George Orwell's Animal Farm As A Dystopian Society

George Orwell’s Animal Farm as a Dystopian Society

A utopian society is an imagined ideal place in which everybody is equal, especially in its social, political, and moral aspects. George Orwell recognizes that a utopian society is unrealistic, and uses Animal Farm to demonstrate this. The animals of Animal Farm segregate by their competence, becoming unequal from one another. Some animals become more powerful than others, which leads them into corruption. Particularly, the intelligent animals are the ones who take on more power, as well as use their intelligence to manipulate the others. George Orwell’s Animal Farm is a definite representation of how a utopian society is beyond capabilities, due to abuse of power, intelligence, and differences

This power leads to corruption, demolishing their ideal utopian society like napoleon who had gotten the taste of power and the pigs where the power turned into something they didn’t want to be. In the beginning of the novel, all of the animals agree to the “Seven Commandments” and respect them. One of them was “No animal shall kill any other animal” (43). After all the power Napoleon was consumed by, he and some of the pigs would call upon animals to confess their crimes, and slaughtered those who did. “When it was all over, the remaining animals, except for the pigs and dogs, crept away in a body. They were shaken and miserable. They did not know which was more shocking- the treachery of the animals who had leagued themselves with snowball, or the cruel retribution they had just witnessed,” (93). None of the animals of the farm would have ever thought that one of their own would do such a thing. Napoleon started off as an innocent animal who wanted to fight for the equality and rights the animals deserved, but somewhere along the way, he gets carried away with the power, and becomes selfish. The remaining pigs become exactly like the humans who had once been their enemies. At first, the pigs state “Four legs good, two legs bad.”, however, they gradually develop human-like characteristics. “Twelve voices were shouting in anger, and they were all alike. No question, now, what had happened to the faces of

Squealer who took advantage of the animals the laws that were changed and how the conniving pigs were able to get away from their own broken rules. Fristly Squealer explains to the animals that the pigs are under control and that because they are the brainworkers, the whole management and organisation of the farm depends on them. Squealer is the brilliant talker of the farm, and uses this to manipulate the animals. “It is for your sake that we drink the milk and eat those apples. Do you know what would happen if we pigs failed in our duty? Jones would come back!” (53). When he puts it in this light, the animals agree without any argument, as they each know the importance of the pigs’ health. Squealer uses the animals’ fear of Jones to manipulate them into doing what he wishes. Furthermore, the pigs change the laws, yet they convince the animals that they have not, and the animals assume that because of their intelligence, they must be right. “The animals reassured him on this point immediately, and no more was said about the pigs sleeping in the farmhouse beds. And when, some days afterwards, it was announced that from now on the pigs would get up an hour later in the mornings than the other animals, no complaint was made about that either,” (80). The pigs break all of their rules, yet manage to trick their way out of it, and because the animals recognize them as