Imagine a world where everyone is equal: everyone has the same goods, everyone respects each other, no one kills anyone and no authority rises above others to give dictated orders. Sounds wonderful, doesn't it? George Orwell's haunting book Animal Farm, however, shows the near impossibility of making this idea a reality. In this fairy tale, a group of oppressed farm animals revolt against the tyrannical bonds of their evil master Farmer Jones, chase him from the farm, and attempt to create a society based on the idea listed above. But instead of having this amazing society, the pigs decide to create one where they are the ultimate authority. This book highlights the dangers of trying to establish an egalitarian society under the ideas of communism, and also features poignant symbolic characters that present historical figures in a new light. Although the two words are not named in Animal Farm, communism and totalitarianism are two things that are explored immensely in this book. Communism is defined by Webster's Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language as: "a theory or system of social organization based on the holding of all property in common, with actual ownership being assigned to the community as a whole or to the State”. Furthermore, totalitarianism is defined as “absolute control exercised by the state or a ruling branch of a highly centralized institution.” At the start of their rebellion, the animals were undoubtedly moving toward the ideal communism, where all animals were treated equal and had everything in common. They wanted all animals on the farm to have equal opportunity and an equal voice. In fact, their legal system that they started at the beginning contained on the 7th Commandment the words: "Everything...... middle of paper......animal farm turns out to be a symbolic book and understanding. In its pages we can see the contrast between a supposedly communist state where everyone is equal and the same, and how, ultimately, this only leads to a total dictatorial establishment of totalitarianism, where everything is controlled by one elite group. Although Animal Farm was created with the idea that all animals were equal, in the end the voices of the scheming pigs were the only ones heard. Second, the book powerfully symbolizes the key characters who appeared in the story. It shows how Karl Marx affected the communist movement in the character of Old Major, and also shows the type of government that lights the fuse of a revolution in the temperate character of Farmer Jones. Although dark and menacing, Animal Farm depicts a very brutal but truthful view of the dangers when a society moves towards the ideas of communism..