Introduction Joseph Stalin (1878-1953) was the leader of Soviet Union. Stalin ruled with the theory "Socialism in One Country", which is also known as Stalinism ("Socialism in One Country," 2013). With this theory, he transformed Soviet Union from a peasant country to a industrial and military super power ("Joseph Stalin," n.d.). This also led the Soviet Union to victory in the World War ll. Stalin was a terrifying dictator. This led to the imprisonment and death of millions of people who disagreed with Stalin. An estimated 3 to 10 millions people were killed during the Stalin regime ("Joseph Stalin," 2013).
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Symbolism The book "Animal Farm" is considered to be an animal version of the Russian revolution ("Napoleon(a pig)," n.d."). In this story, Joseph Stalin is symbolized by Napoleon on the Animal Farm. Napoleon disagrees and argues with Snowball for all matters, and finally chases Snowball out of the farm ("Animal Farm," 2013). This is similar to how Stalin chased Trotsky away and took his position. They also have many other similarities, such as Napoleon's dogs and Stalin's Secret police NKVD; both of them are not good at making speeches and Napoleon's 3 year plan and Stalin's 5 year plan etc. ("Comparison of Napoleon and Joseph Stalin - Animal Farm- Mirae Kim," n.d.). All the evidence above can fully show how Orwell has used Napoleon to symbolize Stalin in this novel.
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Why? The main idea behind this book is criticism towards Stalin's way of ruling the country by exposing how cruel and inhumane Stalin was during his regime ("The Animal Farm, written by George Orwell," n.d.). By describing Napoleon's ruthless actions, this also shows how Stalin ruled Soviet Union with violence. Innocent people were killed and people who were useless would be "disposed"("Napoleon(a pig)," n.d."). There are many dictators in the history. Stalin is one of them who has killed millions of people for his own purpose. However, there are not a lot of people who know this fact. Therefore, to let readers gain more knowledge about the Russian revolution is also one of the aim of Orwell. Animal Farm is a "fairy story". However the story ends with Napoleon: the bad wining against the good, Snowball. Therefore, Orwell also wanted to show that reality is never a fairy story.
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