George Orwell’s Animal Farm is an allegory that resembles the situation in the Soviet Union. At the time the book was written, The Soviet Union was under the regime of Stalin. The Soviet Union suffered greatly from Stalin’s distorted way of governing the country. Even though George Orwell claimed himself to be socialist, he criticized shortcomings of the ideology in his book. This challenged his career as the U.K banned all the materials that criticized Stalin and the Soviet Union (Kirschner, 2004).
1) Censorship in the U.K at the time
Censorship in the U.K appeared well before 17th century. Censorship was used to examine books and plays on political and sexual matters. Laws were enacted to make sure that books and plays were examined and censored in favor of the government. Between 1890s and 1910s, circulating libraries became especially popular. This resulted in an increase in size of reading community. In this time period, ‘new fiction’ and writing style which expressed social issues in realistic way developed. Publishers and related industry people reacted to such developments in negatively. As a result, literary censorship developed (Myers, 123). Also, when Animal Farm was written, British government severely examined all published materials. Since Britain was allied with the Soviet Union, criticisms on the Soviet Union were forbidden (Rodden, 2003).
2) Contents of Animal Farm
In Animal Farm, a pig is depicted as an authoritative figure. The pig symbolizes Stalin. In the book, all animals, except the pigs, suffer from dictatorship. The book undoubtedly shows all negative aspects of the Soviet Union and its political ideology. The pigs decide to rule the farm by themselves because they think humans treat animals unfairly. However, the pigs start to resemble humans in every way. For instance, the pigs try to walk on two feet as if they were humans. In short, the pigs do nothing, while other animals do all hard works. In the end, the pigs get along with other humans and learn human language.
3) Why Animal Farm was banned in England
Orwell’s novel was rejected by publishers of the U.K. Thus, book could not be published. This was because the U.K rejected to publish anything that contained negative views on the Soviet Union and socialism. The U.K was in position to support the Soviet Union as both countries were allied from the previous war. The British government considered that the book would be critical in relationship of the two countries. After the war time, the book was published and gained fame and reputation as political novel.
4) George Orwell’s motivation and political stance
George Orwell was in favor of socialism. However, he criticized the ideology and its shortcomings. The Soviet Union demonstrated shortcomings of socialism throughout the book. The biggest problem of socialism is that people can experience injustice and prejudice among social status and class. In the book, the pigs try to create social class. George Orwell tried to see things objectively. His characteristic helped him to write politically sensitive novels such as Animal Farm and 1984.
5) George Orwell’s 1984
George Orwell did not cease to be critical of political issue involving the Soviet Union. Also, he implemented his experience with the British government into his work. His novel 1984 demonstrates society that is perfectly controlled by authority. In 1984, people are restrained on what they think, write and read. This reminds readers of censorship in reality. This can directly relate to George Orwell’s personal experience with the government of Britain. The British government tried to control Orwell’s free will to express his idea and feelings. The Big Brothers, which appeared in his book, can be compared to the government of the U.K.