Comparing Czar Nicholas II to Mr. Jones
Incapability to handle their responsibilities
Since Czar Nicholas II played such an important role in sparking the Russian Revolution, it only makes sense that his parallel in the Animal Farm is Mr. Jones. Mr. Jones was the farmer who ran Manor Farm before the animals overthrew him and established Animal Farm. An obvious similarity between the Czar and Mr. Jones is their incapability to handle their responsibilities. Being the Czar of the largest country in the world, Nicholas naturally had a huge responsibility, and despite being a devoted father and husband, he just wasn’t a suitable emperor. He, himself admitted it in his diary, “I am not prepared to be the Tsar. I never wanted to become one. I know nothing of the business of ruling” (Brooman, J). Similarly, Mr. Jones was completely incapable of taking care of a farm as he was often "so drunk" (pg. 13) that he could not even fulfill the simplest farming duties, “Mr Jones, of the Manor Farm, had locked the hen-houses for the night, but was too drunk to remember to shut the pop-holes” (pg. 1).
Living in luxury despite the starvation of the working classMr. Jones is also comparable to Czar Nicholas II due to the way they both surrounded themselves with luxury while starving those who they were responsible for. Mr. Jones often indulged himself in food while starving the animals, “He sets them to work, he gives back to them the bare minimum that will prevent them from starving, and the rest he keeps for himself” (pg. 4). His “hungry animals” were too often “unfed” (pg. 13), yet Mr. Jones was always too busy enjoying himself and getting drunk to care about his “pack of good-for-nothing animals” (pg. 27). Czar Nicholas acted similarly, as he had owned four colossal palaces, while peasants all across the empire lived in tiny huts. An English visitor to Russia at the end of the 19th Century described the inside of a peasant’s hut - “A small hut about 3.6 meters squared... the ceiling so low that a man cannot stand upright... the whole building made of thin wood... the entire family lives in this room, sleeping on benches and on the floor together, men women, children and cattle”(Armstrong, D).
|
Author's intentions
When writing the novel, Orwell had every intention to represent Czar Nicholas II with Mr. Jones. He wanted to show his readers how tough life was during Nicholas' rule, and all the hardships they had endured due to his irresponsible actions. Through the way Orwell narrated the novel, he was able to discuss Czar Nicholas' actions in a negative manner and helped the reader develop a cynical feeling towards Nicholas. Orwell was successful in this, as the many negative connotations that he carefully embedded throughout the novel (such as "Mr. Jones sat ... complaining to anyone who would listen of the monstrous injustice he had suffered in being turned out of his property" (pg. 27)) made the reader unconsciously have a negative reaction towards Mr. Jones. Although the novel was written in third person, Orwell had still narrated from the animals' perspective. As a result, since Mr. Jones was the common enemy that the animals were against, the reader easily learnt to despise him. This is Orwell's exact intention, as his anti-totalitarian political views opposed those of the czars, who were autocrats, so naturally, Nicholas was condemned by Orwell. Since Animal Farm was such a success and all the negative connotations Orwell had used to criticize Nicholas were so effective, he was able to make the reader oppose Nicholas as well.