George Orwell's Animal Farm can be used to teach students about both economics and types of government because Orwell wrote the novel as a fable for the Russian Revolution of 1917 and its aftermath. Orwell intended the humans in the book to represent capitalists. Students can discuss how they represent capitalism and whether or not Orwell's depiction is accurate. Animalism and the Revolution were intended to represent communism, but the government quickly descended into dictatorship once Napoleon took charge. Classes might discuss why this happened, how it compares to the historical Russian Revolution, and whether or not socialism will always result in dictatorship. Moreover, students should examine whether or not a democratic form of government--rather than a dictatorial socialist system in which the pigs hold all the power--would result in a communistic (or, using the story's term, Animalistic) society.
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