Abstract:English writer George Orwell’s Animal Farm is regarded as one of the 20th century. This story describes the incubation, emergence and final metamorphosis of an “animalistic” revolution. Orwell as a firm socialist, after the disillusionment brought by the Spanish civil war, with symbolism, the harsh criticism of Stalin’s totalitarian system trampled on socialist ideals. Animal Farm is a pretty good example. And in the Animal Farm, the author uses a lot of symbolism to make the theme of the works sublimate further. Therefore, this paper, taking animal manor as the corpus, tries to study this political fable novel from the point of view of symbolism. This paper analyzes the symbol of characters, the symbol of the scenes, and the symbol of objects. Combined with the background of writing, we can understand the purpose of symbolism, and conclude that symbolism plays a role in deepening the theme. The aim is to guide people to understand the true meaning of symbolism in literary works, and the essence of the greatest reduction of symbolism. To encourage readers to dig a new realm and new possibilities for the development of symbolism in China.

Key words:  Themes； Animal Farm；Symbolism

摘要:英国作家乔治.奥威尔（1903-1950）的《动物庄园》被公认为20世纪最杰出的政治寓言小说之一。本故事描述了一场“动物主义”革命的酝酿，兴起和最终蜕变，从而建立起一个自己管理自己的家园。奥威尔作为一个坚实的社会主义者，经历了西班牙内战带给他的幻灭之后，辛辣的批判了斯大林主义极权体制对社会主义理想的践踏。《动物庄园》则是一个很好的例证。并且在《动物庄园》中，作者大量运用象征主义手法，使作品主题得到了进一步的升华。

    因此本论文以《动物庄园》为语料，试从象征主义角度出发，研究这篇政治寓言小说。本文从动物的象征，情节的象征以及事物的象征进行分析，结合作品的写作背景来了解作者运用象征手法的目的，在最后，本文通过深刻的分析和总结，得出结论:象征主义对深化主题的作用。目的在于引导人们了解文学作品中象征主义的真正含义，且最大还原象征主义的精髓所在。以此来激励读者为象征主义在中国的发展开掘新境界与新可能。

关键词：主题；《动物庄园》；象征主义

Contents

Abstract

中文摘要

1 Introduction-1

1.1 Animal Farm and Orwell-1

1.2 Literature Review-1

1.2.1 Literature Review Abroad-2

1.2.2  Literature Review at Home-3

1.3 The Purpose and Significance of the Thesis-3

2 Theory of Symbolism-3

2.1 The Origin of Symbolism-7

2.2 The definition of symbolism-7

2.3 Significance of symbolism in literature-8

3. The Symbolic Element in Animal Farm-9

3.1 Symbol of Characters-9

3.1.1 symbol of the Pigs-9

3.1.2 Symbol of other Animals-13

3.2 Symbol of Scene-14

3.2.1 Symbol of the Farmhouse-15

3.2.2 Symbol of the Other Farms-15

3.2.3 Symbol of the Sugar Candy Mountain-16

3.3 Symbol of Objects-17

3.3.1 Symbol of the Slogans-17

3.3.2 Symbol of the Windmill-19

4 Function of Symbols in Animal Farm-20

4.1 Themes of Animal Farm-20

4.2 The Function of Deepening the Theme-21

5 Conclusion-23

References-24

Acknowledgements-26