin carried out a Great Purge, which was vital to the development of the country and led to the disappearance of the core political leaders, including Trotsky and many talented specialists and scholars. Unfortunately, after the Great Terror, the army was defeated in several wars and the country suffered from the decline of Gross Domestic Production. After thorough reflection on the history, the Soviet Union owes its failure of decision to the tyranny of Stalin. Many critics remark that Stalin was so cunning that he has used the legend of Lenin to emphasize his own status as a great contributor to the undertaking of the union as long as his people had no criticism against his political ideal. In this way, he profited from the blind trust from the ignorant people and realized his tyranny secretly.

Conversely, Trotsky was so buried into the construction of the ideal socialist world that he devoted himself to forming the socialism ideology and struggling against the hideous power strongly even when he was expelled. Though Trotsky is an excellent speaker, he was poor at political strategies. However, the aide of Stalin, Molotov, was such a treacherous man who compensated the shortcoming of his leader that he convinced his people that Trotsky was incapable of leading the country.

Accordingly, the readers can have a preliminary conclusion that George Orwell based his novel on the development of the Soviet Union. Snowball’s fate indicates Trotsky was defeated in the political conflicts. Molotov was epitomized by the character Squealer who informs all the animals of Snowball’s sins and strengthens the image of Napoleon among the crowd. Most importantly, Napoleon was indicative of the authority by Stalin who abused his power to establish a kingdom of dictatorship, which was completely opposite to what they planned after destroying the previous tyranny. Ironically, animals themselves chose another dictator without realizing that the rule was transmitted from a man to a pig. Historically, people in the Soviet Union only suffered from the same abuse from a feudal system to a socialist system.

3.3 Benjamin

The donkey Benjamin is the oldest animal but the worst tempered. He seldom speaks but once he does, he will give cynical remarks. After the rebellion against Mr. Jones, he has changed little, never shirking or volunteering for extra work. He never talked about the disappearance of Mr. Jones and always said something irrelevant and strange. Although he is as good as any pig at reading, he never showed off in the reading and writing class. In the Battle of the Cowshed, he followed the Snowball and made his devotion to fight against the enemies. As to Snowball’s plan of the windmill, he refused to express his thoughts. When Clover asked him to explain the new regulations on the wall, he didn’t reply to his demand, though he was aware of the subtle changes among the leading group. Gradually, animals noticed that the life of their own was no better than before. For his life experience, he summed up the unalterable law that hunger, hardship and disappointment never fade away. When Clover had much poorer eyesight and could hardly figure out the Seven Commandments on the wall, Benjamin consented to read for her, only to find that everything is changed. The core meaning of the commandments has changed into “All animals are equal. But some animals are more equal than others.” (Ibid, 90)

In conclusion, Benjamin seemed to be the only wise animal after the kingdom of Animalism is established. He seldom expressed his ideas publicly though he was aware of the disgraceful changes of the Seven Commandments and unalterable living conditions of the animals. When the ignorant citizens like Clover longed to know the truth, he didn’t give her a clear reply until the end of the novel when most of the animals were complaining about the rule. It is natural to relate the character Benjamin with the author George Orwell, because both of them are critical about the tyranny but they both protected themselves without fighting against the rule. Therefore, the existence of Benjamin matters for it functions as a mirror of the social reality. Most of them are well-educated but for the sake of their safety, they seldom bear the brunt of the rebellion but they can use their works as weapons to warn others.

Reflection on Dystopia in the Novel

The major characters are related to the main political figures.Therefore, the political fable indicates the game of power. The paper is intended to reflect deeply on the dystopian elements containing in the novel. Dystopia is reflected by the change of power distribution and the critical thinking of the well-educated scholars. In this section, dystopia will be discussed from power mechanism and the author’s writing intention respectively.

4.1 Dystopia reflected by the power distribution

From the introduction and the analysis of Snowball and Napoleon, the thread of the plot is clearly stated in the previous sections. Generally speaking, the ruling party has experienced several times of power transmission. At first, animals were under the rule of the man, representing the feudal ruling system of Tsar before the Soviet Union. Snowball and Napoleon took the lead in the rebellion under the guidance of Old Major. Historically, Trotsky and Stalin made joint efforts to continue the unfinished undertaking of establishing a democratic union started by Lenin. “Sadly, by depriving the discourse power and transforming the content of discourse malignantly, Napoleon snatched the power of ruling and denied animals speaking for themselves. Napoleon becomes the sole autocrat who enjoys the privilege of ruling other animals.” (Yan, 2014) Similarly, Stalin killed his colleagues in the ruling party and failed to fulfill his goal of freedom and democracy.

From the line of the ruling power distribution, it is easy to find that the ruling power is transmitted from a man to a pig. Disguised by the misinterpretation of the action by Snowball, Napoleon soon became the autocrat on the crown who seemed no different from Mr. Jones, greedy and cunning. “The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which is which.” (Orwell, 1994: 120) In fact, despite the identity, man and pig in the farm both pursue the privilege but neither do they enjoy the democracy.

Syed Ahmad Raza (2016) concluded, “Once totalitarianism exists, Marxism prevails and finally lead to dystopia. The capitalist approach of dictators generates the pursuit of super power and eventually led to dystopian world.” (Raza, 2016: 30) According to Bai Xue (2015) and Cui Jiahui (2018), without a man governing the normal functioning of the society, a representative tends to take over the responsibility to carry out regulations though his initial intention is benign. However, absence of examination of the mass led to the final disintegration of the ideal society.

4.2 Dystopia reflected by the writing intention

“It is clear that every line of his work since 1936 has been written, directly or indirectly, against totalitarianism and for democratic socialism. His initial intention of is always a feeling of partisanship and a sense of injustice. ” (Orwell, 2003: 20)

George Orwell had been under the torture of the Great Purge and caught sight of the deaths caused by it on the ground. He made full use of his scathing words and critical thinking to record the historical facts from an objective point of view. Though some people criticized his works for his evil intention to oppose the October Revolution, his works received great popularity for his consciousness of the reality and excellence of writing skills.

Since the character Benjamin is an embodiment of the author himself, the behavior of him is a revelation of George Orwell’s writing intention. Old as Benjamin is, he is quite clear about the nature of the ruling party. He pretended to accept the regulations by committing himself to routine tasks according to the decree. However, when the ignorant mass grumbled about their unchangeable living conditions, he kept silent and sober towards the changes taking place around him. The tyrannical system is only transmitted from one group to another by the name of revolution.

Conclusion

Animal Farm is a political dystopia for its symbolism underlying the fable. Because there are few systematic analyses of dystopia in Animal Farm, the paper is aimed at providing the readers with an investigation into the dystopian elements in the famous novel.

In this paper, dystopia is analyzed through the implications of the major characters. In the third part, the representative fictional figures are related to the real political figures. Old Major to Animalism is what Lenin to socialism. Both of them set foot in the disobedience against the tyranny and the advocacy for the democracy. However, the ideal blueprint is not only carried out by their followers but distorted by them unfortunately. The conflicts between Trotsky and Stalin are delineated by the fictional power struggles between the characters Napoleon and Snowball. After rounds of debate and strife openly and secretly, Snowball was outcast from the leading party and fell into disrepute for the ignorance of the mass and the cunning of Napoleon. Napoleon made up excuses to kill other animals under the disguise of betrayal, which was the harbinger of his hideous hegemony. Obviously, the leading party swapped the initial plan of creating a kingdom of freedom by replacing it with another society where people are still suffering from hunger, exploitation and inequality. Though there are sober minds like Benjamin, it is impossible to rely on them to change the functioning of the social order. The reason lies in their weakness in discourse rights and the threats towards their life and family.

In the fourth part, dystopia is analyzed by the power distribution and writing intention. The transmission of power suggests that the nature of Animalism is developed into another tyranny which is similar to the ruling of Mr. Jones despite the identity of the ruler. Ironically, the forerunners of the revolt became the privileged groups themselves, using the tricks to cheat their followers disgracefully and even immorally. Another aspect of the author’s writing intention is aimed at explaining George Orwell’s political standpoints and their influence on his composition of Animal Farm. Generally speaking, the novel is a product of his own experience against the backdrop the far-reaching Great Purge in the European continent. He and his wife are both victims to the background of the Stalinism and most of his bosom friends were killed in the catastrophe. In this novel, he designed Benjamin to represent himself serving as a mirror. Animal Farm gained popularity once it was published. George Orwell endeavored to express his strong criticism against the totalitarianism through the fable. The thought-provoking work informs the readers of the truth of the Stalinism and explains why utopia is a world beyond control.

Through the standpoint of historical facts, the paper gives a thorough analysis of dystopia in Animal Farm, which is beneficial for the ensuing scholars to do further study on the dystopia. However, there are also some shortcomings of the study. For example, the historical details are not compared with the detailed plot in the novel.

Works Cited

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Acknowledgments

At this moment, I would like to express my thanks to all the people who have helped me during the process of my writing. It is because them that I was able to put an end to my paper.

First and foremost, I show my appreciation to my supervisor, Mr. Geng Xiaojing, because he has offered me long-term support and consistent valuable suggestions in my academic studies. He is an excellent teacher for his patient instruction. I’m deeply impressed by his endless guidance and persistent encouragement during my choice of theme, collecting information, writing report, and my fulfillment of the BA thesis writing, which is beneficial to my academic study.

In addition, it is my dear friends in my class that have done me a favor during the process. They have been so helpful to my undergraduate study that I can hardly forget the memorable moments during my four years’ academic learning.

Last but not least, thanks to all my teachers in Nanjing Tech University for their diligent teaching to us though we are not smart enough. Our department has provided us with well-organized courses and various activities that are vital to our overall development of English learning.

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