Posted by Pete on December 31, 2001 at 01:14:47:
In Reply to: Themes posted by Hwk overload on December 29, 2001 at 19:02:31:
The central theme concerns communism, and whether or not (in theory or in practice) it is a workable practice. Animal Farm tells the story of a coup by the animals at the farm and shows how, for a large proportion of the story, the system works very well after the animals have taken over.
We see how, for example, the Five Year Plan works and how, politically and economically, the animals are able to run the farm by themselves (quite sucessfully so it seems) until the pigs begin to withhold some of the pleasures and benefits of success and control for themselves.
It is a wonderful parody of how human greed prevails when power is corrupted for self-gain. We saw a similar situation arise in Russia between the years 1917 and 1924. Animal Farm parodies Stalinism and the potential abuses of an outwardly socialist or communist society.
Essentially, Orwell wanted to suggest that all revolutions are doomed to failure because human nature will always win over Utopia (the ideal society).