Political Satire

[robert]

i thought this book was very good. it served an insperational outlook for me. <br>i learned if you don't want to be ruled don't appoint a ruler. just make a<br>democratic commite.

[Carrie]

I read Animal Farm earlier this year in my Advanced Placement English Class. I think that Orwell's allegory can be applied to situations other than the obvious. His socialist views mock not only Russian communism, but are also satirical about capitalism and dictatorships in general. The neighboring farms symbolize Russia's surrounding countries and how they were always looking for a way to capitalize on Russia's mistakes. Orwell's masterpiece of political satire is a novel that far surpasses many of the preconcieved notions of what people think.

[marmajam]

Hiya just trying to come up with a title for my dissertation. I want to do it on political satire and black comedy but it has to have something to do with performance (i want to look at bremner bird and fortune, spitting image etc...)and i have no idea how to word it. any ideas? or anything i can look at to help with my research?

[PoliticalAnimal]

I read Animal Farm earlier this year in my Advanced Placement English Class. I think that Orwell's allegory can be applied to situations other than the obvious. His socialist views mock not only Russian communism, but are also satirical about capitalism and dictatorships in general. The neighboring farms symbolize Russia's surrounding countries and how they were always looking for a way to capitalize on Russia's mistakes. Orwell's masterpiece of political satire is a novel that far surpasses many of the preconcieved notions of what people think.

Orwell's method of story telling (both in Animal Farm and 1984) lays out how human systems work to control populations. Referring to Aristotle's Rhetoric all persuasion is rooted in three elements. In Greek they are referred to as Ethos, Pathos, and Logos. The strongest ethos refers to the reputation of speaker. The second Pathos to benefit or harm to be avoided. The weakest logos is pure logic. The political struggle between Napoleon and Snowball is illustrative. Napoleon had the better reputation while Snowball simply tried to use logical argument. Napoleon when losing an argument would use force and propaganda to win the day. Napoleon was internally using self interest to win while Snowball was actually looking at the interest of the community(altruism). Even in communist systems self interest is winning out and if Adam Smith could have read animal farm he would have been amused by that fact. Even in politics market forces work because they are all ultimately human psychological forces.