Brief DescriptionSocialism is on the left side of the Political Spectrum meaning that Socialists believe in a free society that works together to improve the country. Instead of having private properties, properties would be shared equally among the people in the society. Socialism is considered to be a less extreme version of Communism, even though they are both on the left side of the Political Spectrum. Communism is considered to be on the extreme left, whereas Socialism is not.
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RELATION WITH ANIMAL FARM CHARACTER/Event
The main reason why the animals of Animal Farm decided to overthrow Mr. Jones was because they felt that they were being mistreated and overworked by Mr. Jones, while Mr. Jones and the humans got all the harvested crops and milk. This is where the idea of Socialism appealed to them when Old Major was giving his speech in Chapter One.
“Only get rid of Man, and the produce of our labour would be our own. Almost overnight we could become rich and free.” - Old Major’s Speech, Chapter 1
“And among us animals let there be perfect unity,” - Old Major’s Speech, Chapter 1
Old Major mentioned several times throughout his speech that the humans own the farm and the animals even though, the humans are useless compared to the animals. Through his speech, Old Major was telling the animals how getting rid of the humans on the farm would allow them to have all the harvested crops and milk all to themselves and it'd will be shared equally among them. Which is in fact, the idea of Socialism, where there are no private properties and everything would be shared equally among everyone in the society, in this case, every animal in the farm.
“Only get rid of Man, and the produce of our labour would be our own. Almost overnight we could become rich and free.” - Old Major’s Speech, Chapter 1
“And among us animals let there be perfect unity,” - Old Major’s Speech, Chapter 1
Old Major mentioned several times throughout his speech that the humans own the farm and the animals even though, the humans are useless compared to the animals. Through his speech, Old Major was telling the animals how getting rid of the humans on the farm would allow them to have all the harvested crops and milk all to themselves and it'd will be shared equally among them. Which is in fact, the idea of Socialism, where there are no private properties and everything would be shared equally among everyone in the society, in this case, every animal in the farm.
WHY DO YOU THINK ORWELL CHOSE TO REPRESENT THE EVENT OR CHARACTER IN THE WAY HE DID? HOW SUCCESSFUL DO YOU THINK IT WAS?
The author chose to put in the idea of Socialism into the novel because Karl Marx had many Socialist ideas and ideas of how revolutions would play out if his ideas were actually carried out into action. His ideas were carried out during the Russian Revolution in 1917, but Karl Marx had passed away before the Revolution just like the character, Old Major in Animal Farm. George Orwell was successful in presenting the idea of Socialism and Socialism put into action in the novel because he managed to capture all the aspects of Socialist ideas and how the system did not work out in the novel, as it didn’t work out in the Russian Revolution in 1917.