Free Essays - Animal Farm :: Animal Farm

An English writer by the name of George Orwell published a book in 1943, called Animal Farm.   In the eyes of Mr. Orwell, the sole purpose of the book was to expose the Soviet myth of Russia’s acclaimed socialist utopia in a way that almost anyone can comprehend. The simplicity of language in the book and the usage of animals to convey the message made it a prime candidate for a cartoon version and thus one was created. This essay will look at the differences between the book Animal Farm and it’s cartoon adaptation. The three criteria which will be used as a basis of comparison are:   characterization, exposition and theme. The book Animal Farm, is an allegory of the Russian Revolution of 1917 and the events that followed shortly after. In order for the reader to be able to get a firm grasp on the conditions in Russia before, during and after the revolution, George Orwell took great care in ensuring that the all the characters in the book could easily be identified with their Russian revolution counterpart. While reading the book, one should easily be able tell the parallel personality for each character because of George Orwell’s very accurate descriptions of the characters. As a result, a great deal of characterization is visible in most parts of the book, as he is constantly building upon the characters. The movie Animal Farm on the other hand is quite different.   In the movie, very little time (relative to the book) is spent on developing the characters. In some instances during the movie we discover that there are some characters in the book that are not mentioned in the movie (e.g. Molly and Mrs. Jones). Also, in Animal Farm the movie, there is little dialogue among the animals, unlike the book. In the book, it is this dialogue that really helps us understand the type of regime in Russia at the time. If someone were to watch the movie but never read the book, it would probably be a lot harder to see the relationship to the Russian revolution. In the book, some of the instances that occur in Animal Farms exposition play important roles later on in the book. At the start of the book you are introduced to a flurry of thoughts and ideas that are very instrumental throughout the remainder of the book. The exposition begins with Old Major, telling the animals of a dream he has in which all animals are free from the oppressive human regime and equal amongst each other.