Of course, the novel’s meaning is not rooted solely in its portrayal of the Russian Revolution. The novel asks its readers to examine the ways in which political leaders with seemingly noble and altruistic motives can betray the very ideals in which they ostensibly believe, as well as the ways in which certain members of a nation can elect themselves to positions of great power and abuse their fellow citizens, all under the guise of assisting them. The novel also presents the subtle ways in which a group of citizens — of a farm or a nation — can be eventually led by the nose into a terrible life ruled by a totalitarian regime. In “Why I Write,” Orwell describes Animal Farm as “the first book in which I tried, with full consciousness of what I was doing, to fuse political purpose and artistic purpose into one whole.” His political purpose — presenting a model of socialism gone wrong — is found in the way that the novel’s animals reflect different kinds of humans and their struggles for freedom and power. Orwell felt that a farm where “All Animals Are Equal” would solve many social and economic problems — but he also knew that such a system would be difficult to maintain, since some animals would act on the principle that “Some Are More Equal Than Others.”
