Animal Farm by George Orwell

The original dream of Animalism was not to just have animals successfully run a farm, but to live by certain rules. Rules such as, all animals are equal, no animal shall kill another, and no animals shall drink, wear clothes, sleep in a bed, or do anything else that has to do with humans. This dream was a failure, because Napoleon disobeyed all of these rules throughout the story of Animal Farm. The dream of Animalism failed because of Napoleon’s selfish nature, and inability to abide by rules that he found inconvenient.

From the very beginning, Napoleon started breaking the commandment that stated all animals are equal. He had all the milk and apples set aside for the pigs. He put forth the idea that the pigs depended on these things for survival, and that it was in the interest of the entire farm that they be set aside for them. The others were convinced by Squealer’s arguments that

“Milk and apples (this has been proven by Science, comrades) contain substances absolutely necessary to the well being of a pig”, and reminding them they didn’t want Jones back.

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.

The biggest inequality on Animal Farm was that none of the animals had any say against the word of Napoleon. It was an absolute dictatorship. After Snowball was expelled from the farm, Napoleon annoucned that there would be no more Sunday meetings, in which decisions had always been debated. Instead, they would all just assemble to receive orders for the week. When some of the younger pigs began to protest,

“the dogs sitting round Napoleon let out deep, menacing growls, and the pigs fell silent and sat down again.”

From then on, Napoleon had complete control over the farm. Anyone who went against him would no doubt feel the wrath of his army of dogs. Eventually, Napoleon went so far as to change the ...

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...sp; Lastly, near the end of Animal Farm, Napoleon had several men over to the farm as his guests. This was not a business meeting, in which necessary trades were made, it was a social gathering, in which Napoleon could show off the farm, and how successful it had become. Napoleon made a toast,

“Gentlement, here is my toast: To the prosperity of the Manor Farm!”,

After which they resumed their game of poker. Not only were the humans no longer enemies, they were friends.

How could a way of life be considered successful when every single principal and ideal has been ignored, broken and changed? In the beginning, Animalism was about equality among animals, freedom, and rebellion against humans. In the end, the animals were even more underfed and overworked, the farm existed in alliance with human farms, and to the animals who did physical labour, which included all but the pigs, nothing had improved. Napoleon controlled the farm with his dogs, he organized all contact with humans, and he both allowed and instigated all breaking of the commandments. Animalism was a complete failure, and Napoleon was directly responsible.