The major Orwells goals in the Animal Farm was to portray the revolution of the Russia also known as the Bolshevik of the year 1917 that ended up in a government that was more totalitarian, deadly, and oppressive than the one it overthrew. As such, several characters in the novel can be compared to individual departments of the Russian government at that time. The napoleons dogs in the animal farm can be compared to the Komitet gosudarstvennoy bezopasnosti (KGB) in the Russian Revolution (Trotsky and Max 72). Notably, KGB was a group of individuals that were mandated to conduct foreign intelligence and eliminate rebellions of the Russian government. Although KGB was very imperative in the Russian government, it played an authoritative, dictatorial, and deadly role that could only be compared to the dogs in the animal farm.
The dogs in the Animal Farm had several similarities with the KGB of the Russian revolution. First, both the dogs and KGB were formed privately and were not part of the animals on the farm and police respectively. Notably, the dogs were the private army that Napoleon used to compel other animals to work (Orwell 32). In this case, Napoleon knew selecting other animals from the firm to lead would not instill fear in others than the private ones. Notably, the dogs were taken as puppies and trained by Napoleon to attack and kill. On the same note, the KGB Stalin used in the Russian revolution was secret police officers from college students taught from a younger age to shoot and kill.
Secondly, in both cases, the dogs and the KGB were given orders to attack and destroy those who opposed their masters. In the animal farm, Napoleon is the boar who became rebellions most prominent leader. Therefore, he used his dogs to intimidate all the opponents and any other animal that did not support him by instructing the dogs to attack and kill them. The same thing happens in the Russian revolution with the KGB (Orwell 42). Since Stalin overthrew the previous government, he was very sure that the same thing could happen to him. As such, he uses KGB to employ force and killed entire families to anybody who disobeyed and opposed him (Fadaee 27).
Lastly, rearing the dogs was another strategy of Napoleon to control the animals. By selecting animals that were not part of the farm, Napoleon knew that other animals could be afraid of the dogs. On the same note, the formation of the KGB was a strategy of the Stalin to control due to their loyalty (Fadaee 28). Notably, nobody, including the soldiers knew where Stalins bedroom was located except the KGB. Further, the responsibilities of the KGB were duplicated. Hence, they became stronger than the normal police and army.
In conclusion, the dogs in animal farm and the KGB in Russian revolution have shown some similarities that portray authoritative, dictatorial, and deadly ruling. In both cases, the dogs and the KGB were privately recruited to rule the rest. Secondly, they were allowed to attack and kill any individual or animal that opposed their master. Lastly, the formation of KGB and rearing of the dogs were strategies of Stalin and Napoleon to remain influential leaders that could not be threatened by other individuals or animals.
Works Cited
Fadaee, Elaheh. "Symbols, metaphors and similes in literature: A case study of Animal Farm." International Journal of English and Literature 2.2 (2010): 19-27
Orwell, George. "Animal Farm (1945)." Online edition: http://www. msxnet. org/orwell/print/animal_farm. pdf (accessed March 2013) (1989).
Trotsky, Leon, and Max Eastman. History of the Russian revolution. Haymarket Books, 2008.
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