Allegory, fable and satire

Animal Farm is an allegory of the 1917 Russian Revolution and the following years of Stalin’s regime. The novel is a beast fable following the tradition of the fables by Aesop, Phaedrus and Jean de La Fontaine, and the legacy¹ of English-speaking satirists such as Jonathan Swift, Alexander Pope and Charles Dickens.
An allegory is a work of written, oral or visual expression that uses symbolic figures, objects, and actions to convey² truths or generalisations about human behaviour or experience.
A fable ³ is a short story that teaches a moral lesson, especially one with animals as characters. In a fable, characters often personify abstract concepts or types.
A satire is a piece of writing which criticizes a person, an idea or an institution using humör and/or irony.
In the form of simple fables or complex narrative, symbolic allegory has frequently been used to represent political and historical situations and has long been popular as a vehicle for satire.