Question

whats the authors purpose in the excerpt animal farm and how a key element enhances that purpose

Answer 1

Short answer: Orwell’s purpose in Animal Farm is to expose and criticize how political revolutions can become corrupt, showing how leaders manipulate ideas and language to seize and keep power. A key element — allegory/symbolism (especially the pigs, the commandments, and slogans) — reinforces that purpose by turning complex political events into simple, memorable scenes that reveal how authority is abused.

More fully (brief examples you can adapt to a specific excerpt):

- Purpose: to satirize the Russian Revolution and the rise of Stalinism, and more generally to warn that any revolution can be betrayed when those in charge manipulate truth and exploit the masses.

- Key element: allegory/symbolism (and associated techniques such as changing commandments, propaganda/slogans, and characterization).
- How it enhances the purpose: by giving human political actors animal forms and concrete rules (the Seven Commandments), Orwell makes abstract abuses of power visible and emotionally immediate. The animals’ naïveté and trust make the pigs’ corruption unmistakable and morally clear.

Examples tied to common excerpts:
1. “Beasts of England” (the revolutionary song)
- Purpose: shows the initial idealism and hope of revolution.
- Element: song as propaganda symbol — it unites the animals but also foreshadows how emotional rhetoric can be co-opted. The later banning/alteration of the song shows leaders’ control over memory and ideology.

2. The Seven Commandments being altered
- Purpose: demonstrates how ideals are rewritten to justify leaders’ behavior.
- Element: changing written laws (visual symbol and irony) — the literal erosion of written rules dramatizes intellectual and moral corruption; the animals’ inability to read or challenge the changes emphasizes manipulation.

3. Napoleon using the dogs to chase off Snowball and then rewriting history
- Purpose: shows use of force and propaganda to eliminate opposition and rewrite truth.
- Element: characterization and dramatic irony — Napoleon’s actions reveal the mechanics of tyranny; the readers see the reality that the animals don’t, highlighting manipulation of facts and fear.

If you have a specific excerpt in mind, tell me which one and I’ll give a targeted paragraph: clear thesis, one key textual detail, and an explanation linking technique to Orwell’s purpose.