Work : Summaries & Interpretations : Nineteen Eighty-

Four
Summary
The story starts, as the title tells us, in the year of 1984, and it takes place in England or as
it is called at that time, Airstrip One. Airstrip One itself is the mainland of a huge country,
called Oceania, which consists of orth America, !outh Africa, and Australia. The country is
ruled "y the #arty, which is led "y a figure called $ig $rother. The population of Oceania is
di%ided into three parts&
1. The 'nner #arty (app. 1) of the population*
+. The Outer #arty (app. 18) of the population*
,. The #roles
The narrator of the "ook is -Third #erson .imited-. The protagonist is /inston !mith, a
mem"er of the Outer #arty, working in the 0ecords 1epartment of the 2inistry of Truth,
rewriting and altering records, such as newspaper3articles, of the past. The action starts
when /inston de%elops critical thoughts against the ruling dictatorship of the party, for the
first time. 1oing so he "uys a "ook, a rare thing these days, to use it as a diary. As
indi%idual e4pression is for"idden "y the #arty, ha%ing a diary is a crime, which may e%en "e
punished "y death. There are so3called telescreens in each room, showing propaganda and
political pamphlets, and which has a "uilt3in camera and microphone, in order to spy on
people. Therefore keeping a secret "ook is not only for"idden, "ut also %ery dangerous.
/hen /inston makes the first entry in the diary, he thinks a"out an e4perience he has made
during the Two 2inutes 5ate, a propaganda film repeated each day. 1uring this film he
caught the eye of O-$rien, a mem"er of the 'nner #arty, whom he thought might also "e
critical to the regime, or that at least there is a "ond of some kind "etween them. After this
reminiscence, he finds that he has written the sentence& 61own with $ig $rother6 all o%er
the page. The same night /inston dreams a"out his mother and sister, who star%ed to death
in the war, "ecause he had "een so greedy. Then he dreams of ha%ing se4 with a girl he has
seen in the 0ecords 1epartment, during the Two 2inutes 5ate. Early in the morning,
/inston is woken "y the harsh %oice from the telescreen. 1uring the performance of the
physical e4ercises, /inston-s thoughts mo%e "ack to his childhood. The last thing he
remem"ers clearly is the /orld /ar. After the //, the #arty took control of the country, and
from then on it has "een difficult to remem"er anything, "ecause the #arty changes history
constantly to their own "enefit (see 1ou"lethink 3 #olitical !ystem*. After the e4ercises
/inston goes to work at the 2initrue (2inistry of Truth*, where his 7o" is to alter records,
and once altered, to throw them into the 2emory 5ole where they are "urnt. 8or e4ample
$.$. ($ig $rother* has promised that there will "e no reduction of the chocolate ration, "ut
there has "een one, so /inston has to rewrite an old article, where the speech of $.$. is
reported. At dinner /inston !mith meets !yme, a philologist, who is working on the 11th
edition of The ewspeak 1ictionary (see ewspeak 3 #olitical !ystem*. !yme e4plains the
main character of their work on this dictionary. 1uring their con%ersation the telescreen
announces that the chocolate ration has "een increased to +9 g a week, whereas yesterday
it was cut down to +9 g a week. /inston wonders whether he-s the only person with
memory who isn-t inflicted with 1ou"lethink. As he looks around in the dining room he
catches the eye of the dark3haired girl he had dreamed of the same night. $ack home again
he makes an entry in his diary a"out his meeting with a prostitute three years ago. 5e
remem"ers her ugliness, "ut ne%ertheless he had se4 with her. /inston had a wife, "ut she
was %ery stupid and 7ust following the orders of the #arty, which said that there may only "e
se4 to produce 6new material6 for the #arty, and that se4 for personal pleasure is a crime.
Then /inston thinks a"out the #arty and "elie%es that the only hope lies in the #roles who
constitutes o%er 89) of Oceania:s population. .ater he remem"ers another fact of his past 3
;ones, Aaronson and 0utherford, the last three sur%i%ors of the original leaders of the
0e%olution. They were arrested in 19<= and confessed to all kinds of sa"otage during their
trial> they were pardoned, reinstated "ut not long after arrested again and e4ecuted. 1uring
the "rief period /inston saw them in the ?hestnut Tree ?afe. 'n the same year, a half page
torn out of The Times came to /inston trough the transport tu"e in the 2initrue. This page
of The Times showed the three men in Eastasia on a certain day. $ut /inston remem"ered
clearly that they had confessed to "eing in Eurasia on that day (at this time Eurasia was at
war with Oceania, and Eastasia was an allied*. !o /inston could pro%e that the confessions
were lies. $ut /inston had sent this paper down to the 2emory 5ole (a kind of paper
"asket*. The last entry /inston writes in his diary is that freedom is the freedom to say that
two and two make four. 'f this is granted e%erything else follows. The ne4t day /inston
decides not to participate in the community actions, "ut to take a walk in the @uarters of the
#roles, around !t. #ancras station. 1uring the walk a rocket3"om" e4plodes near"y. After a
while /inston finds himself in front of the 7unk3shop, where he has "ought the diary. There
he sees an old man 7ust entering a pu". 5e decides to follow the man, and to ask him a"out
the time "efore the re%olution, "ut the old man has already forgotten nearly e%erything
a"out this time, e4cept for some useless personal things. /inston lea%es the pu" and goes
to the shop, where he finds a pink piece of glass with a piece of coral inside which he "uys.
2r ?arrington, the owner of the shop leads him upstairs to show him an old3fashioned room.
/inston likes the room "ecause of its warmth and of course "ecause there are no
telescreens. /hen /inston lea%es the shop he suddenly meets the dark3haired girl in the
street. 5e now "elie%es that this girl is an amateur spy or e%en a mem"er of the Thought
#olice, spying on him. The ne4t morning he meets the girl in the 2inistry of Truth, and in the
moment she passes, she falls down and cries out in pain. /hen /inston helps her up, she
presses a piece of paper into his hand. At the first opportunity he opens it and finds the
startling message& 6' lo%e you6 written on it. 8or a week he waits for an opportunity to speak
with her. 8inally he is successful, and he meets her in the canteen where they fi4 a meeting.
!ome time later they meet at the fi4ed place, and there the girl gi%es /inston precise
instructions how to get to a secret place on !unday. 't is !unday, and /inston is following
the girl-s directions. On the way he picks some "lue"ells for her. And then finally she comes
up "ehind him, telling him to "e @uiet "ecause there might "e microphones hidden
somewhere. They kiss and he learns her name& ;ulia. !he leads him to another place where
they cannot "e o"ser%ed. $efore she takes off her "lue party3o%erall, ;ulia tells /inston that
she is attracted to him "ecause of something in his face which shows that he is against the
#arty. /inston is surprised and asks ;ulia if she has done such a thing "efore. To his delight
she tells him that she has done it scores of times, which fills him with a great hope. E%idence
of corruption and a"andon always gi%es him with hope. #erhaps the whole system is rotten
and will simply crum"le to pieces one day. The more men she has had, the more he lo%es
her, and later as he looks at her sleeping "ody, he thinks that now e%en se4 is a political act,
a "low against the falseness of the #arty. /inston and ;ulia arrange to meet again. /inston
rents the room a"o%e 2r ?arrington:s 7unk shop, a place where they can meet and talk
without the fear of "eing o"ser%ed. 't is summer and the preparations for 65ate /eek6, an
enormous propaganda e%ent, are well forthcoming, and during this time /inston meets ;ulia
more often than e%er "efore. ;ulia makes him feel more ali%e, she makes him feel healthier,
and he e%en puts on weight. One day O-$rien speaks to /inston in the 2inistry of Truth. 5e
refers o"li@uely to !yme, the philologist, who has %anished a couple of days earlier and is
now, as it is called in ewspeak, an unperson. 'n doing so O-$rien is committing a little act
of thoughtcrime. O-$rien in%ites /inston to his flat, to see the latest edition of the ewspeak
dictionary. /inston now feels sure that the conspiracy against the #arty he has longed to
know a"out 3 the $rotherhood, as it is called 3 does e4ist, and that in the encounter with
O-$rien he has come into contact with its outer edge. 5e knows that he has em"arked on a
course of action which will lead, in one way or another, to the cells of the 2inistry of .o%e.
!ome days later /inston and ;ulia meet each other to go to the flat of O-$rien, which lies in
the district of the 'nner #arty. They are admitted to a richly furnished room "y a ser%ant. To
their astonishment O-$rien switches off the telescreen in the room. (ormally it is impossi"le
to turn it off.* /inston "lurts out why they ha%e come& they want to work against the #arty,
they "elie%e in the e4istence of the $rotherhood and that O-$rien is in%ol%ed with it. 2artin,
O-$rien-s ser%ant "rings real red wine, and they drink a toast to Emmanuel Aoldstein, the
leader of the $rotherhood. O-$rien asks them a series of @uestions a"out their willingness to
commit %arious atrocities on "ehalf of the $rotherhood and gets their assent. They lea%e,
and some days later /inston gets a copy of 6The $ook6, a "ook written "y Emmanuel
Aoldstein, a"out his political ideas. ow it is 5ate /eek and suddenly the war with Eurasia
stops, and a war with Eastasia starts. This of course means a lot of work for /inston. 5e has
to change doBens of articles a"out the war with Eurasia. e%ertheless, /inston finds time to
read the "ook. The "ook has three chapters titled, 6/ar is #eace6, 6'gnorance is !trength6
and 68reedom is !la%ery6, which are also the main slogans of the party. The main ideas of
the "ook are&
1. /ar is important for consuming the products of human la"our> if this work were "e
used to increase the standard of li%ing, the control of the party o%er the people would
decrease. /ar is the economic "asis of a hierarchical society.
+. There is an emotional need to "elie%e in the ultimate %ictory of $ig $rother.
,. 'n "ecoming continuous, war has ceased to e4ist. The continuity of the war
guarantees the permanence of the current order. 'n other words, 6/ar is #eace6
4. There ha%e always "een three main strata of society> the Cpper, the 2iddle and the
.ower, and no change has "rought human e@uality one inch nearer.
=. ?ollecti%ism doesn-t lead to socialism. 'n the e%ent, the wealth now "elongs to the
new 6upper3class6, the "ureaucrats and administrators. ?ollecti%ism has ensured the
permanence of economic ine@uality.
<. /ealth is not inherited from person to person, "ut it is kept within the ruling group.
D. The masses (proles* are gi%en freedom of thought, "ecause they don-t thinkE A #arty
mem"er is not allowed the slightest de%iation of thought, and there is an ela"orate
mental training to ensure this, a training that can "e summarised in the concept of
dou"lethink.
!o far the "ook analyses how the #arty works. 't has not yet attempted to deal with why the
#arty has arisen. $efore continuing with the ne4t chapter /inston turns to ;ulia and finds
her asleep. 5e also falls asleep. The ne4t morning when he awakes the sun is shining, and
down in the yard a prole women is singing and working. /inston is again filled with the
con%iction that the future lies with the proles, that they will o%erthrow the greyness of the
#arty. $ut suddenly reality crashes in. 6/e are the 1EA16, he says to ;ulia. An iron %oice
"ehind them repeats the phrase, the picture on the wall falls to "its to re%eal a telescreen
"ehind it. Cniformed man thunder into the room and they carry /inston and ;ulia out.
/inston is in a cell in what he presumes is the 2inistry of .o%e. 5e is sick with hunger and
fear, and when he makes a mo%ement or a sound, a harsh %oice will "awl at him from four
telescreens. A prisoner who is dying of star%ation is "rought in, his face is skull3like. .ater
the man is "rought to 60oom 1916 after screaming and struggling, and e%en offering his
children-s sacrifices in his stead. O-$rien enters. /inston thinks that they must ha%e got
him, too, "ut O-$rien says that they got him long time ago. A guard hits /inston, and he
"ecomes unconscious. /hen he wakes up he is tied down to a kind of "ed. O-$rien stands
"eside the "ed, and /inston feels that O-$rien, who is the torturer, is also somehow a friend.
The aim of O-$rien is to teach /inston the techni@ue of dou"lethink, and he does this "y
inflicting pain of e%er3increasing intensity. 5e reminds /inston that he wrote the sentence& 6
8reedom is the freedom to say that two plus two makes four6. O-$rien holds up four fingers
of his left hand, and he asks /inston how many there are. /inston answers four a couple of
times, and each time the pain increases (this is not done to make /inston lie, "ut to make
him really see fi%e fingers instead of four*. At the end of the session, under hea%y influence
of drugs and agony, /inston really sees fi%e fingers. ow /inston is ready to enter the
second stage of his integration (1. .earning, +. Cnderstanding, ,. Acceptance*. O-$rien now
e4plains how the #arty works. The image he gi%es of the future is that of a "oot stamping on
a human face 3 for e%er. /inston protests, "ecause he thinks that there is something in the
human nature that will not allow this> he calls it 6The !pirit of 2an6. O-$rien points out that
/inston is the last humanist, he is the last guardian of the human spirit. Then O-$rien gets
/inston to look at himself in the mirror. /inston is horrified "y he sees. The unknown time
of torture has changed him into a shapeless and "attered wreck. This is what the last
humanist looks like. The only degradation that /inston has not "een through, is that he has
not "etrayed ;ulia. 5e has said anything under torture, "ut inside he has remained true to
her. /inston is much "etter now. 8or some time he has not "een "eaten and tortured, he
has "een fed @uite well and allowed to wash. /inston realises that he now accepts all the
lies of the #arty, that for e4ample Oceania was always at war with Eastasia, and that he
ne%er had the photograph of ;ones, Aaronson, and 0utherford that dispro%ed their guilt.
E%en gra%ity could "e nonsense. $ut ne%ertheless /inston has some unorthodo4 thoughts
that he cannot suppress. $ut now it is time for the last of the three steps, reintegration.
/inston is taken to 0oom 191. O-$rien says that the room 191 is the worst thing in the
world. 8or each person it is his own personal hell. 8or some it is death "y fire or "urial ali%e.
8or /inston it is a cage containing two rats, with a fi4ture like a fencing mask attached, into
which the face of the %ictim is strapped. Then there is a le%er that opens the cage, so that
the rats can get to the face. O-$rien is approaching with the cage, and /inston sense the
"ad smell of the rats. 5e screams. The only way to get out of this is to put someone else
"etween himself and the horror. 61o it to ;ulia6, he screams in a final "etrayal of himself.
/inston is released, and he is often sitting in the ?hestnut Tree ?afF, drinking Gictory Ain
and playing chess. 5e now has a 7o" in a su"3committee, that is made up of others like
himself. On a cold winter day he meets ;ulia, they speak "riefly, "ut ha%e little to say to each
other, e4cept that they ha%e "etrayed each other. A memory of a day in his childhood comes
to /inston:s mind> it is false, he is often trou"led "y false memories. 5e looks forward to the
"ullet, they will kill him with some day. ow he realises how pointless it was to resist. 5e
lo%es $ig $rotherE
Characters
Winston Smith
Orwell named his hero after /inston ?hurchill, England-s great leader during /orld /ar ''.
5e added a common last name& !mith. The action of this no%el is "uilt around the main
person, /inston !mith, and therefore the understanding of his personality and his character
is important for the understanding of the whole "ook. /inston was "orn "efore the !econd
/orld /ar. 1uring the /ar, there was a lack of food, and /inston had taken nearly all of the
food that was allocated to the family, although his younger sister was star%ing to death. 'n
1984, /inston often dreams of this time, and he often remem"ers how he once stole the
whole piece of chocolate that was gi%en to the family. ' think that /inston now (1984*
somehow regrets his egotistic "eha%iour. 5e also sees a kind of link "etween his "eha%iour
and the "eha%iour of the children that are educated "y the #arty. These children persecute
their own families (#arsons*. 5e finally realises his and the #arty-s guilt. To my mind /inston
is a sort of hero, "ecause he is aware of the danger that he has encountered. !o, for
e4ample, he knew from the %ery "eginning that his diary would "e found. And as one can
see, the things that are written in this "ook (that freedom is to say that two and two makes
four* are used against him later. 5e also knew that his illegal lo%e affair was an act of
re%olution, would "e disclosed "y the Thought #olice. $ut ne%ertheless he is also somewhat
nai%e. 5e has opened his mind to O-$rien "efore he was sure that he was also against the
#arty.
Julia
;ulia is a women around +=, and she works in a special department of the 2initrue,
producing cheap pornography for the proles. !he has already had a couple of illegal lo%e
affairs. Cnlike /inston, she is "asically a simple woman, something of a lightweight who
lo%es her man and uses se4 for fun as well as for re"ellion. !he is perfectly willing to accept
the o%ernight changes in Oceania-s history and doesn-t trou"le her pretty head a"out it. 'f
$ig $rother says "lack is white, fine. 'f he says two and two make fi%e, no pro"lem. !he may
not "uy the #arty line, "ut it doesn-t trou"le her. !he falls asleep o%er /inston-s reading the
treasured "ook "y Aoldstein. Orwell draws /inston-s lo%e o"7ect lo%ingly. ;ulia is all woman,
as sharp and funny as she is attracti%e, "ut she may also "e a reflection of the author-s
somewhat limited %iew of the opposite se4.
O'rien
#ro"a"ly the most interesting fact a"out O-$rien is that we ha%e only /inston-s opinion of
him. This "urly "ut sophisticated leader of the 'nner #arty is supposed to "e the head of the
secret $rotherhood dedicated to the o%erthrow of $ig $rother. 'n his "lack o%erall, he haunts
"oth /inston-s dreams and his waking moments to the %ery end of the no%el. Another %ery
interesting thing a"out O-$rien is that the reader doesn-t precisely know if he is a friend or
an enemy of /inston. E%en /inston himself doesn-t know it. ' would say that O-$rien, the
powerful and mighty #arty mem"er, is a kind of father figure to /inston. $efore /inston-s
capture, O-$rien 6helps6 /inston make contact with the $rotherhood, and he teaches him
a"out the ideology and the rules of this secret organisation. After /inston:s capture, O-$rien
gi%es him the feeling that he is somehow protecting him. The relation "etween O-$rien and
/inston has all attri"utes of a typical relation "etween a father and a child& The father is all3
knowing, all3mighty> he teaches, punishes and educates his child, and he is protecting it
from anything that could harm the child. $ut ' think that O-$rien is only playing his role to
reintegrate /inston.
ig rother
$ig $rother is not a real person. All3present as he is, all3powerful and fore%er watching, he is
only seen on TG. Although his picture glares out from huge posters that shout, $'A $0OT5E0
'! /AT?5'A HOC, no"ody sees $ig $rother in person. Orwell had se%eral things in mind
when he created $ig $rother. 5e was certainly thinking of 0ussian leader ;oseph !talin> the
pictures of $ig $rother e%en look like him. 5e was also thinking of aBi leader Adolph 5itler
and !panish dictator 8rancisco 8ranco. $ig $rother stands for dictators e%erywhere. Orwell
may ha%e "een thinking a"out figures in certain religious faiths when he drew $ig $rother.
The mysterious, powerful, Aod3like figure who sees and knows e%erything 3 "ut ne%er
appears in person. To 'nner #arty mem"ers, $ig $rother is a leader, a "ogeyman they can
use to scare the people, and their authorisation for doing whate%er they want. 'f any"ody
asks, they can say they are under orders from $ig $rother. 8or the unthinking proles, $ig
$rother is a distant authority figure. 8or /inston, $ig $rother is an inspiration. $ig $rother
e4cites and energises /inston, who hates him. 5e is also fascinated "y $ig $rother and
drawn to him in some of the same ways that he is drawn to O-$rien, de%eloping a lo%e3hate
response to "oth of them that leads to his downfall.
!lot
The plot has three main mo%ements, corresponding to the di%ision of the "ook in three
parts. The first part, the first eight chapters, creates the world of 1984, a totalitarian world
where the #arty tries to control e%erything, e%en thought and emotion. 'n this part, /inston
de%elops his first unorthodo4 thoughts. The second part of the no%el deals with the
de%elopment of his lo%e to ;ulia, someone with whom he can share his pri%ate emotions. 8or
a short time they create a small world of feeling for themsel%es. They are "etrayed,
howe%er. O-$rien, whom /inston thought was a re"el like himself, is in reality a chief
in@uisitor of the 'nner #arty. The third part of the no%el deals with /inston:s punishment.
8inally he comes to lo%e $ig $rother. Aenerally, the plot is %ery simple& a re"el, a lo%e affair
with a like3minded, capture, torture, and finally capitulation. Apart from ;ulia, O-$rien, and
of course /inston, there are no important characters> there is no attempt to create a range
of social "eha%iour, and the comple4 personal interactions therein, all traditional concerns of
the no%el. 'ndeed, one of Orwell-s points is that life in 1984 has "ecome totally uniform. !o
the traditional no%el would "e unthinka"le. 'n fact, /inston is the only character worth
writing a"out> all the other characters are half3ro"ots already. !o one could say that the plot
was "uilt around /inston:s mind and life. This ga%e Orwell the opportunity to focus on the
reaction of the indi%idual to totalitarianism, lo%e, and cruelty.
!olitical System
"he !arty
The #arty of Oceania is made up of a"out 19) of the whole population of Oceania:s
mainland. Aenerally, one could di%ide the #arty into the 'nner #arty, which is compara"le to
the communist nomenclature, and the Outer #arty. /inston !mith himself is a mem"er of
the Outer #arty. The mem"ers of the 'nner #arty hold high posts in the administration of the
country. They earn compara"ly much money, and there isn-t a lack of anything in their
homes, which look like palaces. The people of the Outer #arty li%e in dull grey and old flats.
$ecause of the war there is often a lack of the most essential things. The life of the Outer
#arty is dictated "y the #arty, e%en their spare time is used "y the #arty. There are so3called
community hikes, community games and all sorts of other acti%ities. And refusing
participation in this acti%ities is e%en dangerous. The life of a #arty mem"er is dictated from
his "irth to his death. The #arty e%en takes children away from their parents to educate
them in the ideology of 'ngsoc. (One can find this also in the communist future plans.* The
children are taught in school to report it to the Thought #olice when their parents ha%e
unorthodo4 thoughts, so3called 6thoughtcrimes6. After their education, #arty mem"ers start
to work mainly for one of the four 2inistries (2inipa4, 2initrue, 2inilu%, 2iniplenty*. The
further life of a 6comrade6 continues under the watchful eyes of the #arty. E%erything people
do is recorded "y the telescreens. E%en in their homes people ha%e telescreens. Each
unorthodo4 action is then punished "y 67oycamps6 (ewspeak word for Iforced la"our
camps6*.
!roles
The proles make up a"out 81) of the population of Oceania. The #arty itself is only
interested in their la"our, "ecause the proles are mainly employed in industry and on farms.
/ithout their la"our, Oceania would "reak down. 1espite this fact, the #arty completely
ignores this social caste. The curious thing a"out this "eha%iour is that the #arty calls itself
socialist, and generally socialism (at least in the "eginning and middle of this century* is a
mo%ement of the proletariat. !o one could say that the #arty a"uses the word 6'ngsoc6.
Orwell again had pointed at another regime, the aBis, who had put 6socialism6 into their
name. One of the main phrases of the #arty is 6#roles and animals are free6. 'n Oceania, the
proles li%e in %ery desolate and poor @uarters. ?ompared with the districts where the
mem"ers of the #arty li%e, there are far fewer telescreens, and policemen. And as long as
the proles don-t commit crimes (crimes in our sense, not in the sense of the party 3
Thoughtcrime* they don-t ha%e any contact with the state. Therefore in the districts of the
proletarians one can find things that are a"olished and for"idden to #arty mem"ers. 8or
e4ample, old "ooks, old furniture, prostitution and alcohol (mainly "eer* E4cept 6Gictory Ain6
all of these things are not a%aila"le to #arty mem"ers. The proletarians don-t participate in
the technological de%elopment. They li%e like they used to do many years ago. To my mind,
the #arty ignores the #roles "ecause they pose no danger to their rule. The working class is
too uneducated and too unorganised to pose any real threat. !o there is not really a need to
change the political attitudes of this class.
Ne#speak
ewspeak is the official language of Oceania and has "een de%ised to meet ideological needs
of 'ngsoc, or English !ocialism. 'n the year 1984, no"ody really uses ewspeak in speech
nor in writing. Only the leading articles are written in this 6language6. $ut it is generally
assumed that in the year +9=9 ewspeak will replace Oldspeak, or common English. The
purpose of ewspeak is not only to pro%ide a medium of e4pression for the world3%iew and
mental ha"its proper to de%otees of 'ngsoc, "ut to make all other methods of thought
impossi"le. Another reason for de%eloping ewspeak is to make old "ooks, or "ooks which
were written "efore the era of the #arty, unreada"le. /ith ewspeak, 1ou"lethink will "e
e%en easier. 'ts %oca"ulary is constructed so as to gi%e e4act and often %ery su"tle
e4pression to e%ery meaning that a #arty mem"er could properly wish to e4press, while
e4cluding all other meanings and also the possi"ility of arri%ing at them "y indirect methods.
This is done partly "y the in%ention of new words, "ut chiefly "y eliminating undesira"le
words "y stripping such words as remained of unorthodo4 meanings whate%er. Aenerally
ewspeak words are di%ided into three groups& the A, $(also called compound words* and
the ? Goca"ulary.
A-Vocabulary: The A3Goca"ulary consists of the words needed in "usiness and e%eryday life,
for such things as drinking, working, and the like. The words of this group are nearly entirely
composed of Oldspeak words, "ut in comparison, their num"er is %ery small. e%ertheless,
the meaning of these words is much more defined, and it allows no other interpretation.
B-Vocabulary: The $3Goca"ulary consists of words which ha%e "een deli"erately constructed
for political purposes. /ithout the full understanding of the principles of 'ngsoc it is %ery
difficult to use and understand these words correctly. The $3Goca"ulary consists in all cases
of compound words, two or more words merged together in an easily pronouncea"le form.
E4ample& goodthink 3 Aoodthink means %ery roughly orthodo4y, or if it is regarded as a %er"
6to think in a good manner6. The word is inflected as follows& noun3%er" goodthink> past
tense and past participle, goodthinked> present participle, goodthinking> ad7ecti%e,
goodthinkful> ad%er", goodthinkwise> %er"al noun, goodthinker. The $3/ords are not
constructed according to any etymological plan. The words of which they are made up can
"e placed in any order, mutilated in any way which makes them easy to pronounce (e.g.
thoughtcrime, crimethink thinkpol, thought police*. 2any of the $3/ords are euphemisms.
!uch words for instance as 7oycamp (forced la"our camp* or 2inipa4 (2inistry of #eace in
charge of the army*, mean almost e4act opposite of what they appear to mean. Again some
words are am"i%alent, ha%ing the connotation good when applied to the party, and "ad when
applied to its enemies. Aenerally, the name of any organisation, "uilding, and so on is cut
down to a minimum num"er of sylla"les and to a minimum of length, in an easily
pronouncea"le way. This isn-t only in ewspeak> already other, especially totalitarian
systems, tended to used a""re%iations for political purpose (aBi, ?omintern, Aestapo, ....*.
$ut the difference is that only in ewspeak this instrument is used deli"erately. The #arty
intended to cut down the possi"ility of associations with other words.
C-Vocabulary: The ?3/ords consist of technical and scientific terms.
8rom the foregoing account it is %ery easy to see that in ewspeak the e4pression of
unorthodo4 opinions, a"o%e a %ery low le%el, is impossi"le. 't is only possi"le to say 6$ig
$rother is ungood6. $ut this statement can-t "e sustained "y reasoned arguments, "ecause
the necessary words are not a%aila"le. 'deas inimical to 'ngsoc can only "e entertained in a
%ery %ague and wordless form, and can only "e named in %ery "road terms. One can in fact
only use ewspeak for political unorthodo4y, "y illegitimately translating some of the words
"ack into Oldspeak. 8or e4ample 6All mans are e@ual6 is a possi"le ewspeak sentence, "ut
only in the same sense in which 6All man ha%e the same weight6 is a possi"le Oldspeak
sentence. 't does not contain a grammatical error, "ut it e4presses a palpa"le untruth, i.e.
that all man ha%e the same siBe, weight ..... The concept of political e@uality no longer e4ist.
'n 1984, when Oldspeak is still the normal means of communication, the danger
theoretically e4ists that in using ewspeak words one might remem"er their original
meanings. 'n practice, it is not difficult for a person well grounded in 1ou"lethink to a%oid
doing this, "ut within a couple of generations e%en the possi"ility of such a lapse will ha%e
%anished. A person growing up with ewspeak as his sole language will no more know that
e@ual had once had the secondary meaning of 6politically e@ual6 (also free,....*. There will "e
many crimes and errors which will "e "eyond of the power to commit, simply "ecause they
are now nameless and therefore unimagina"le. 't is to "e foreseen that with time ewspeak
words will "ecome fewer and fewer, their meanings more and more and more rigid, and the
possi"ility of putting them to improper uses always diminished. !o when Oldspeak has "een
once and for all superseded the last link with the past will ha%e "een se%ered.
$ou%lethink
1ou"lethink is a kind of manipulation of the mind. Aenerally, one could say that 1ou"lethink
makes people accept contradictions, and it makes them also "elie%e that the party is the
only institution that distinguishes "etween right and wrong. This manipulation is mainly done
"y the 2initrue (2inistry of Truth*, where /inston !mith works. /hen a person that is well
grounded in 1ou"lethink recogniBes a contradiction or a lie "y the #arty, then the person
thinks that he is remem"ering a false fact. The use of the word 1ou"lethink in%ol%es
dou"lethink. /ith the help of the 2initrue, it is not only possi"le to change written facts, "ut
also facts that are remem"ered "y people. !o complete control of the country and its
citiBens is pro%ided. The fact of faking history had already "een used "y the aBis, who told
the people that already Aerman Jnights "elie%ed in the principles of ational !ocialism.
Sym%olism
'n 6Nineteen Eighty-Four6 Orwell draws a picture of a totalitarian future. Although the action
takes place in the future, there are a couple of elements and sym"ols taken from the
present and past. !o, for e4ample, Emmanuel Aoldstein, the main enemy of Oceania, is, as
one can see from the name, a ;ew. Orwell draws a link to other totalitarian systems of our
century, like the aBis and the ?ommunists, who had anti3!emitic ideas, and who used ;ews
as so3called scapegoats, who were responsi"le for all "ad and e%il things in the country. This
fact also shows that totalitarian systems want to ar"itrate their perfection. Emmanuel
Aoldstein somehow also stands for Trotsky, a leader of the 0e%olution, who was later
declared an enemy. Another sym"ol that can "e found in Nineteen Eighty-Four is the fact
that Orwell di%ides the fictional superstates in the "ook according to the di%ision that can "e
found during the ?old /ar. !o Oceania stands for the Cnited !tates of America , Eurasia for
0ussia and Eastasia for ?hina. The fact that the two socialist countries Eastasia and Eurasia
(in our case 0ussia and ?hina* are at war with each other, corresponds to our history (Csuri
ri%er*. Other, non3historical sym"ols can "e found. One of these sym"ols is the paperweight
that /inston "uys in the old 7unk3shop. 't stands for the fragile little world that /inston and
;ulia ha%e made for each other. They are the coral inside of it. As Orwell wrote& 6't is a little
chunk of history, that they ha%e forgotten to alter6. The 6Aolden ?ountry6 is another sym"ol.
't stands for the old European pastoral landscape. The place where /inston and ;ulia meet
for the first time to make lo%e to each other, is e4actly like the 6Aolden ?ountry6 of
/inston:s dreams.
Work : Summaries & Interpretations : & Clegryman's
$aughter
In'e(
!ummary ("elow*
?haracters 3 1orothy 5are K The 0e%erend ?harles 5are (1orothy:s father* K 2r /ar"urton K
o""y K 2rs ?ree%y K !ir Thomas
Summary
Aeorge Orwell:s 6A ?.E0AH2A:! 1ACA5TE0L is set in a small %illage, Jnype 5ill, in the
county of !uffolk.
The main character of the no%el is $orothy )are, the only child of the 0e%erend ?harles
5are, 0ector of !t. Athelstan:s.
The first part of the "ook is a description of 1orothy:s life as a clergyman:s daughter in rural
England in the 19,9s.
5er day is filled completely with church work. !he has a round of %isits to "e made e%ery
day e4cept !undays.
6(...* she made from half a doBen to a doBen %isits at parishioners: cottages. !he penetrated
into cramped interiors and sat on lumpy, dust3diffusing chairs gossiping with o%erworked,
"lowsy housewi%es> she spent hurried half3hours gi%ing a hand with the mending and the
ironing, and read chapters from the Aospel (...*.6 Mpage 48N
1orothy is an acti%e mem"er and leader of the !unday !chool, the Airl Auides, the $and of
5ope and the ?ompanionship of 2arriage as well as attending the 2others: Cnion.
61orothy was honorary secretary of three (...* leagues, "esides "eing captain of the Airl
Auides. The $and of 5ope and the ?ompanionship of 2arriage languished almost
mem"erless, and the 2others: Cnion only kept going "ecause gossip and unlimited strong
tea made the weekly sewing3parties accepta"le.6 Mpage 49N
The only mem"er of the parish to whom 1orothy en7oys a special relationship is 2r
/ar"urton. 1orothy likes his sarcastic wit and sense of humour, although he is neither a
church3goer nor an accepted mem"er of the %illage community.
2r /ar"urton is scandal3ridden, as he 6had li%ed, or rather stayed periodically, in open
concu"inage with a woman whom he called his housekeeper.6
65e was a man of independent income, calling himself a painter (...* and he had come to
Jnype 5ill two years earlier and "ought one of the new %illas "ehind the 0ectory. (...* #eople
in town said that he was a 6proper old rascal6> young girls were afraid of him, not without
reason.6 Mpage ,DN
At the time the story takes place, the woman 3 the 6housekeeper6 3 had already left him.
One e%ening, 1orothy %isits 2r /ar"urton after working for the parish play (she is making a
pair of 7ack "oots to "e worn "y the children*.
After a %i%id con%ersation, 2r /ar"urton accompanies her "ack home. 5e tries to kiss her
good"ye and at that %ery moment, the town3gossip, a "usy3"ody neigh"our, 2rs !emprill,
looks out of her window and notices the incident.
This will ha%e an important effect on the rest of her life.
There is a sudden cut in the "ook.
The reader now finds himself in .ondon and to his great surprise, 1orothy is wandering the
streets of .ondon, in tattered clothes, not knowing who she is or where she comes from.
Apparently she suffers from amnesia.
A group of young people pick her up 3 primarily "ecause she still has some money with her 3
to go hop3picking.
1orothy introduces herself as Ellen. This is the name which first comes into her mind, as it is
the name of her daily help in the 0ectory, in Jnype 5ill.
1orothy:s life, which is now Ellen:s life, can "e di%ided into three parts&
Firstly the hop3picking in Jent, together with East Enders and gypsies. Orwell descri"es the
poor life farm la"ourers lead.
6't was %ery cold on those !eptem"er mornings (...*. Hour "reakfast was always the same 3
"acon, tea and "read fried in the grease of the "acon. /hile you ate it you cooked another
e4actly similar meal, to ser%e for dinner, and then, carrying your dinner3pail, you set out for
the fields, a mile3and3a3half walk through the "lue, windy dawn, with your nose running so
in the cold that you had to stop occasionally and wipe it on your sacking apron. (...*
As the afternoon wore on you grew almost too tired to stand, and the small green hop lice
got into your hair and into your ears and worried you, and your hands, from the sulphurous
7uice, were as "lack as a egro:s e4cept that they were "leeding. (...*
/hen you got "ack to the camp, at half past si4 or therea"outs, you s@uatted down "y the
stream that that ran past the huts, and washed your face, pro"a"ly for the first time that
day. 't took you a"out twenty minutes or so to get the coal"lack filth off your hands. (...*
Hou cooked your supper, which was usually "read and tea and "acon again. (...* $efore you
had got to eaten your supper you were dropping with sleep. (...* /hen finally you managed
to drag yourself away to your nest of straw, it was none too warm or comforta"le. (...* 't is
not only prickly, "ut, unlike hay, it lets in the draught from e%ery possi"le direction. (...*
As to what you earned "y hop3picking, it was 7ust enough to keep "ody and soul together,
and no more.6 Mpages 199, 11,, 11=O11<N
The po%erty and dirt in which they li%e, the dependency on the landowner and the poor
wages, "eing paid not ade@uately at all to what their work re@uires, all this is descri"ed
@uite realistically.
One day, Ellen (1orothy* sees a newspaper article on 6the mystery of the clergyman:s
daughter6.
6!he heard the others talking desultorily, first a"out hop3picking, then a"out some story in
the newspapers of a girl who had disappeared from home. (...* The missing girl, in whose
fate they seemed to "e rather interested, was spoken of as 6The 0ector:s 1aughter6.6 Mpage
19,N
6 1orothy took Pippins !eekly and laid it across her knees, feeling herself far too sleepy to
read. A huge headline stared her in the face& 6#A!!'O 10A2A ' ?OCT0H 0E?TO0H6.
(...* 8or the space of fi%e seconds or therea"outs 1orothy was actually gaBing at a "lackish,
smudgy "ut @uite recognisa"le portrait of herself.6 Mpage 1+,N
5er memory slowly comes "ack to her. !he writes to her father and asks him for money to
come home. As she gets no reply to any of her three letters and it:s the end of the hop3
picking season, she finds herself destitute in .ondon.
ow, in this second part of Ellen:s (1orothy:s* life, Orwell descri"es the down3and3out life of
the poorest of the poor in .ondon.
#eople looking for work, like Ellen (1orothy* in the "eginning.
5owe%er, she can:t find a 7o", 7ust "y ringing at door"ells and asking to "e a kitchen maid.
!he seeks shelter in the li"rary during the day and sleeps on the streets at night.
6(!cene& Trafalgar !@uare. 1imly %isi"le through the mist, a doBen people, 1orothy among
them, are grouped a"out one of the "enches near the north parapet.*
"orothy (starting up*& 6Oh, this cold, this coldE ' don:t know whether it:s worse when you:re
sitting down or when you:re standing up. Oh, how can you all stand itP !urely you don:t ha%e
to do this e%ery night of your li%esP6
Charlie (singing*& 6?heer up, cully, you:ll soon "e deadE $rrhE #erishing ;esusE Ain:t my fish3
hooks "lueE6 (...*
8or the rest, she grew used to the life that she was leading 3 used to the enormous sleepless
nights, the cold, the dirt, the "oredom and the horri"le communism of the !@uare.6 Mpage
1D+, 18=N
E%entually, when 1orothy is in prison for sleeping on the streets, a rich uncle finds her and,
on her father:s re@uest, takes her in.
5e then finds her a 7o" as a teacher in a small pri%ate school.
The third part of Ellen:s life is a description of her life as a teacher who suffers the moods
and greediness of the owner of the school, 2rs ?ree%y, who practically lets her star%e.
Ellen (1orothy* has no other alternati%e "ut to stay on.
!he tries to impro%e the teaching conditions and succeeds in arousing the children:s
interests in school su"7ects "ut she is "rought down again "y 2rs ?ree%y and the parents,
who only want the children to learn how to read, write and do simple arithmetic and nothing
more intellectually.
They don:t want their children to de%elop independent minds.
6$ut one day a "rilliant idea struck her. !he "ought a roll of cheap plain wallpaper at an
upholsterer:s shop, and set the children to making a historical chart. (...* The children
always, 1orothy had found, showed more intelligence when it was a @uestion of making
something instead of merely learning.6
Mpage +++N
6$ut of course, it could not last.6
6't:s the fees ':m after, not de#eloping the childrens minds. The parents don:t want it6 (the
modern kind of teaching* 6and there:s an end of it. /ell, there:s 7ust two su"7ects, that they
do want their children taught, and that:s handwriting and arithmetic.6 Mpage +,=3+,<N
The no%el comes to a close when 2rs ?ree%y dismisses Ellen, who at that %ery moment
recei%es a telegram from 2r /ar"urton.
5e arri%es, rescues her and "rings her "ack to the %illage of Jnype 5ill, proposing marriage
to her on the 7ourney home.
5owe%er, Ellen, now "eing 1orothy again, declines the offer. !he feels no se4ual affinity
towards 2r /ar"urton.
!he returns to the life of a clergyman:s daughter, looking after her father and doing parish
work.
Although she left the %illage under mysterious circumstances she is accepted again "y the
parish as the gossip, 2rs !emprill, had to lea%e the %illage after "eing li"elled.
The %illagers feel guilty of ha%ing thought "adly of 1orothy and are now particularly nice
towards her.
!he resumes her way of life like "efore and the circle closes.
Characters
$orothy )are
1orothy 5are is the main character in the no%el. !he is the clergyman:s daughter the story is
a"out.
!he is the only child of the 0e%erend ?harles 5are, 0ector of the small %illage of Jnype 5ill.
And this is practically all ' am going to say here.
't may seem a little strange, not gi%ing a characterisation of the main character, "ut ' don:t
think it wise to do so.
'n the part Contents ' descri"ed 1orothy as a person, the sudden change in her personality,
caused "y her amnesia and her life.
' ga%e a short description of what her life as a clergyman:s daughter in the %illage was like,
her parish work, her work as leader of %arious church groups (2other:s Cnion, etc.*.
'n the second part ' showed what her life was like, li%ing under the most horri"le po%erty
and in the third part what life she led as a school teacher.
', too, ga%e a summary of 1orothy:s thoughts, of her own philosophy of life and what it is all
a"out. /hat more can you say a"out a person if you know his (her * opinion on life as a
wholeP
' think you and ' and e%ery"ody who read the "ook knows 1orothy and can 3 at least in
parts 3 identify with her.
To say more would "e repeating myself.
"he *e+eren' Charles )are ,$orothy-s .ather/
The 0e%erend ?harles 5are is a %ery typical clergyman of England in the 19,9s.
5e is said to "e a %ery difficult and moody man.
6#ro"a"ly no one who had e%er spoken to the 0ector for as long as ten minutes would ha%e
denied that he was a 6difficult6 kind of man.6 Mpage 1<N
5e is ill humoured and "eha%es %ery nastily towards 1orothy most of the time.
6't was clear, that the 0ector was in what 1orothy called, euphemistically, his 6uncomforta"le
mood6. 5e had one of those weary, culti%ated %oices which are ne%er definitely angry and
ne%er anywhere near good humour. (...* The impression he ga%e was of suffering perpetually
from other people:s stupidity and tiresomeness.6 Mpage 1=N
?harles 5are 6had "een "orn in 18D1, the younger son of the younger son of a "aronet, and
had gone into the ?hurch for the out3moded reason that the ?hurch is the traditional
profession for younger sons.6 Mpage 1DN
5owe%er, he hates the profession, not so much "eing a rector "ut especially coping with the
parish work.
5is first parish was a parish in East .ondon, where the %icar recei%ed no respect from the
%illagers at all.
5is second station was a parish in Jent, which was a little "etter.
?harles 5are marries, "ut his marriage is an unhappy one and moreo%er so, as clergyman
aren:t allowed 6to @uarrel with their wi%es its unhappiness had "een secret and therefore ten
times worse.6 Mpage 1DN
1orothy was "orn in Jent.
/hen his wife dies, in 19+1, he lea%es all the parish work to 1orothy.
5e himself concentrates on "eing a priest and in 6his purely clerical duties he was
scrupulously correct 3 perhaps a little too correct for a .ow ?hurch East Anglican parish. 5e
conducted his ser%ices with perfect taste, preached admira"le sermons and got up at
uncomforta"le hours of the morning to cele"rate 5oly ?ommunion e%ery /ednesday and
8riday. $ut that a clergyman has any duties outside the four walls of the church was a thing
that had ne%er seriously occurred to him.6 Mpage 18N
5owe%er conser%ati%e and old3fashioned, ?harles 5are has his own thoughts of 7ustice.
/hen 1orothy appeals to him for help and money, when she is still with the hop3pickers or
later from .ondon, he wants to help her, and 1orothy wrongs him in assuming he doesn:t
want to know anything a"out her, "ut he 7ust doesn:t know how to help her and so lets too
much time pass "y.
'n the end, he gets his cousin, !ir Thomas, to do something a"out 1orothy:s situationE
0r War%urton
2r /ar"urton is practically the only mem"er of the %illage of Jnype 5ill whom 1orothy likes.
5e can "e regarded as her friend, although their relationship is of a curious kind.
2r /ar"urton 6was a man of independent income, calling himself a painter 3 he produced
a"out half a doBen mediocre landscapes e%ery year 3 and he had come to Jnype 5ill two
years earlier and "ought one of the new %illas "ehind the 0ectory. There he had li%ed, or
rather stayed periodically, in open concu"inage with a woman whom he called his
housekeeper.6 Mpage ,DN
5owe%er, "y the time the no%el is set the woman has left him.
2r /ar"urton is 6a fine, imposing3looking man, though entirely "ald (he was at great pain to
conceal this* and he carried himself with such a rakish air as to gi%e the impression that his
fairly siBea"le "elly was merely a kind of anne4e to his chest. 5is age was forty3eight, and
he owned to forty3four. #eople in town said that he was a 6proper old rascal6> young girls
were afraid of him, not without reason.6 Mpage ,8N
1orothy likes him although she knows of his "ad reputation.
!he %isits him in the e%enings and en7oys indulging in philosophical de"ates with him.
/hen 2r /ar"urton comes and takes her away from 2rs ?ree%y and "ack home again, he
proposes marriage to 1orothy, "ut she declines. 2r /ar"urton is more fascinated "y 1orothy
3 especially in the "eginning, when he can:t understand her religious "elief at all 3 than he is
in lo%e with her. $ut "oth show great respect for the other and although 1orothy declines his
proposal, she %ery sincerely thinks it o%er.
No%%y
6o""y was twenty3si4 years old and was a widower, and had "een successi%ely a seller of
newspapers, a petty thief, a $orstal "oy, a soldier, a "urglar and a tramp.6Mpage 199N
65e had that happy temperament that is incapa"le of taking its own re%erses %ery seriously.
5e was always de"onair, always singing in a lusty "aritone %oice .6 Mpage 199N
6o""y counted it as a sin to pass a potato field without getting at least a pocketful. 't was
o""y who did most of the stealing, while the others kept guard. 5e was a "old thief.6 Mpage
9<N
This is how o""y is descri"ed in the "ook. 5is description isn:t in one part "ut short little
notes on his character can "e found e%erywhere in the part where o""y is around (in the
hop3picking scene*.
o""y was the only one of the group of youths who could stand the life and the po%erty. 65e
could sleep as peacefully in a nest of sodden grass as in a "ed, and his coarse, simian face,
with "arely a doBen red3gold hairs glittering on the chin like snippings of copper wire, ne%er
lost its warm, pink colour. 5e was one of those red3haired people who seem to glow with an
inner radiance that warms not only themsel%es "ut the surrounding air.6 Mpage 199N.
E%erything 1orothy knew a"out life in po%erty and how to make the "est out of little or
nothing she learnt from o""y.
5e was a friend, a teacher and a companion "ut not her lo%er.
0rs Cree+y
62rs ?ree%y was a woman somewhere in her forties, lean, hard and angular, with a"rupt
decided mo%ements that indicated a strong will and pro"a"ly a %icious temper.6 Mpage 199N
This is 1orothy:s first impression of the head3mistress. And it is going to "e pro%ed right.
2rs ?ree%y is introduced further& 6Though she was not in the least dirty or untidy there was
something discoloured a"out her whole appearance, as though she li%ed all her life in a "ad
light> and the e4pression of her mouth, sullen and ill3shaped with the lower lip turned down,
recalled that of a toad. !he spoke in a sharp, commanding %oice, with a "ad accent and
occasional %ulgar turns of speech. Hou could tell her at a glance for a person who knew
e4actly what she wanted, and would grasp it as ruthlessly as any machine> nor a "ully
e4actly 3 you could somehow infer from her appearance that she would not take enough
interest in you to want to "ully you 3 "ut a person who would make use of you and then
throw you aside with no more compunction than if you had "een a worn3out scru""ing3
"rush.6 Mpage 199N
This %ery precise description of 2rs ?ree%y right in the "eginning of the part in 1orothy:s life
as a school teacher with 2rs ?ree%y tells the reader e4actly what to think of the
schoolmistress and what to e4pect of 1orothy:s life with her. E%en the last prediction (that
2rs ?ree%y would throw you away if she didn:t need you any more 7ust like a scru""ing3
"rush* is pro%ed correct when she fires Ellen (1orothy*.
Actually, there is nothing more to add to Orwell:s description of 2rs ?ree%y. E%erything said
in this introductory description is pro%ed right "y 2rs ?ree%y:s actions and "eha%iour
towards 1orothy from her first to her last day and from the shared "reakfast to late at night.
Sir "homas
!ir Thomas is ?harles 5are:s cousin. 5e li%es in .ondon. 5e is 6a widower, a good3hearted,
chuckle3headed man of a"out si4ty3fi%e, with an o"tuse rosy face and curling moustaches.
5e dressed "y preference in checked o%ercoats and curly3"rimmed "owler hats that were at
once dashingly smart and four decades out of date.6 Mpage 191N
65is chief characteristic was an a"ysmal mental %agueness. 5e was one of those people who
say 61on:t you knowP6 and 6/hatE /hatE6 and lose themsel%es in the middle of their
sentences.6 Mpage 191N
!ir Thomas has three children, 6the youngest "eing the same age as 1orothy6 Mpage 19+N.
5e is an4ious to sol%e the pro"lem of 1orothy:s situation as he is fed up of hearing his
relati%es discussed in the papers.
6 As far as his own inclinations went !ir Thomas was not in the least an4ious to help his
cousins, for 1orothy herself he had ne%er seen, and the 0ector he looked on as a cadging
poor relation of the worst possi"le type. $ut the fact was that he had had 7ust a"out as
much of this 60ector:s 1aughter6 "usiness as he could stand. The accursed chance that
1orothy:s surname was the same as his own had made his life a misery for the past
fortnight, and he foresaw further and worse scandals if she were left at large any longer.6
Mpage 191N
5e gi%es orders that a 7o" should "e arranged for 1orothy, so 6in the end e%erything was
arranged, and with surprising ease> not "y !ir Thomas, who was incapa"le of arranging
anything, "ut "y his solicitor, whom he had suddenly thought of consulting.6 Mpage 19<N
Orwell criticises the life3style of !ir Thomas and his incapa"ility of actually doing something,
he shows the way of life the aristocrats li%ed, going to their clu"s at night and "eing "ored,
"ut at the same time, !ir Thomas is shown as @uite tender3hearted who in the end gets the
pro"lem of what to do with 1orothy sol%ed.
Work : Summaries & Interpretations : *oa' to Wigan
!ier
!art 1
'n the first part of this "ook Orwell tries to gi%e the reader a detailed %iew of the conditions
of the poor and unemployed. 'n the first chapter of the first part, Orwell descri"es the
$rooker family. They "elong to the so3called 6wealthy6 among the poor ones. 'n their house,
they ha%e installed a cheap lodging3house and a tiny shop. $oth 2r and 2rs $rooker are
already pensioners, and with the rent they get for the rooms, they can afford at least
enough to eat. Aenerally, the people who li%e in this lodging house are unmarried or %ery old
and also pensioners. Orwell himself spends a couple of weeks in this house during his
researches. 'n the second chapter he descri"es the life of the miners. Their working
conditions are %ery "ad, for they work underground, where it is %ery hot, dusty, and where
the miners ha%e 7ust a minimum of space. The work is also %ery dangerous, the coal3miners
often handle dynamite and the tunnels aren-t %ery sta"le. Orwell descri"es how he went
down to see the working conditions underground there. 5e descri"es that the place where
the coal is dismantled is not 7ust right at the ele%ator, "ut often lies some miles away from it.
And the tunnel is often only three to four feet high. This means that the miners not only
ha%e to work under the hardest conditions, "ut also ha%e to 6tra%el6, this means going to the
working place in the miners: 7argon, for a"out half an hour. Orwell, who is not trained,
needed a"out one hour to get there. (6After half a mile it gets an un"eara"le agony6, 1O+ #
+,*. 'n the ne4t chapter Orwell takes a look at the social situation of the a%erage miner. 8irst
of all he looks at the hygienic situation of the miners, for many people "elie%e that miners
generally do not wash. $ut in fact only e%ery third mine has a "ath or shower for the miners.
The situation in the homes of the miners is e%en worse. Only a couple of houses in the
industrial region ha%e "athrooms. The rest of the coal3workers ha%e to wash in small "asins.
The miners also ha%e %ery little time, although they work only se%en hours a day. $ut
actually getting to the pit, and the tra%elling underground can take up to three hours. !o the
a%erage miner has a"out four hours of leisure time, including washing, dressing and eating.
Then there is the common "elief that miners are comparati%ely well paid, a"out ten to
ele%en shillings a week. $ut this is %ery misleading, "ecause only the 6coal getter6 is paid
this rate, whereas for e4ample the 6dattler6 is paid eight to nine shilling per shift. $ut one
also has to look at the conditions the miners are paid for. !o the 6getter6 is paid for the tons
he e4tracts. On the one hand he is dependent on the @uality of the coal, and when the
machinery "reaks down it may ro" him a day or two of earnings. Another fact is that miners
certainly do not work si4 days a week. 'n 19,< the a%erage earning of the miners per shift
actually was 9s 1Qd. $ut e%en this sum is 7ust a gross earning> there are all kinds of
stoppage which are deducted from the miner:s wage e%ery week. 'n total, these stoppages
make up around 4s =d per week.
The ne4t chapter deals with the housing situation in those districts. Aenerally, the houses all
look the same. The main pro"lem is the housing shortage in this region. !o people are ready
to accept any dirty hole, "ugs, "lackmailing agents and "ad landlords, 7ust to get a roof o%er
their heads. And as long as the housing shortage e4ists, the local authorities cannot do
anything to make the e4isting houses more li%ea"le. The authorities can condemn a house,
"ut they cannot pull it down till the tenant has another house to li%e in. $ut there is another
pro"lem resulting from this one. The landlord will surely not in%est more money that he can
help in a house that is going to "e pulled down in the future. Orwell has made notes of
doBens of houses in this region, and here are two e4amples&
5ouse in /igan, near !choles @uarter&
?ondemned house, four rooms (two up, two down* R coal hole, walls falling to pieces, water
comes into upstairs rooms in @uantities, downstairs windows will not open. 0ent <s, 0ates ,s
<d total 9s <d.
5ouse in $arnsley, #eel !treet&
$ack to "ack (front house facing street, "ack house facing yard*, two up and two down R
large cellar, all rooms are a"out 19 s@uare feet, li%ing room %ery dark, gaslight at 4Sd a
day, distance to the la%atory D9 yards (lies in the yard*, four "eds for eight persons
(parents, two girls, one +D, young man, and three children*, "ugs %ery "ad, smell upstairs
almost un"eara"le. 0ent =s DSd including rates.
Another pro"lem in these regions is that whole rows of houses are undermined, and the
windows often are ten to twenty degrees off the horiBontal. $ecause of the "ad housing
situation there are also so3called 6cara%an dwellers6. 'n /igan alone, which has a population
of 8=,999, there are a"out +99 cara%ans, inha"ited "y a"out D99 people. 'n the whole of
$ritain there might "e around ten thousand families li%ing in cara%ans. The worst thing a"out
those cara%ans is that the people who li%e in such a place don-t e%en sa%e money, "ecause
the rent can make up to ten shillingsE 1espite this pro"lems the city of $arnsley, for
e4ample, "uilt a new town hall for 1=9,999 pounds, although there is a need of o%er +,999
houses, not to mention pu"lic "aths (the pu"lic "aths in $arnsley contain nineteen men-s
slipper "aths 3 in a town with D9,999 inha"itants, largely miners who do not ha%e "aths at
home*.
The ne4t chapter of $he %oad to !igan Pier deals with unemployment. 'n 19,D there were
a"out two million unemployed. $ut this num"er only shows how many persons are recei%ing
the dole. One has to take this num"er and multiply it "y at least three to get the num"er of
persons actually li%ing on the dole. $ut there is a large num"er of people that ha%e a work,
"ut who from a financial point of %iew might as well "e unemployed, "ecause they are not
drawing anything that can "e descri"ed as a li%ing wage. Together with the pensioners in the
industrial regions that make around fifteen million poor and underfed people. 'n /igan alone
there are around ,9,999 drawing or li%ing on the dole. !o e%ery third person in /igan is
dependent on social help. The money that the families get %aries from twenty3fi%e to thirty
shillings per week. One organisation that helps the unemployed is the C/2 (ational
Cnemployed /orkers 2o%ement*. This organisation helps the unemployed spend their time.
'n the si4th chapter of the "ook, Orwell takes a look at the food of a family li%ing on the
dole, or on a %ery low wage. Aenerally, the food of an a%erage family costs fifteen shillings a
week, including fuel for cooking. Of course, these families could li%e on e%en less money, "ut
especially in the poor families one can see the trend not to "uy the cheapest, and most
nutritious things, "ut rather to "uy something 6 tasty6, in order to forget one:s dull life. This
trend results in a general physical degeneration among the poor people. !o, for e4ample, in
industrial towns the mortality is at a %ery high le%el. Another fact that can "e o"ser%ed is
that hardly anyone, e4cept children of course, has his own teeth. 'n the ne4t chapter Orwell
criticises the ugliness of the industrial towns (e.g.& $irmingham, ?o%entry, orwich
2arket.....*
!art2
'n the second part Orwell descri"es his personal idea of socialism, and what socialism is like
in England. The general idea of Orwell:s is that socialism and communism are no longer
mo%ements of the working class. The mo%ement is lead "y the middle3class, the
"ourgeoisie. $ut firstly he e4plains how the English class3system works. 'n $ritain it isn-t
possi"le to determine the class of a person "y simply looking at his income. 'n England the
tradition plays a %ery important part, and therefore one can find middle3class persons with
an income up to +,999 pounds a year, and down to ,99 pounds a year. The things that make
up a middle3class person are his "eha%iour, "irth and profession. The people around 499
pounds led a life on two social le%els> so, for e4ample, they had a standard of li%ing
compara"le to a well3situated worker, "ut knew e%erything a"out good "eha%iour, how to
gi%e a ser%ant a tip, how to ride a horse, a"out a decent dinner, although they could ne%er
afford a ser%ant or a good dinner. One could say that they are struggling to li%e genteel li%es
on what are %irtually working3class incomes. !o the colonies ('ndia and Africa* are %ery
attracti%e to this social caste, for the people would earn as much as in England (if they had a
7o" in the administration or army*, and could afford a ser%ant and many things more and,
what was most important, they could act like "ig gentleman. Another aspect of the class3
system in $ritain is the almost inherited re7ection of the lower classes. Orwell here tells a
story of his early "oyhood, when he felt that lower3class people were almost su"human, that
they had coarse faces, hideous accents, gross manners, and that they hated e%eryone who
was not like themsel%es. This re7ection somehow results from the time "efore the war (/orld
/ar One* when it was impossi"le or at least %ery dangerous for a well3dressed person to go
through a slum street. /hole @uarters were considered unsafe "ecause of hooligans. $ut
ne%ertheless the re7ection of the lower3class also has physical roots. !o the children of the
middle3class were always taught that the working3class smelled. And this is o"%iously an
impassa"le "arrier, for no feeling of like and dislike is so fundamental as a physical feeling.
?lass hatred, religious hatred, differences of education, of temperament, of intellect, e%en
differences of moral code can "e got o%er> "ut physical repulsion cannot. $ut what a"out
those middle3class people whose %iews are not reactionary "ut 6ad%anced6P $eneath his
re%olutionary mask, is he so much different from the otherP Are there any changes in his
ha"its, his taste and his manners, his ideology, as it is called in the communist 7argonP 's
there any change at all e4cept that he %otes .a"our or ?ommunistP 't can "e o"ser%ed that
the middle3classed communist still associates with the middle3class, still li%es among the
middle3class, and his tastes are those of a "ourgeois person. The main thing Orwell criticises
is that middle3class communists and socialists often speak against their own class, "ut that
they e%idently ha%e the "eha%iour and manner of a middle3class person. The socialists who
make propaganda for 6proletarian solidarity6 generally don-t e%en ha%e a lot of contact with
the class they are 6fighting for6. The only contact with the working3class that socialists
generally ha%e is with the lower3class intelligentsia at the %arious political workshops.
Aenerally, Orwell says that socialism is a nearly impossi"le thing.
Work : Summaries & Interpretations : &nimal Farm
Summary
The story takes place on a farm somewhere in England. The story is told "y an all3knowing
narrator in the third person. The action of this no%el starts when the oldest pig on the farm,
Old 2a7or, calls all animals to a secret meeting. 5e tells them a"out his dream of a
re%olution against the cruel 2r ;ones. Three days later 2a7or dies, "ut the speech gi%es the
more intelligent animals a new outlook on life. The pigs, who are considered the most
intelligent animals, instruct the other ones. 1uring the period of preparation two pigs
distinguish themsel%es, apoleon and !now"all. apoleon is "ig, and although he isn-t a
good speaker, he can assert himself. !now"all is a "etter speaker, he has a lot of ideas and
he is %ery %i%id. Together with another pig called !@uealer, who is a %ery good speaker, they
work out the theory of 6Animalism6. The re"ellion starts some months later, when 2r ;ones
comes home drunk one night and forgets to feed the animals. They "reak out of the "arns
and run to the house, where the food is stored. /hen 2r ;ones sees this he takes out his
shotgun, "ut it is too late for him> all the animals fall o%er him and dri%e him off the farm.
The animals destroy all whips, nose rings, reins, and all other instruments that ha%e "een
used to suppress them. The same day the animals cele"rate their %ictory with an e4tra
ration of food. The pigs make up the se%en commandments, and they write them a"o%e the
door of the "ig "arn.
They run thus&
1. /hate%er goes upon two legs is an enemy.
+. /hate%er goes upon four legs, or has wings is a friend.
,. o animal shall wear clothes.
4. o animal shall sleep in a "ed.
=. o animal shall drink alcohol.
<. o animal shall kill another animal.
D. All animals are e@ual.
The animals also agree that no animal shall e%er enter the farmhouse, and that no animal
shall ha%e contact with humans. This commandments are summarised in the simple phrase&
68our legs good, two legs "ad6. After some time, ;ones comes "ack with some other men
from the %illage to recapture the farm. The animals fight "ra%ely, and they manage to
defend the farm. !now"all and $o4er recei%e medals of honour for defending the farm so
"ra%ely. Also apoleon, who had not fought at all, takes a medal. This is the reason why the
two pigs, !now"all and apoleon, often argue. /hen !now"all presents his idea to "uild a
windmill, to produce electricity for the other animals, apoleon calls nine strong dogs. The
dogs dri%e !now"all from the farm, and apoleon e4plains that !now"all was in fact co3
operating with 2r ;ones. 5e also e4plains that !now"all in reality ne%er had a medal of
honour, that !now"all was always trying to co%er up that he was fighting on the side of 2r
;ones. The animals then start "uilding the windmill, and as time passes the working3time
goes up, whereas the food rations decline. Although the 6common6 animals ha%e not enough
food, the pigs grow fatter and fatter. They tell the other animals that they need more food,
for they are managing the whole farm. !ome time later, the pigs e4plain to the other
animals that they ha%e to trade with the neigh"ouring farms. The common animals are %ery
upset, "ecause since the re%olution there has "een a resolution that no animal shall trade
with a human. $ut the pigs ensure them that there ne%er has "een such a resolution, and
that this was an e%il lie of !now"all. !hortly after this decision the pigs mo%e to the
farmhouse. The other animals remem"er that there is a commandment that for"ids sleeping
in "eds, and so they go to the "ig "arn to look at the commandments. /hen they arri%e
there they can-t "elie%e their eyes, the fourth commandment has "een changed to& 6o
animal shall sleep in "ed &ith sheets6. And the other commandments ha%e also "een
changed& 6o animal shall kill another animal without reason6, and 6o animal shall drink
alcohol in e4cess6. !ome months later a hea%y storm destroys the windmill, which is nearly
finished. apoleon accuses !now"all of destroying the mill, and he promises a reward to the
animal that gets !now"all. The re"uilding of the mill takes two years. Again ;ones attacks
the farm, and although the animals defend it, the windmill is once again destroyed. The pigs
decide to re"uild the mill again, and they cut down the food rations to a minimum. One day
$o4er "reaks down. 5e is sold to a "utcher, "ut apoleon tells the pigs that $o4er has "een
"rought to a hospital where he has died. Three years later, the mill is finally completed.
1uring this time apoleon deepens the relations with the neigh"ouring farm, and one day
apoleon e%en in%ites the owners of this farm for an inspection. They sit inside the
farmhouse and cele"rate the efficiency of his farm, where the animals work %ery hard with a
minimum of food. 1uring this cele"ration, all the other animals meet at the window of the
farm, and when they look inside they can-t distinguish "etween man and animal.
Sym%olism3Interpretation
The no%el Animal Farm is a satire of the 0ussian re%olution, and therefore full of sym"olism.
Aenerally, Orwell associates certain real characters with the characters of the "ook. 5ere is a
list of the characters and things and their meaning&
'r (ones: 2r ;ones is one of Orwell-s ma7or (or at least most o"%ious* %illain in Animal 8arm.
Orwell says that at one time ;ones was actually a decent master to his animals. At this time
the farm was thri%ing. $ut in recent years the farm had fallen on harder times and the
opportunity was seen to re%olt. The world3wide depression "egan in the Cnited !tates when
the stock market crashed in Octo"er of 19+9. The depression spread throughout the world
"ecause American e4ports were so dependent on Europe. The C.!. was also a ma7or
contri"utor to the world market economy. Aermany along with the rest of Europe was
especially hard hit. The parallels "etween crop failure of the farm and the depression in the
19,9s are clear. Only the leaders and the die3hard followers ate their fill during this time
period. 2r ;ones sym"olises (in addition to the e%ils of capitalism* ?Bar icholas '', the
leader "efore !talin (apoleon*. ;ones represents the old go%ernment, the last of the ?Bars.
Orwell suggests that ;ones was losing his 6edge6. 'n fact, he and his men had taken up the
ha"it of drinking. Old 2a7or re%eals his feelings a"out ;ones and his administration when he
says, 62an is the only creature that consumes without producing. 5e does not gi%e milk, he
does not lay eggs, he is too weak to pull the plough, he cannot run fast enough to catch
ra""its. Het he is lord of all the animals. 5e sets them to work, he gi%es "ack to them the
"are minimum that will pre%ent them from star%ing and the rest he keeps for himself.6 !o
;ones and the old go%ernment are successfully uprooted "y the animals. .ittle do they know
history will repeat itself with apoleon and the pigs.
)ld 'a*or: Old 2a7or is the first ma7or character descri"ed "y Orwell in Animal 8arm. This
6pure3"red6 of pigs is the kind, grandfatherly philosopher of change 3 an o"%ious metaphor
for Jarl 2ar4. Old 2a7or proposes a solution to the animals: desperate plight under the ;ones
6administration6 when he inspires a re"ellion of sorts among the animals. Of course the
actual time of the re%olt is untold. 't could "e the ne4t day or se%eral generations down the
road. $ut Old 2a7or-s philosophy is only an ideal. After his death, three days after the "arn3
yard speech, the socialism he professes is drastically altered when apoleon and the other
pigs "egin to dominate. 't-s interesting that Orwell does not mention apoleon or !now"all
at any time during the great speech of old 2a7or. This shows how distant and out3of3touch
they really were> the ideals Old 2a7or proclaimed seemed to not e%en ha%e "een considered
when they were esta"lishing their new go%ernment after the successful re%olt. 't almost
seems as though the pigs fed off old 2a7or-s inspiration and then used it to "enefit
themsel%es (an interesting twist of capitalism* instead of following through on the old
2a7or-s honest proposal. This could "e Orwell-s attempt to dig !talin, whom many consider
to "e someone who totally ignored 2ar4-s political and social theory. Csing Old 2a7or-s
apparent nai%ety, Orwell concludes that no society is perfect, no pure socialist ci%ilisation can
e4ist, and there is no way to escaping the e%il grasp of capitalism. (2ore on this in the
apoleon section.* Cnfortunately, when apoleon and !@uealer take o%er, old 2a7or
"ecomes more and more a distant fragment of the past in the minds of the farm animals.
Napoleon: apoleon is Orwell-s chief %illain in Animal 8arm. The name apoleon is %ery
appropriate since apoleon, the dictator of 8rance, was thought "y many to "e the Anti3
?hrist. apoleon, the pig, is really the central character on the farm. O"%iously a metaphor
for !talin, ?omrade apoleon represents the human frailties of any re%olution. Orwell
"elie%ed that although socialism is good as an ideal, it can ne%er "e successfully adopted
due the to uncontrolla"le sins of human nature. 8or e4ample, although apoleon seems at
first to "e a good leader, he is e%entually o%ercome "y greed and soon "ecomes power3
hungry. Of course, !talin did, too, in 0ussia, lea%ing the original e@uality of socialism "ehind,
gi%ing himself all the power and li%ing in lu4ury while the common peasant suffered. Thus,
while his national and international status "lossomed, the welfare of 0ussia remained
unchanged. Orwell e4plains, 6!omehow it seemed as though the farm had grown richer
without making the animals themsel%es any richer33e4cept, of course for the pigs and the
dogs.6 The true side of apoleon "ecomes e%ident after he slaughters so many animals for
plotting against him. 5e e%en hires a pig to sample his food for him to make certain that no
one is trying to poison him. !talin, too, was a cruel dictator in 0ussia. After suspecting many
people in his empire to "e supporters of Trotsky (Orwell-s !now"all*, !talin systematically
murdered many. At the end of the "ook, apoleon doesn-t e%en pretend to lead a socialist
state. After renaming it a 0epu"lic and instituting his own %ersion of the commandments and
the $easts of England, ?omrade apoleon @uickly "ecomes more or less a dictator who of
course has ne%er e%en "een elected "y the animals.
+,uealer: !@uealer is an intriguing character in Orwell-s Animal 8arm. 5e-s first descri"ed as
a manipulator and persuader. Orwell narrates, 65e could turn "lack into white.6 2any critics
correlate !@uealer with the #ra%da, the 0ussian newspaper of the 19,9s. #ropaganda was a
key to many pu"lications, and since there was no tele%ision or radio, the newspaper was the
primary source of media information. !o the monopoly of the #ra%da was seiBed "y !talin
and his new $olshe%ik regime. 'n Animal 8arm, !@uealer, like the newspaper, is the link
"etween apoleon and other animals. /hen !@uealer masks the e%il intentions of the pigs,
the intentions can "e carried out with little resistance and without political disarray. !@uealer
is also thought "y some to represent Aoe""els, who was the minister of propaganda for
Aermany. This would seem inconsistent with Orwell-s satire, howe%er, which was supposed
to metaphor characters in 0ussia.
+no&ball: Orwell descri"es !now"all as a pig %ery similar to apoleon at least in the early
stages. $oth pigs wanted a leadership position in the 6new6 economic and political system
(which is actually contradictory to the whole supposed system of e@uality*. $ut as time
passes, "oth e%entually realise that one of them will ha%e to step down. Orwell says that the
two were always arguing. 6!now"all and apoleon were "y far the most acti%e in the
de"ates. $ut it was noticed that these two were ne%er in agreement& whate%er suggestion
either of them made, the other could "e counted to oppose it.6 .ater, Orwell makes the case
stronger. 6These two disagreed at e%ery point disagreement was possi"le.6 !oon the
differences, like whether or not to "uild a windmill, "ecome too great to deal with, so
apoleon decides that !now"all must "e eliminated. 't might seem that this was a
spontaneous reaction, "ut a careful look tells otherwise. apoleon was setting the stage for
his own domination long "efore he really "egan 6dishing it out6 to !now"all. 8or e4ample, he
took the puppies away from their mothers in an effort to esta"lish a pri%ate police force.
These dogs would later "e used to eliminate !now"all, his arch3ri%al. !now"all represents
.eo 1awidowitsch Trotsky, the arch3ri%al of !talin in 0ussia. The parallels "etween Trotsky
and !now"all are uncanny. Trotsky too, was e4iled, not from the farm, "ut to 2e4ico, where
he spoke out against !talin. !talin was %ery weary of Trotsky and feared that Trotsky
supporters might try to assassinate him. The dictator of 0ussia tried hard to kill Trotsky, for
the fear of losing leadership was %ery great in the craBy man-s mind. Trotsky also "elie%ed in
communism, "ut he thought he could run 0ussia "etter than !talin. Trotsky was murdered in
2e4ico "y the 0ussian internal police, the JG1 3 the precursor of the JA$. Trotsky was
found with a pick a4e in his head at his %illa in 2e4ico.
Bo-er: The name $o4er is cle%erly used "y Orwell as a metaphor for the $o4er 0e"ellion in
?hina in the early twentieth century. 't was this re"ellion which signalled the "eginning of
communism in red ?hina. This form of communism, much like the distorted !talin %iew of
socialism, is still present today in the oppressi%e socialist go%ernment in ?hina. $o4er and
?lo%er are used "y Orwell to represent the proletariat, or unskilled la"our class in 0ussian
society. This lower class is naturally drawn to !talin (apoleon* "ecause it seems as though
they will "enefit most from his new system. !ince $o4er and the other low animals are not
accustomed to the 6good life,6 they can-t really compare apoleon-s go%ernment with the life
they had "efore under the cBars (;ones*. Also, since usually the lowest class has the lowest
intelligence, it is not difficult to persuade them into thinking they are getting a good deal.
The proletariat is also @uite good at con%incing themsel%es that communism is a good idea.
Orwell supports this contention when he narrates, 6Their most faithful disciples were the two
carthorses, $o4er and ?lo%er. Those two had great difficulty in thinking anything out for
themsel%es, "ut ha%ing once accepted the pigs as their teachers, they a"sor"ed e%erything
that they were told, and passed it on to the other animals "y simple arguments.6 .ater, the
importance of the proletariat is shown when $o4er suddenly falls and there is suddenly a
drastic decrease in work producti%ity. $ut still he is taken for granted "y the pigs, who send
him away in a glue truck. Truly $o4er is the "iggest poster3child for gulli"ility.
Pigs: Orwell uses the pigs to surround and support apoleon. They sym"olise the communist
party loyalists and the friends of !talin, as well as perhaps the 1uma, or 0ussian parliament.
The pigs, unlike other animals, li%e in lu4ury and en7oy the "enefits of the society they help
to control. The ine@uality and true hypocrisy of communism is e4pressed here "y Orwell,
who criticised 2ar4-s o%ersimplified %iew of a socialist, 6utopian6 society. O"%iously, Aeorge
Orwell doesn-t "elie%e such a society can e4ist. Toward the end of the "ook, Orwell
emphasises, 6!omehow it seemed as though the farm had grown richer without making the
animals themsel%es any richer e4cept, of course, the pigs and the dogs.6
"ogs: Orwell uses the dogs in his "ook, Animal 8arm, to represent the JA$ or perhaps more
accurately, the "odyguards of !talin. The dogs are the arch3defenders of apoleon and the
pigs, and although they don-t speak, they are definitely a force the other animals ha%e to
reckon with. Orwell almost speaks of the dogs as mindless ro"ots, so dedicated to apoleon
that they can-t really speak for themsel%es. This contention is supported as Orwell descri"es
apoleon-s early and suspicious remo%al of si4 puppies from their mother. The reader is left
in the dark for a while, "ut is later enlightened when Orwell descri"es the chase of !now"all.
apoleon uses his 6secret dogs6 for the first time here> "efore !now"all has a chance to
stand up and gi%e a counter3argument to apoleon-s disappro%al of the windmill, the dogs
%iciously attack the pig, forcing him to flee, ne%er to return again. Orwell narrates, 6!ilent
and terrified, the animals crept "ack into the "arn. 'n a moment the dogs came "ounding
"ack. At first no one had "een a"le to imagine where these creatures came from, "ut the
pro"lem was soon sol%ed& they were the puppies whom apoleon had taken away from their
mothers and reared pri%ately. Though not yet full3grown, they were huge dogs, and as
fierce3looking as wol%es. They kept close to apoleon. 't was noticed that they wagged their
tails to him in the same way as the other dogs had "een used to do to 2r ;ones.6 The use of
the dogs "egins the e%il use of force which helps apoleon maintain power. .ater, the dogs
do e%en more dastardly things when they are instructed to kill the animals la"elled
6disloyal.6 !talin, too, had his own special force of 6helpers6. 0eally there are followers loyal
to any politician or go%ernment leader, "ut !talin in particular needed a special police force
to eliminate his opponents. This is how Trotsky was killed.
'ollie: 2ollie is one of Orwell-s minor characters, "ut she represents something %ery
important. 2ollie is one of the animals who is most opposed to the new go%ernment under
apoleon. !he doesn-t care much a"out the politics of the whole situation> she 7ust wants to
tie her hair with ri""ons and eat sugar, things her social status won-t allow. 2any animals
consider her a traitor when she is seen "eing petted "y a human from a neigh"ouring farm.
!oon 2ollie is confronted "y the 6dedicated6 animals, and she @uietly lea%es the farm. 2ollie
characterises the typical middle3class skilled worker who suffers from this new communism
concept. o longer will she get her sugar (nice salary* "ecause she is now 7ust as low as the
other animals, like $o4er and ?lo%er. Orwell uses 2ollie to characterise the people after any
re"ellion who aren-t too recepti%e to new leaders and new economics. There are always
those resistant to change. This continues to dispel the "elief Orwell hated and according to
which "asically all animals act the same. The nai%ety of 2ar4ism is criticised, socialism is not
perfect, and it doesn-t work for e%eryone.
'oses: 2oses is perhaps Orwell-s most intriguing character in Animal 8arm. This ra%en, first
descri"ed as the 6especial pet6 of 2r ;ones, is the only animal who doesn-t work. 5e-s also
the only character who doesn-t listen to Old 2a7or-s speech of re"ellion. Orwell narrates,
6The pigs had an e%en harder struggle to counteract the lies put a"out "y 2oses, the tame
ra%en. 2oses, who was 2r ;ones-s especial pet, was a spy and a tale3"earer, "ut he was also
a cle%er talker. 5e claimed to know of the e4istence of a mysterious country called
!ugarcandy 2ountain, to which all animals went when they died. 't was situated somewhere
up in the sky, a little distance "eyond the clouds, 2oses said. 'n !ugarcandy 2ountain it was
!unday se%en days a week, clo%er was in season all the year round, and lump sugar and
linseed cake grew on the hedges. The animals hated 2oses "ecause he told tales and did no
work "ut some of them "elie%ed in !ugarcandy 2ountain, and the pigs had to argue %ery
hard to persuade them that there was no such place.6 2oses represents Orwell-s %iew of the
?hurch. To Orwell, the ?hurch is 7ust used as a tool "y dictatorships to keep the working
class of people hopeful and producti%e. Orwell uses 2oses to criticiBe 2ar4-s "elief that the
?hurch will 7ust go away after the re"ellion. ;ones first used 2oses to keep the animals
working, and he was successful in many ways "efore the re"ellion. The pigs had a real hard
time getting rid of 2oses, since the lies a"out 5ea%en they thought would only lead the
animals away from the e@uality of socialism. $ut as the pigs led "y apoleon "ecome more
and more like 2r ;ones, 2oses finds his place again. After "eing away for se%eral years, he
suddenly returns and picks up right where he left off. The pigs don-t mind this time "ecause
the animals ha%e already realised that the 6e@uality6 of the re%olt is a farce. !o apoleon
feeds 2oses with "eer, and the full circle is complete. Orwell seems to offer a %ery cynical
and harsh %iew of the ?hurch. This pro%es that Animal 8arm is not simply an anti3communist
work meant to lead people into capitalism and ?hristianity. 0eally Orwell found loop3holes
and much hypocrisy in "oth systems. 't-s interesting that recently in 0ussia the go%ernment
has "egun to allow and support religion again. 't almost seems that like the pigs, the
Jremlin officials of today are trying to keep their people moti%ated, not in the ideology of
communism, "ut in the 6old3fashioned6 hope of an after3life.
'uriel: 2uriel is a knowledgea"le goat who reads the commandments for ?lo%er. 2uriel
represents the minority of working class people who are educated enough to decide things
for themsel%es and find critical and hypocritical pro"lems with their leaders. Cnfortunately
for the other animals, 2uriel is not charismatic or inspired enough to take action and oppose
apoleon and his pigs.
)ld Ben*amin: Old $en7amin, an elderly donkey, is one of Orwell-s most elusi%e and
intriguing characters on Animal 8arm. 5e is descri"ed as rather unchanged since the
re"ellion. 5e still does his work the same way, ne%er "ecoming too e4cited or too
disappointed a"out anything that has passed. $en7amin e4plains, 61onkeys li%e a long time.
one of you has e%er seen a dead donkey.6 Although there is no clear metaphoric
relationship "etween $en7amin and Orwell-s criti@ue of communism, it makes sense that
during any re"ellion there are those who ne%er totally em"race the re%olution, those so
cynical they no longer look to their leaders for help. $en7amin sym"olises the older
generation, the critics of any new re"ellion. 0eally this old donkey is the only animal who
seems as though he couldn-t care less a"out apoleon and Animal 8arm. 't-s almost as if he
can see into the future, knowing that the re%olt is only a temporary change, and will flop in
the end. $en7amin is the only animal who doesn-t seem to ha%e e4pected anything positi%e
from the re%olution. 5e almost seems on a whole different maturity le%el compared with the
other animals. 5e is not sucked in "y apoleon-s propaganda like the others. The only time
he seems to care a"out the others at all is when $o4er is carried off in the glue truck. 't-s
almost as if the old donkey finally comes out of his shell, his perfectly fitted demeanour,
when he tries to warn the others of $o4er-s fate. And the animals do try to rescue $o4er, "ut
it-s too late. $en7amin seems to "e finally confronting apoleon and re%ealing his knowledge
of the pigs- hypocrisy, although "efore he had "een completely independent. After the
animals ha%e forgotten ;ones and their past li%es, $en7amin still remem"ers e%erything.
Orwell states, 6Only old $en7amin professed to remem"er e%ery detail of his long life and to
know that things ne%er had "een, nor e%er could "e much "etter or much worse> hunger,
hardship, and disappointment "eing, so he said, the unaltera"le law of life.6
%ats . %abbits: The rats and the ra""its, who are regarded as wild animals, somehow
represent the socialist mo%ement, the so3called 62ensche%iki6. 'n the %ery "eginning of the
"ook the animals %ote if rats and ra""its should "e comrades.
Pigeons: The pigeons sym"olise !o%iet propaganda, not to 0ussia, "ut to other countries,
like Aermany, England, 8rance, and e%en the Cnited !tates. 0ussia had created an iron
curtain e%en "efore //''. The ?ommunist go%ernment ra%ed a"out its achie%ements and its
ad%anced technology, "ut it ne%er allowed e4perts or scientists from outside the country to
check on its %alidity. Orwell mentions the fact that the other farmers "ecame suspicious and
worried when their animals "egan to sing $easts of England. 2any /estern go%ernments
ha%e had similar pro"lems with their people in this century. There was a huge 60ed !care6 in
the Cnited !tates in the 19+9s. 'n the 19=9s in the Cnited !tates, ;oseph 2c?arthy was a
legislati%e mem"er of the go%ernment from /isconsin. 5e accused hundreds of people of
supporting the communist regime, from famous actors in 5ollywood to middle3class ordinary
people. The fear of communism "ecame a pho"ia in America and anyone speaking out
against the go%ernment was a suspect.
Farm buildings: The farm stands for the Jremlin. 'n the early days of the C!!0 there were
sightseeing tours through the Jremlin. .ater it "ecame the residence of !talin.
!indmill: The /indmill for e4ample stands for the 0ussian industry, that has "een "uilt "y
the working3class. (?lo%er...*
Fredericks: !tands for 5itler. There has also "een an arrangement and secret deals. (Allusion
to 8ritB.*
Fo-&ood: 8o4wood farm represents England.
Pinch/ield: #inchfield sym"olises Aermany.
"estruction o/ the !indmill: This destruction is a sym"ol for the failure of the 8i%e Hear #lan.