How does Orwell use 'allegory' in 'Animal Farm'?

It is always wise to open an answer on literary device with a definition. Allegory refers to a narrative or section of writing which 'conceals' or 'symbolizes' a parallel or secondary meaning. Then, refer to the social and historical context of the text: 'Animal Farm' is read widely as an allegory for the creation, and faults, of the Stalinist regime in Russia. Your introduction should foreground that you understand the basic terms of the question and their relation to the specific text ('Animal Farm').You should continue to note specific examples: which characters stand for which figures, and how does the description of these characters reflect on the real-life figures. Your essay, then, should focus not only on 'how' but 'why'. Why, for example, did Orwell choose to write an allegorical text rather than attack the regime in direct prose? One way of approaching this question is to point out that literature often works through comparison: simile, metaphor and allegory. The reader comes to understand concepts, and criticisms, better through these mechanisms of comparison. An example of this would be the figure of the pig. Orwell takes the Soviet caricature of the Capitalist and turns it back on the Communist, and as such, he demonstrates the hypocritical language and propaganda of the Soviet regime.