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Animals as Political Carriers: Class, Humanization, and Control in Animal Farm




Author(s)

WU Xiaoli

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DOI:10.17265/1539-8080/2026.08.003

University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai, China

Animal allegory has long functioned as powerful literary strategy for examining political authority, hierarchy, and ideological control. By displacing human institutions onto nonhuman figures, authors are able to render complex power structures both visible and accessible. George Orwell’s Animal Farm exemplifies this tradition by using animals to model the emergence, consolidation, and corruption of authoritarian power. This article argues that animals in Animal Farm act as political carriers whose species differences establish class hierarchy, whose gradual anthropomorphism marks the concentration of authority, and whose unequal access to language enables ideological domination. Through an analysis of species symbolism, humanization, and literacy control, this paper demonstrates how Orwell visualizes political mechanisms that might otherwise remain abstract. While the allegorical form inevitably simplifies social complexity, it also sharpens the critique of how power naturalizes inequality, rewrites principles, and secures obedience. Ultimately, Orwell’s use of animals transcends historical context, offering enduring insight into modern systems of governance, propaganda, and control.

animal allegory, political power, Anthropomorphism, Animal Farm, ideological control

WU Xiaoli. Animals as Political Carriers: Class, Humanization, and Control in Animal Farm. US-China Foreign Language, August 2026, Vol. 24, No. 8, 292-296 10.17265/1539-8080/2026.08.003