Which character in "Animal Farm" represents Lenin?

BRY2K

Lenin is represented by the character (Old) Major. As a democratic socialist, Orwell had a great deal of respect for Karl Marx, the German political economist, and even for Vladimir Ilych Lenin, the Russian revolutionary leader. His critique of Animal Farm has little to do with the Marxist ideology underlying the Rebellion but rather with the perversion of that ideology by later leaders. Major, who represents both Marx and Lenin, serves as the source of the ideals that the animals continue to uphold even after their pig leaders have betrayed them. http://www.gradesaver.com/animal-farm/study-guide/character-list/ http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/animalfarm/canalysis.html (Whew! At first I thought you meant LENNON!!) Feb 19 09, 7:21 PM

guitargoddess

haha, nope the Russian Revolution was a bit before Lennon's time :) Feb 19 09, 7:31 PM

BRY2K

Okay, I won't take it personally! LOL Feb 19 09, 7:48 PM

queproblema

Well, Mr. Lennon, I think Mr. Lenin may be somewhat more elusive than that. Of course it's all in the reader's interpretation. Christopher Hitchens says, "...there is no Lenin either in 'Animal Farm' or '1984'....We have no means of knowing what Orwell intended by this astonishing omission,..." This is on page xiii in his introduction to a 100th anniversary (of Orwell's birth) edition of the two books in one binding. Barron's notes from their "Literature Made Easy" series says on page 11, "Major represents both Marx and Lenin,...." Orwell introduces him thus, "He was twelve years old and had lately grown rather stout, but he was still a majestic-looking pig, with a wise and benevolent appearance is spite of the fact that his tushes had never been cut." Then toward the end of his laughably lop-sided speech, four rats appear, and the animals vote to count them as comrades. The great literary critic Qp :p thinks the mention of uncut tushes shows Orwell discerned Marx's inherent cruelty, and that the admission of rats to the camaraderie indicates corruption from the very inception of the rebellion. The fact that Orwell chose the word "appearance" when referring to Major's wisdom and benevolence is not to be over-looked. This is a mystery about which we can all have our opinions. Feb 19 09, 8:18 PM

star_gazer

Old Major, a prize Middle White boar, is the inspiration that fuels the Rebellion in the book. According to one interpretation, he could be based upon both Karl Marx (in that he describes the ideal society the animals could create if the humans are overthrown) and Vladimir Lenin (in that his skull is put on revered public display, as was Lenin's embalmed corpse). However, according to Christopher Hitchens: "the Leon Trotsky elements are combined into one [i.e., Snowball], or, it might even be [...] to say, there is no Lenin at all." He introduces the animals to the song "Beasts of England", which becomes their anthem, and puts the idea of rebellion in the animals' heads. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_Farm Feb 19 09, 9:04 PM

queproblema

The great literary critic Qp :p modifies her above post to note that she agrees more with Spark's and Barron's notes and Wikipedia than with the contrarian Christopher Hitchens: Old Major seems to represent both Marx and Lenin. The uncut tushes would be Lenin's cruelty in instituting the brutal Cheka, forerunner of the KGB, and the displayed skull, Lenin's preserved body. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheka Feb 22 09, 12:59 AM