The Effectiveness of Orwell's Use of Animals as Characters

Orwell, in Animal Farm, wrote an allegory of Russia and its communistic past, in an unimpressed manner. Some could say his manner was even one of laughing. It is common knowledge that fairy tales and fables are, more often than not, aimed at children and are therefore hardly taken seriously by those above the age of twelve. Animal Farm was dubbed by its own author a "fairy story." The satiric content of this story, involving talking animals as the main focus, could be said to be mocking the Russian failures.

The animals on the farm, though clearly endowed with human characteristics, are still felt to be animals by the reader, of course. These creatures' pursuit of freedom/their own utopia causes feelings of uneasiness in readers. We humans hardly think about animals and their means of existing, but Animal Farm forces readers to look into and ponder what we hardly would have otherwise. Orwell's use of animals expresses the fact that it is important to think about all the affected sides in a manner.

Orwell's use of animals as characters was more effective on readers than if the characters had been humans. It is apparently natural human nature to have more pity for "cute, cuddly-wuddly" animals than "stinky and stupid" fellow men. The feelings (such as sympathy) felt by the readers would not have been felt had the characters been anything other than animals; some of the important story elements (feelings evoked have different effects on people as they read) would have been lost.