Innocence and Oppressiveness in Fahrenheit 451 and Animal Farm

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In the book Fahrenheit 451 and the book Animal Farm characters who are unaware of their surroundings allow for characters such as Beatty, Mr. Jones, and Napoleon to take over. Often times it is necessary for an oppressive power to be forceful in order to take over. Hitler is a leader who used force to take over the German people. In the case of both of these books the naïveté groups of people are used for their ignorance for the benefit of the leaders, and physical power is not required. Animal Farm and Fahrenheit 451 both have a group of naïve people who share the inability to question power, possess loyalty, and stupidity.

In Animal Farm and Fahrenheit 451 the naiveté groups failed to question their authority’s power. In the book Animal Farm Boxer is a horse that suffers from the working class’s major weakness of, continuous trust within their leader’s ability to make good decisions. The blinded horse Boxer doesn’t see the palpable forms of political corruption. Boxer is described to have great strength and to plead a never ending cry of “I will work harder!” (Orwell 85). Boxers cry only more describes his ignorance to the oppressive power. He states his willingness to work harder after being criticized because he takes everything as his own fault and it never seems to cross his mind that his chief could be in the wrong. A willing to please is common among several of the characters in both books. Montage from Fahrenheit 451 has the job of a fireman burning books. His job is to destroy knowledge and to promote ignorance. Information is one way people can begin to form their own beliefs and opinions. Knowledge is destroyed to create an environment where an oppressive government can thrive. Montage works as a Fireman for y...

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...heit 451 make for a naive group who supply for a harsh government. Characters like Boxer and Mildred are ignorant to their oppressive leaders and see no harm in what they are being taught is right. Beatty from Fahrenheit 451 is a domineering leader and is eventually killed. Mr. Jones is also a cruel leader and he was run out of the farm by all the animals’ very early on in the book Animal Farm. The place for an oppressive power can be easily found when characters are so ignorant and coherent to rules. It is because of characters like the ones in Fahrenheit 451 and Animal Farm who uphold such behaviors that a harsh government with selfish leaders can prevail.

Works Cited

Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. New York: The Random house Publishing Group, 1950.

Orwell, George. Animal Farm. New York: Penguin Group, 1946.

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