Orwell was a socialist, who believed that capitalists exploited the workers or proletariat (just as the pigs exploit the other farm animals).

George Orwell wrote 'Animal Farm' as an attack on the Russian leader Stalin and the idea that Stalinist Russia was a socialist country.

Orwell was a social reformer and the novel is about issues of class equality and social justice.

Orwell uses the traditional form of fairy tales and children’s stories and subverts this to maximise the impact of the story.

Orwell was concerned by the ways in which language could be misused to manipulate people, as Squealer’s actions demonstrate.