Animal Farm Compared To Today

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Animal Farm by George Orwell is about the lives of animals on Manor Farm who one day revolt and take the farm for their own naming it “Animal Farm”. These animals set up their own set of commandments to follow based the ideas that the oldest boar on the farm, named Old Major, had taught them called Animalism. This idea was to be the basis for their own society. However, not all goes their way as another boar named Napoleon soon takes over the farm and turns it into a totalitarian government. The whole story of Animal Farm can be compared to the Russian Revolution, but can also be compared to other countries and their leaders today. Many of these themes focus on addressing numerous issues in certain governments and societies in today’s world. …show more content…

Napoleon uses the smaller pig named Squealer as propaganda himself and as an extension of his own will that he wishes to impose upon the animals. Therefore, it can be inferred that Squealer is a symbol of the propaganda that leaders use to gain control over their people. There are many instances in the story in which Squealer either lies about the animal’s current conditions or glorifies Napoleon in some way. One example of this is when Squealer is trying to persuade the other animals into thinking that it was Napoleon who charged into battle during the battle of Cowshed and not Snowball. During this he says, “And do you not remember, too, that it was just at that moment, when panic was spreading and all seemed lost, that Comrade Napoleon sprang forward with a cry of ‘Death to Humanity!’ and sank his teeth in Jones’s leg” (Orwell 81)? This not only implants false memories into the animals, but is also used to acclaim Napoleon as a hero. This reinforces the whole “Napoleon is always right” motto into their heads. It makes him out to be the good guy and makes it seem like he is someone to admire. Through Squealer, Napoleon is a able to use deception and influence to keep the peace on the …show more content…

It does this by using animals to represent historical figures like Joseph Stalin and Leon Trotsky to draw attention to the problems during the Russian Revolution. However, the same themes and ideas in the story can still be applied to today’s world. There are a still people like Kim Jong-un, the leader of North Korea, that use their power to keep people clueless as to what is going on in their country and other parts of the world. In North Korea, the dictator Kim Jong-un uses a few of the tactics that Napoleon employs to keep his people under his control and to keep them from revolting against him. He also has been known to starve his people like how Napoleon starved the animals in the story. The citizens of North Korea are lead into believing that the United States and their military are their number one enemy just as Napoleon lead the animals into believing that Snowball was their enemy. The similarities do not stop there, Kim Kong-Un also uses various forms of propaganda to persuade the North Korean people into respecting him and looking up to him as more than just a human. Most students in North Korea, some as early as kindergarten, spend up to 171 hours learning about Kim Jong-un (www.thesun.co.uk). There are not any schools in Animal Farm, but Napoleon does idolize himself in a similar way by having a poem made simply about how great he is. Both Napoleon and Kim are

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