A Critical Analysis of Metaphors Used in Animal Farm 分析《动物庄园》中使用的隐喻文献综述
2020-04-18 20:39:54
Introduction Animal Farm, written between 1943 and 1944, is considered as one of the most representative works of anti-utopia, for its wide employment of various rhetorical devices; namely, irony, exaggeration, simile and metaphor, among which metaphor is the most sharp weapon, to criticize the brutal dictatorship of Soviet Union. It tells a story about a farm in England during the Russian revolution. The animals on Manor Farm are agonized with the way they are being treated, so they rebel and start a revolution. The pigs, the smartest animals on the farm, take control of the farm while the other animals work for them. Throughout the novel, the pigs lie to the other animals and gradually change the rules of the farm to accommodate them and satisfy their own greed. George Orwell is one of many British novelists in the beginning of the 20th century. Living in the war time, he got many hard experiences of life which sometime later were written in his books and essays. He claimed himself to write because of political purpose. He only wrote when he needed to expose lies as well as to disclose the hidden facts. His most famous work, Animal Farm, is a satirical fable criticizing the USSR Governance System. Although he never went to the Soviet Union, he knew what was going on by that time in the country; he knew that the Soviet Government used the iron policy and undercover police operation to keep its people obeying the country#8217;s system. All of these facts pushed Orwell to write Animal Farm which was first published in May 1944. Literature review The word ”metaphor” comes from the Greek word metaphoria, which means ”to carry”. It is used to compare two different things which have some similarities in common. Metaphor is defined by Newmark (1988, 104) as ”any figurative expression: the transferred sense of a physical word; the personification of an abstraction; the application of a word or collocation to what it does not literally denote. Metaphors may be ”single” (one-word) or ”extended” (a collocation, an idiom, a sentence, a proverb, an allegory, a complete imaginative text)”. The metaphor presented by Orwell in Animal Farm is ”personification which belongs to ontological metaphors.” (Lakoff Johnsen, 2003, 33) ”Ontological metaphors are ways of viewing events, activities, emotions, ideas, etc., as entities and substances (Ibid, 25). In Animal Farm, the whole story is a metaphor for the political situation during the Russian civil war (1917-1922). There are many studies about the employment of metaphor in Animal Farm both at home and abroad. Dian Fajrina, University of Syiah Kuala, Banda Aceh analyzed the character metaphor. He points out that ”Jones metaphors Nicholas II, the last Tsar of Russian Monarchy, Old Major with his speech metaphors Karl Marx with his Communist Manifesto, Napoleon as Stalin, Snowball as Trotsky, Squealer as Pravda, the Russian Newspaper at that time, Frederick as German and Boxer as the type of gullibility proletariat. Indeed, George Orwell#8217;s timeless work reminds us that totalitarianism could be harmful to one society.”(Dian, 2016). Domestically, Li Jian also studies the character metaphor in Animal Farm. ”In Animal Farm, personalized animal roles are not only under the rules of human, but also given the implied meaning of some classic figures in western countries.”(Li, 2018). One of the main characters in the novel, Napoleon, is probably the most insidious example. Napoleon Bonaparte was a well-known name in the West during the French Revolution. He was not only a talented militarist, but also an ambitious politician. He was not only the founder of the French Republic, but also the defender of the imperial power. Napoleon#8217;s name is always associated with ”revolution”, ”coup”, ”military dictatorship” and ”power dictatorship”, which Lenin defined as ”Bonapartism”. While reading the novel, Li Jian pointed out that ”Napoleon in the novel undoubtedly refers to Stalin”. (Li, 2018) Napoleon is the animal ruler who was replaced by the animals in the farm after the overthrow of human rule by revolution. With the help of self-trained Wolfhound Army, it not only gained absolute leadership after the revolution, but also imposed severe punishment on those who dared to resist and doubts. At last, it consolidated its dictator status by means of ”iron-wrist” policies and brutal rule, and successfully broke the commandment ”all animals are equal” which was obtained after the revolution. While Wang Xueqin, on the other hand, studies the object metaphor in the farm. ”In Animal Farm, Orwell employs abundant similes and metaphors to develop his themes. For example, the uses of the farmhouse, the destruction of the windmill and the changes of Seven Commandments have deep satiric effects on the motifs of the novel.” (Wang, 2008) His idea was thoroughly explained by another researcher, Alev Yemenici. According to him, the farmhouse represents in many ways the very place where greed and lust dominate. In another word, it ”represents the evil that Old Major warns the animals to against”, (Yemenici, 1997) which means the men of great power may enjoy the luxury and hedonism. When Napoleon and other pigs start to move into tile farmhouse and begin to walk with whips in their hands, picking up human habits and customs, it ironically suggests that Napoleon#8217;s ambition and lust for power has been started. Pigs have been disobeying the spirits of Animalism and Old Mayor#8217;s primary principles. As for the great windmill, Alev Yemenici points out that it symbolizes the pigs#8217; manipulation of the other animals for their own gain on the one hand, and on the other hand, represents the spirits of the revolution, associating with progress and prosperity. Napoleon and the other pigs keep the other animals fully occupied in backbreaking labor day and night to build the windmill, which ultimately earns the pigs more money and thus increases their power. Later, the pigs declare that snowbal1 is responsible for the windmill#8217;s first collapse, thus creating a scapegoat. This psychological manipulation prevents the other animals from doubting the pigs#8217; abilities and unites them against a supposed enemy. In this way, pigs control other animals#8217; ideas and make them more determined and more devoted to Napoleon and to the cause, which hints that the spirit of the revolution has been abused and distorted by dictators.
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