Social commentary is sometimes found at the heart of good art, whether that art form is literature or popular music. The novel, Animal Farm by George Orwell, and the rock album, Animals written and performed by Pink Floyd share the same characteristic of scathing social commentary. The artworks also share an animal metaphor that serves to cast a dark light on human social interactions and stratification functions. Conversely, the artworks individually attack the diametrically opposed, socio-economic systems of communism (by Orwell) and capitalism (by Roger Waters). The artworks are individually astounding, but when viewed in tandem, alludes to the idea that socio-economic systems are still evolving and in time the terms capitalism and communism will be thought as ineffective as feudalism.
The shared characteristics of social commentary and animal metaphor literally, are what make these particular artworks the amazing examples of their respective genres that they are. The animal metaphor tends to depict humans as being motivated by our animalistic desires, as well as the tendency among ourselves to be highly competitive and often, ruthless. In Animal Farm, Orwell puts the pigs as being the leaders, or the exploiters of the masses, depending on your point of view. Waters does the same in Animals, depicting the pigs as uncaring, self-involved, and overbearing masters of the masses. In both works, dogs are an enforcer-type, driven either by a sense of patriotism, honor, and pride, but also those misanthropes who relish in the power they have been given and enjoy abusing those weaker than themselves. The sheep are a shared characteristic of both works, depicting them as easily manipulated and led to the slaughter.
The works diverge from one another in which philosophy they individually espouse. Orwell’s novel is an obvious attack against communism. The pig characters of the novel represent the political figures of the early days of the Soviet Union. Orwell goes on to depict the system of the so-called “class-less” society as an incredible failure, while time would ultimately prove his early analysis as being correct. Any large-scale, highly organized society in all of human history has required social stratification, and Russia of the early twentieth century would prove to be no different. As with any society, those with power have been and still are tempted to abuse that power for their own individual ends, often at the expense of those that have granted them their power. Capitalism is not immune from this inherent flaw in social stratification either.
Animal Farm by George Orwell is a novel based on the lives of a society of animals living on the Manor Farm. Although the title of the book suggests the book is merely about animals, the story is a much more in depth analysis of the workings of society in Communist Russia. The animals are used as puppets to illustrate how the communist class system operated and how Russian citizens responded to this. And also how propaganda was used by early Russian leaders such as Stalin, and the effort this type of leadership had on the behavior of the people of Russia.
live on Earth but used for slavery in space. They have a life span of
Jem was the brother of Scout he was very brave and adventurous and loved to try new things. Jem was four years older than Scout and was drifting away from her he didn’t want to play her little games anymore. Jem and Scout had over the summer made a best friend nick named Dill his real name was Charles Baker Harris. Dill becomes very attracted to Scout and promises her he’s going to marry her. The three children over the summer spent most of everyday with each other acting out things they have read. They were the best of friends and whenever they were bored Dill would come up with something crazy for them to do. Later in the summe...
black or white. But this is a truth that applies to the human race and
Power is authority and strength, which is any form of motive force or energy, ability to act, or control. When too much power is given, a dictatorship government can form, in which all decisions are made by one authority. In the book Animal Farm, by George Orwell the author portrays how “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely” (Lord Acton).
Because Iago had the public perception of being an honest man, Othello couldn’t ignore his
Iago is the main antagonists against Othello, throughout the entire play. Iago is not realistically motivated. Even though Iago makes many of his decisions with careful thought, he does have a main flaw that will come back to haunt him in the end. Iago unlike other characters, doesn’t have true honorable morals. Because of this, he makes many situations which are manageable, and takes them further out of proportion he does this for his own pure enjoyment to create havoc for sport. Iago manipulates the characters who trust too easily, such are Roderigo and Othello. Iago uses them as an addition to his plans, which he manages so they will work in his favor in the end, or so he believes they will.
The beginning of the play, Iago was just resentful and odious because of the the jealously he had
Iago, like Satan, has proved himself to be a master at deception. He lies to everyone taking great care to disguise his own thoughts. For example, in Act 1, scene 2, when he is speaking to Othello about his feelings toward Cassio, he uses very strong language of a manly soldier, while at the same time, he lies throughout the whole speech faking loyalty to a fellow soldier and all the while implying that he is reluctantly holding back the full truth: "I had rather have this tongue cut from my mouth/ Than it should do offense to Michael Cassio" (I.ii.21-22). This deception impresses and convinces Othello that his ensign is a good and loyal soldier. Iago also succeeds in deceiving Cassio. After Cassio's drunken fight, Iago counsels him to speak to Desdimona about trying to convince Othello to reinstate him as lieutenant, all th...
A Comparison of Tukerys Observed by Seamus Heaney and View of a Pig by Ted Hughes
It is uncommon for a person to be maliciously evil without cause or motive. A cause or motive is what drive many people to do malicious things. One characteristic that I might share with Iago is self-centered. I understand what Iago went through, but it still does not give him the right to ruin someone’s life. I would go as far as I possibly can to achieve my goals. I would not go as far as Iago did to achieve his goals. I would not kill or ruin someone else’s life just to achieve my personal goals. Even though I can be self-centered, I do care about other people’s life, especially if my decisions would impact their lives in a negative
Animal Farm satirizes the Russian revolution and magnifies the flaws of communism and totalitarianism in the composition of a fairy tale. The book “Animal Farm,” was published in 1945, by George Orwell. Orwell writes to show the result of all people being equal…”but some are more equal than others.” Through a third person perspective Orwell clearly depicts the naïve loyalty of the individuals to the leaders, and the deceptive manipulation by the leading positions. Orwell puts communism and totalitarianism under a microscope and exposes the realistic outcomes these society’s produce, while satirizing with a fairy-tale story of talking animals and tyrannical pigs.
...nced by motives and he was not just evil. There must be motive to spark evil and in Iago's case the fact that he was losing what seemed to be respect and accountability from the people of Venice and his friends, drove him to hate.
Animal Farm, a novel by George Orwell, was a story of courage and corrupt government. It was set on a farm in England. This setting is very important to the story itself and the characters in it. It made the plot a lot more interesting and influenced all the characters.
Writers often use social criticism in their books to show corruptness or weak points of a group in society. One way of doing this is allegory which is a story in which figures and actions are symbols of general truths. George Orwell is an example of an author who uses allegory to show a social criticism effectively. As in his novel Animal Farm, Orwell makes a parody of Soviet Communism as demonstrated by Animal Farm's brutal totalitarian rule, manipulated and exploited working class, and the pigs' evolution into the capitalists they initially opposed.