Animals as Humans

In the novel, Animal Farm George Orwell chooses to use animals as the main characters as opposed to humans. This substitution makes the parallels to Stalinist Russia less obvious. Orwell most likely wanted to avoid being hated by many Russian people for his satirical work. Humans might have also taken the book as an insult to their race. I mean, humans being under the rule of animals and rebelling sounds pretty offensive.

The effectiveness of Orwell's use of animals in Animal Farm is varied. The substitution does prevent people from becoming offended by the satirical nature of the novel. The animals also have very human-like characteristics. Sometimes, the ruse is so believable a reader forgets he or she is reading about animals. On the down side, the animals make Orwell's work seem more like a fable than a satire. Most people, upon reading, would view this work as simply a fable instead of the great work Orwell's novel truly is.

Is Orwell's use of animals effective? The answer to this sometimes difficult question can only really be answered by the reader.