George Orwell of course most famously used animals as a literary device in one of his most well-known works, Animal Farm. However, animals are also a recurrent theme throughout many of his writings, both in his works of fiction and journalism.
Can anyone recommend any sources that discuss how Orwell uses animals in his fiction or non-fiction writing, or how he was influenced by his interest in animals and his rural upbringing? Not just in the most conspicuous example of Animal Farm, but also in his other works, such as Nineteen Eighty-four, Some Thoughts on the Common Toad, Coming up for Air (in which he discusses his love of fishing), his diaries and his essay Why I Write.
Thanks.
Hello Charlie. Might I suggest you have a look at the Polish SF writer Stanislaw Lem, esp. Solaris (1961) in which he (as did Orwell before him) speculates on the nature and (dis)function of intelligence. Also like Orwell, Lem had problems with totalitarianism and (probably as a result of political pressure to toe the party line) frequently used satire and allegory to make his point. Enjoy.
Cheers, Tris
Dear Charlie,
you will find many interesting interpretations of animal and other characters of the novel (smth like these: http://www.newspeakdictionary.com/go-animal_farm.html ; http://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/conceptual-metaphor-in-george-orwells-political-dystopia-animal-farm , http://www.academicjournals.org/journal/IJEL/article-full-text-pdf/39296CD965 ), but one detail is often forgotten. The fact is that the biomorphic metaphors of every language have their specific meanings and connotations. In the discussed case - of the English language. And this feature is "lost in translation".
For example the Russian word свинья 'pig' has only the negative connotations (it refers to a dirty, untidy and stupid person) and never symbolizes wealth, riches, and so on. Pig Snowball is an oxymoron for Russians in some ways (because snow is the epitome of purity, of smth that is clean, fresh). Donkey is always a metaphor for a very stupid, uneducated and stubborn man, goat - for a windy, active, provocative woman, and so on. As a result, the perceptions of the text by English-speaking and Russian-speaking rearders (even if a translation is good) differ very much.
The systems of the English (or Russian, or any other) language biomorphic metaphors and symbols, allegories are fixed in dictionaries, so you can check, if Orwell changed the language meanings, creating the units with individual (original), authorial senses, or he didn't not. Some information on it is here: http://www.academicjournals.org/journal/IJEL/article-full-text-pdf/39296CD965 /
http://www.newspeakdictionary.com/go-animal_farm.html
http://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/conceptual-metaphor-in-george-orwells-political-dystopia-animal-farm
http://www.academicjournals.org/journal/IJEL/article-full-text-pdf/39296CD965
I definitely read into Orwell's "Animal Farm" very Stalinist overtones and believe that Orwell was warning England and the world about communism. He also shows that people are always looking for a better life and will believe anything that appears to achieve that goal.
https://www.academia.edu/6657939/_HOW_SWNISH_YET_A_CRTICAL_ANALYSIS_OF_GEORGE_ORWELL_S_ANIMAL_FARM
The allegories in "Animal Farm" are so plentiful and rich that it would probably take hundreds of pages to analyze each meaning. A thorough analysis of what/who each character represented alone would take up half a volume.
Hello, Charlie,
I think the Cold War animal farm metaphors of Orwell are not the whole picture. He also wrote "Killing an Elephant" and this text has as its theme imperialism. Orwell was every bit as concerned about the Imperialism of the British empire as Cold War politics. The elephant was based upon a real incident Orwell witnessed in Burma.
Here is a brief summary from _Wikipedia_
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_an_Elephant
EXCERPT: An established anti-imperialist writer, Orwell promotes the idea that, through imperialism, both conqueror and conquered are destroyed.[6] Orwell clearly states his displeasure with colonial Britain: "I had already made up my mind that imperialism was an evil thing... I was all for the Burmese and all against their oppressors, the British." The narrator perceives that the conqueror is not in control, but it is rather the will of the people that governs his actions. As ruler, he notes that it is his duty to appear resolute, with his word being final.
How the lumbering figure of the elephant is used in this text is a demonstration of the pathos of nature to convey the enormity of the imperial disruption of the colonized.
Respectfully,
Gloria
Charlie
You should look at the portrayal of Emmanuel Goldstein in 1984 as a sheep like character.
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