“All animals are equal.” Animal Farm’s conception is based on the tenants of animalism – all four-legged and winged creatures are valuable and have the right to be liberated from slavery to a human master. They are acknowledged to have different strengths, yes – the pigs have great intelligence, while Boxer is strong and hard-working, and Clover embodies maternal compassion. Yet none of these gifts make one animal superior to another, and they are used to pursue the protection of the weaker animals and the betterment of the farm. In establishing a societal hierarchy of animals, Napoleon betrays these ideals, and becomes like the humans he once despised. As the pigs assume the privileges humanity alone has long held, Animal Farm comes full circle and the animals are plunged back into subordination and servitude to cleverer creatures.
Jones is not merely a typical human, who considers himself above the animals and forces them to work, but still feeds them adequately and cares for them. He is an impoverished alcoholic who often forgets to feed his animals or consider their basic needs. This is what had provoked the animals to rebel in the first place: “He immediately went to sleep … so that when evening came, the animals were still unfed. They could stand it no longer.” When the pigs begin to rule the other animals, they emulate the characteristics of a kind, understanding farmer. They are the intellects of the farm, they explain, and therefore deserve certain privileges, but the working animals are never unjustly deprived of their rations and rest. This changes, as the building of the windmill leaves less time for harvesting food. Napoleon realizes that to continue to give each animal its rightful share would mean tha...
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Animal farm begins as an exciting new idea, envisioned to be greater than any that have come before. When the pigs first appoint themselves as leaders, they honestly believe in Old Major’s vision, and wish to do what is best for all animals. The lure of unrestrained temper this wish, and influence the pigs to increasingly adopt the attitudes of Mr. Jones. They believe that their intelligence and ability to strategize gives them the right to rule the other animals as they like, with disregard for anything that does not affect themselves. Eventually, the relations between pigs and other animals become identical to those previously between humans and all animals. The carefully formulated Commandments governing the realization of an egalitarian society are reduced to one: “All animals are equal. But some animals are more equal than others.”
Farmer Jones using a combination of strength, fear and trickery initially dominated the animals at Animal Farm. Despite the animal rebellion, the leaders of the revolution become corrupted by their power and in turn dominate their fellow animals using the same traits. As a result the lives of the animals have not significantly changed. George Orwell illustrates how people’s complacency and ignorance contribute to the rise of dictators and allow themselves to tolerate oppression.
A wise boar, Old Major, expresses a dream of a world where animals live with no human oppression to the rest of the animals in Manor Farm. However, only three days after his speech, he dies, leaving three younger pigs to take over his place and lead the other animals toward Major’s dream. They create the Seven Commandments of Animalism, which set values against acting human-like, and paint them on the wall of the barn. One night, the animals succeed in rebelling against Mr. Jones, the owner of the farm. Initially, farming goes well after the rebellion. However, one of the power-hungry pigs, Napoleon, begins to run a totalitarian dictatorship with an eloquent pig, Squealer, by his side. He also trains puppies, whom he takes from their parents, into vicious guard dogs and uses them to enforce his plans. One by one, the Seven Commandments are broken and altered by Napoleon, who gradually acts more and more human-like. Finally, only one rule remains on the barn wall, “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others” (Orwell 133). Napoleon and the other pigs eventually walk upright, wear clothing, indulge in alcohol, and even sleep on beds (all of which were originally forbidden in the Seven Commandments), while the other animals work all day with little food. By the end of the book, the other farm animals can no longer tell the difference between the pigs and humans when other human farmers are invited over for dinner. “The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which” (Orwell 139).
Napoleon’s method of victimizing the animals with his physiological attacks allows for his control over Animal Farm and its animal population. Napoleon initially bombards the animals with propaganda and thus conditions and enslaves them to his subjective ideals. Afterward, Napoleon’s implement of expert power overwhelms the animals and subjugates them to him. Finally, the animals are controlled by Napoleon as they are besieged with his coercive powers. Overall,
In this novel, the animals rebel against the farmer and take control of the farm. Because the pigs were thought to be more intelligent than any of they other animals, they take on the leadership roles. However, “[t]he pigs did not actually work, but directed and supervised the others. With their superior knowledge it was natural that they should assume the leadership” (Orwell 16). The pigs do not do any of the actual physical labor. Instead, they tell those who are doing the actual labor what to do. “Throughout the spring and summer they worked a sixty-hour week, and in August Napoleon announced that there would be work on Sunday afternoons as well. This work was strictly voluntary, but any animal who absented himself from it would have his rations reduced by half” (Orwell 93). After Napoleon gains control of the farm, he begins to rule through cruelty and treachery. The choices he makes mainly benefit him rather than all of the animals on the farm. He wants control of the farm and will do whatever it takes to get it. One choice Napoleon makes is to take nine puppies from their parents and begin raising them for himself. When they reappear, they act at his personal police protecting him. He feels that the animals will
When the Clover and Muriel notice that the commandments of Animal Farm have been changing, Squealer assures the animals that no such action has been done and warns them that Mr. Jones may come back if the pigs did not get enough of their “necessities” for work. These “necessities” for work are merely just an excuse the pigs harness to deceive the other animals, who are not as intelligent, so that the pigs themselves can indulge the human creations that is originally created by animal effort. This endless greed and self-benefitting mindset is one of the reasons why Animal Farm fails to become the utopia, not only Old Major wants, but the utopia that all the animals fought for. In addition, after the Fredericks dynamite the windmill, Boxer, who receives major wounds, is sold to the Glue Boiler only to allow the pigs to “acquire the money to buy themselves another case of whisky” (Orwell 126). Boxer, one of Animal Farm’s most loyal workers is sold to the Horse slaughterer so that the pigs could self-indulge in a case of whisky. This government could not become any more corrupt as to not give their most hardworking subordinate a proper retirement or even an honorable burial. Overall, it is the manifestation of greed and selfishness that drives Animal Farm to corruption and
Pigs walking on two feet, horses and sheep talking. This is how George Orwell satirizes human nature in his classic novel Animal Farm. Animal Farm is an allegory of the Russian Revolution of 1917. The title of the book is also the setting for the action in the novel. The animals in the story decide to have a revolution and take control of the farm from the humans. Soon the story shows us how certain groups move from the original ideals of the revolution to a situation where there is domination by one group and submission by all the others. The major idea in this story is the political corruption of what was once a pure political ideal. Orwell uses satire to ridicule human traits in his characters such as Napoleon and Squealer. There are several different characters in the novel utilizing animals as symbols of people in real life during the Russian Revolution. Napoleon is the leader of the pigs that ultimately come to dominate the farm. The characteristics that we associate with pigs , lazy, greedy, and pushy are meant to symbolize the characteristics that the leaders of the Russian Revolution exhibited. Napoleon is admired by all of the animals because he is their leader. All of the animals believe that their leader wants to fulfill all of their needs. They also are convinced that Napoleon’s decisions are made the best interest of the animals. Napoleon’s piglike qualities are shown throughout the story. He exhibited greediness when he sold the dying horse, Boxer to a slaughterhouse for money so that he and the other pigs could purchase whiskey. Orwell ridicules human nature through Napoleon in the sense that he is trying to show how the greedy and power hungry eventually end in corruption.
George Orwell’s Animal Farm was published August 17, 1945 in England which is also where the setting of the book is derived. It is a fiction novel based largely around the Russian Revolution and Dictator Joseph Stalin as many of Orwell’s works were. He uses animals to represent the people of the revolution because he did not want it to completely obvious of what the idea of the novel was.
Animal Farm, written by George Orwell, is a dystopian allegory. Its book cover sports a red and black background, with a pig (presumably Snowball) sneaking in front of a windmill. Set in Manor Farm, a group of farm animals are mistreated by their owner, Mr. Jones. Shortly before Old Major, an old, highly-respected pig, dies, he tells all the animals to revolt against Mr. Jones. After his death, and shortly after, the expulsion of Mr. Jones, leadership on the farm is divided between Snowball and Napoleon, two intelligent pigs who utilize conflicting methods of rule. Initially, they held equal sway among the other, less intelligent residents of the farm. However, when Snowball, a passionate speaker, tried to convince the farm to build a windmill to make their lives easier, Napoleon set vicious dogs he had raised himself to drive Snowball out of the farm. Justifying this by saying the windmill was a useless idea that would overburden the farm, Napoleon takes sole authority of the farm, leading the animals in an increasingly harsh manner. Ironically, Napoleon also makes a plan to build a...
Like a snake, Napoleon cheated his way through words and overthrew Snowball, only to find out he would steal his justifying ideas after he attained enough authority. Consequently, Napoleon’s corrupt power is evident when the author asserts, “Throughout the spring and summer they worked a sixty-hour week, and in August Napoleon announced that there would be work on Sunday afternoon as well. This work was strictly voluntary, but any animal who absented himself from it would have his rations reduced by half” (Orwell 29). This is captivating for it exemplifies Napoleon’s tarnished power for he was voluntarily forcing his comrades to work for food on their plate. By withholding food rations, Napoleon has control over all of the animals as food is crucial resource to survival. He promises more food, yet he abused the animals’ inability to remember as a mean of regulating distribution. Subsequently, Napoleon wasn’t barring there, “In April, Animal Farm was proclaimed a Republic, and it became necessary to elect a President. There was only one candidate, Napoleon, who was elected unanimously” (Orwell 54). How fortunate must’ve Napoleon been to inherit full authorization on Animal Farm. Once Napoleon orders the execution of the pigs and the hens, there is an immediate descent into supplementary betrayal, which leads to Boxer’s passing and
Mr. Jones was unable to defeat the animals, therefore the animals got a boost of confidence. Now at this point Mollie runs away and Snowball begins his plans for a windmill. When Snowball’s plans are finished, Napoleon’s dog’s start to chase him off the farm. The farm just lost the best leader they could have had. They loose their chance to give input on what direction the farm should go, and Napoleon begings blaming Snowball for all the things that he did not do. Now Napoleon sets the animals to work on Sundays again and acquires Mr. Whymper as the farm’s broker. Napoleon starts to sell some of the farm’s produce. And the pigs start sleeping one hour later, and in beds. Then the windmill gets blown over and Snowball gets the blame. At this point the pigs still continue to abuse the power and stealing from the other animals.
So ever since the animals started to take control of the farm and the animals they finished up changing everything. The animals even ended up changing the farms name from “Manor Farm” to “Animal Farm”. But out of all the animals in the farm the smartest animals were the pigs. And the meanest pig out of all of them was Napoleon. Everything was a mess in the farm ever since the pigs got rid of Mr. Jones. Later on Mr. Jones tires to come back and get back his farm but the pigs did not let him.
George Orwell’s Animal Farm is a political satire of a totalitarian society ruled by a mighty dictatorship, in all probability a fable for the events surrounding the Russian Revolution of 1917. The animals of “Manor Farm” overthrow their human master after a long history of mistreatment. Led by the pigs, the farm animals continue to do their work, only with more pride, knowing that they are working for themselves, as opposed to working for humans. Little by little, the pigs become dominant, gaining more power and advantage over the other animals, so much so that they become as corrupt and power-hungry as their predecessors, the humans.
This story Animal Farm by George Orwell is a novel about an animal revolution over an oppressive farmer. The irony in the story comes when the pigs turn into the very thing revolted against. They exhibit the same cruelty by treating the other animals the same or even worse than previous owners. This cycle of cruelty is shown in the Russian revolution by Joseph Stalin who is represented by Napoleon in the story. Cruelty in animal farm is shown by the human’s treatment of the animals, and the animal’s eventual treatment of each other and the ironic characteristics of the two.
Another inequality on the farm was that only the pigs slept in the farmhouse. Not only that, but even among the pigs there was inequality. Napoleon had Jones’ bedroom all to himself. The usual excuse was given, that the pigs needed extra rest, because they had to organize everything and such, but the end result was that all the pigs lived in the comfort of a house, while the rest of the animals had to sleep on hay in the barn.
In conclusion, in the novel ‘Animal Farm’, the dream of animals to have a better or a more perfect society, transforms into a totalitarian nightmare mainly due to the actions of the pigs. Yet in a way, the other animals are also responsible for that as they could not stand consistently for their dream. Thus ultimately, they become the victims of the totalitarianism of the pigs and loose their freedom and happiness.