animal farm setting

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Animal Farm Setting

Where It All Goes Down

Animal Farm, an English farm run by animalsOrwell came up with the setting for his novel after seeing a young boy whipping a

carthorse. As he writes in his Preface, "It struck me that if only such animals became

aware of their strength we should have no power over them, and that men exploit

animals in much the same way as the rich exploit the proletariat" (source). What Orwell

did was to take his understanding of the Russian Revolution and the rise of Stalinism

and to condense it onto a rural farm in England.

Yet the image that initially captured Orwells imagination the boy whipping the

carthorse shows that it was something about the cruelty of man to beast that drew him

to the farm. Animal Farm (which is initially called Manor Farm) is not a calm, pastoral

place; it is a place of brutality and injustice.

In general, the farm allows Orwells allegory to work out pret ty smoothly. The different

animals come to represent different members of the proletariat (working class) or the

Russian communist regime, and Mr. Jones represents the old Russian Tsar Nicholas II.

The Windmill project stands in for Stalins Five-Year-Plans, and his goals to jump-start

Russian technology and industry. We wont take you through all the details here (see

"Symbols, Imagery, Allegory" for the full lowdown), but the point is that Orwell picked the

setting of the farm because it would work well as an allegory.

That said, the farm is not just a veil behind which lies communist Russia. Though the

story is allegorical, one cant simply pull back the images of Animal Farm and find the

Stalinist state to which it alludes. Orwell gives the novel its own coherence, and the

setting, like the book itself, can stand on its own. Details like "the birds jumped on to their

perches, the animals settled down in the straw, and the whole farm was asleep in a

moment" (1.20) serve little allegorical purpose. Their goal is to make sure that the setting

itself has a sense of completeness, if not of realism.

One last question: why is Animal Farm an English farm? Weve noted in other sections

that Orwell was not just criticizing Stalinism. He was criticizing the myth of Stalinism thathad spread to the West, a myth believed by intelligent people even though it was paper-

thin. The "myth" that Orwell attacks inAnimal Farmdidnt just exist in Russia. It was

believed by many Englishman, and it was a myth, as Orwell saw it, which needed

correcting.

The novel takes place on Manor Farm, which is renamed Animal Farm after the animals expel Mr.

Jones, the farmer, from its grounds. It is a typical barnyard, except that the animals have assumed
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the farmers tasks. Their aspirations are high; they write seven commandments on the wall of the

barn, including All animals are created equal, and Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy,

and thus stake their claim. They build a windmill-an object of much contention-that is rebuilt

several times after being destroyed by a storm and then by a band of farmers with dynamite.

Originally, the animals pledge to preserve the manor house as a museum, but as the power structure

becomes more unbalanced, the pigs move into the house, which becomes their domain. The

farmhouse symbolizes the new totalitarian rule of the pigs and is indeed indicative of the revisedcommandment: All animals are created equal but some animals are more equal than others.

Orwell, by restricting all the action to the farmyard, creates a microcosm of society.

Setting........The action takes place on an English farm on the outskirts of the fictional town of Willingdon.

At the beginning of the novel, the farm resembles an oppressed human society. The animals then

rebel against its owner and form their own communal society. However, a power-hungry pig,

Napoleon, seizes control and operates the farm like a Communist police state.

Animal Farm Plot Analysis

Most good stories start with a fundamental list of ingredients: the initial situation,

conflict, complication, climax, suspense, denouement, and conclusion. Great writers

sometimes shake up the recipe and add some spice.

Initial SituationSubmission under tyrannical human owner Jones.This is the first situation we come across, so were thinking its the initial one. Its also fairly

static, and we get the sense things have been this way for a long time. Sounds like we need

something new and exciting to set the story in motion.

ConflictThe animals want to run things themselves.Something new and exciting happens. Old Major has a dream and convinces the animalsthey should rebel. An impending rebellion sounds a lot like a conflict. So does the Rebellion

itself, what with the fighting and violence and all.

Complication


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There are problems with the new leaders.They had the Rebellion, so they should be all set. Right? Wrong. Like any good novel,

complications soon arise. Turns out, these new leaders? Not so great. That whole equality

business? Not really happening. Things are getting complicated.

ClimaxStarvation! Windmills!With all those bloody (literally bloody, not a slang British adjective) creatures and

exclamation points running around, were feeling the climax full force.

SuspenseBoxer dies.This is so suspenseful, even stoic Benjamin freaks out. We were biting our fingernails all the

way through the chasing of the truck down the road scene. Which made it difficult to turn the

pages.

DenouementTime passes and the animals resign to a new and awful life.Our heart rate slows considerably after the glue factory incident, which signifies we have hit

the denouement stage. There are no exclamation points here, literal or figurative. We just

chill out and watch the situation worsen at a steady and unalarming pace.

ConclusionAbsolute power corrupts absolutely.The scene with the animals inside playing poker with the humans seems to be a conclusion.

And not just because its the end of the book. We see a culmination of the theme here. Thisis where a nice little bow of closure gets wrapped up around the package of greed,

manipulation, and corrupt power that isAnimal Farm

animal farm setting

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