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Animal Farm In the book, Animal Farm written by George Orwell, the animals raise up in rebellion against their human masters in hope for a better life. However, the quote by Lord Acton, a British historian, describes it best: "Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely." This is basically what happens. The pigs realize their intellectual superiority, and use it to their advantage. When this happens, they began to take advantage of the entire society of animals. The pigs of the story sacrifice the good of the whole just for the benefit and pleasure of their selves. To begin with, the story starts when the animals in Manor Farm stage a rebellion against the humans after a rousing speech from Major, a very respected boar in the farm. They chase their human master, Mr. Jones, away and begin to run the farm themselves. At first, all goes well. With Mr. Jones gone, the animals believe they now own the farm collectively, and that they are all equal. The Seven Commandments are soon set up to act as the governing laws for the animals. Among the commandments are "no animal shall kill another animal", "all animals are equal" and "whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy". It is soon decided that the pigs are the most intelligent, and shall be the "brainworkers". Among the pigs, two leaders emerge - Snowball and Napoleon. Problems arise when Snowball and Napoleon disagree on the plan to build a windmill on the farm. Snowball, a talented speaker, easily gains the support of most of the animals. But, unfortunately for him, Napoleon plays dirty and Snowball is chased away from the farm. From here, everything in the farm starts to change. Public debates are abolished and the animals have to take orders from Napoleon. All the animals, except the pigs and dogs, are made to extremely strenuous labor. Their food ration decreases while the pigs grow fatter. Despite this, they are still convinced that life is much better than before when in fact the living condition that they were suffering now were worse than when Mr. Jones had been running the farm. Everything that goes wrong in the farm is blamed on Snowball. He becomes the invisible enemy whose threat is constantly present. For example, when the windmill falls down for the first time, Napoleon, using his cunning, blames it out Snowball, making the animals hate him all the worse.
Animal Farm is a story of the struggle for freedom and power. It takes place on a farm in England called Manor Farm. There are many different kinds of animals on the farm; these animals include horses, geese, dogs, cats, sheep, and pigs, which are the most intelligent of all the animals. The story starts out when old Major, an old, wise pig, calls a meeting in the barn. He tells the animals about a dream he has. The dream was about how the animals should rebel against the leader of the farm, Mr. Jones. He tells them that in the dream he remembered a song called Beasts of England. The song is about how the animals should rebel against the humans. He teaches the animals the song and tells them that he is going to die soon. A few weeks later old Major dies. The animals hold secret meetings about the rebellion a couple times a week. None of the animals really expected the rebellion to happen any time soon, but it happened before anyone expected. Mr. Jones started to neglect the animals, and one day the animals decided that they had enough. A cow broke into the building where the food was kept, and all of the animals decided to get some food. Mr. Jones and some of his helpers came out with whips as started lashing the animals, but were caught by surprise when the animals started to fight back. The men fled in panic, and before anyone realized it, the rebellion had begun.
hour's sleep in order to hear what he had to say". Old Major was a
Animal Farm portrays many facets of the Communist revolution in Russia; however the book and the movie are both set on a farm in England in the 1950‘s. The book starts with Old Major, the founder of animalism, explaining how the animal rebellion would be coming soon and everyone should be preparing for the revolution. According to the book he died of old age but in the movie he was hit by a bullet from Mr. Jones’s shotgun causing Old Major to fall out of the hay loft and break his neck. Later Napoleon and Snowball come to prepare the animals for the coming revolution. Jones was a drunk and his workers did not always feed the animals regularly so one night Jones to the men out for drinks and they did not return for three days, and when he did return he still did not feed the animals. The animals took it upon themselves to break into the food storage and feed themselves and they were happy until Jones heard the noise they were making and went in there to see what was going on and when he tried to stop them they all attack him at once and chased him and his men of the property and then it was all theirs. Snowball started right away showing them the ways of animalism and stating that they were rules to live by. Snowball wrote The Seven Commandments of Animalism which are as follows: whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy, whatever goes upon four legs or has wings is a friend, no animal shall wear clothes, no animal shal...
It was the glorious speech from Old Major that made the animals want to rebel so badly. Animal Farm, written by George Orwell is an excellent novel that portrays the need for power. It shows how power can be used for either good or evil. The story begins on Manor Farm, owned by a farmer named Mr. Jones. One of the pigs, named Old Major, gives a speech that motivates the animals to rebel.
At the beginning of the story, the Old Major calls a meeting in the barn and speaks about Rebellion and Animalism. Shortly after that the Old Major died’s and then the rebellion starts to take place. Mr. Jones is like a bad guy to the Animals. Napoleon to is also another major villain. But after Jones is gone, all of his tools are burned, and now its time for the animals to take a look around the farmhouse. The name Manor Farm is changed to Animal Farm and the Seven Commandments are established. They then start to begin the hay harvest. During the hay harvest Boxer says, “I will work harder” as his personal motto. The harvest turned out to be a success. At this point the pigs are now beginning to abuse their power. Pretty soon the pigeons are sent to spread the word of the rebellion to other animals. And Mr. Jones tries to recapture the farm in the Battle of the Cowshed.
his duty then he is met with conflict and is set t death or another
Napoleon’s greatest challenger is Snowball. Napoleon has been evil from the start but now, with Mr. Jones gone there is no-one strong enough to oppose him. He can finally do as he pleases. He only needs to convince the animals. He has always wanted his own way and it seems he will go as far as it takes, even condemn Snowball’s work on the windmill. He knows very well that with the construction of the windmill under Snowball’s guidance, Snowball will be viewed as ‘better’ and would give him power. Power, that he believes, is rightfully his. He knows the windmill will benefit his welfare yet he is still willing to oppose this idea in order to keep Snowball from taking any power. Snowball was a real threat to Napoleon. Unfortunatel...
The pigs are natural born leaders and they lead the rebellion, with Snowball answering questions, “We have no means of making sugar on this farm… those ribbons that you are so devoted to are the badge of slavery” (37). One must think of themselves in the animal’s shoes. They have to be as pure as possible and not interact with humans. They need to be vigilant and not stray from the tasks at hand. Subsequently, the animals are starving when a cow breaks the storeroom lock and all the animals rush in for a meal when Jones wakes up. The animals fight bravely and force, “A minute late all five of them were in full flight down the cart-track that led to the main road, with the animals pursuing them in triumph” (39). The animals wonder if this is their time to shine. They think about all the good times ahead and fight for all it is worth. They imagine themselves in the human’s shoes as they quiver and run away like babies from a tiger. Lastly, the pigs create a set of rules which read, “Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy. Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend. No animal shall wear clothes. No animal shall sleep in a bed. … No animal shall kill any other animal. All animals are equal” (43). The animals create a set of rules to govern themselves before they fall into chaos and dictatorship. However, some animals reject the ideas secretly. On the
Orwell shows the significant difference in the education and levels of knowledge in the animals, and how the government takes advantage of this difference. The split between the levels of intelligence is portrayed in the first chapter when the idea of rebellion is sparked: “… the stupidest of them had already picked up the tune and a few words, and as for the clever ones, such as the pigs and the dogs, they had the entire song by heart within a few minutes” (Orwell 13). When Old Major --the spark that set fire to the idea of revolution-- dies, the claimed more intelligent animals of the farm begin to long for a rebellion: “Major’s speech had given to the more intelligent animals on the farm a completely new outlook on life... they saw clearly that it was their duty to prepare for it” (Orwell 15). The animals who seem to be on the less- knowledgeable/ less- educated side of the spectrum are not as much affected by this. They go on with life, and the pigs are able to establish an oppressive regime because of the other animals’ ignorance and disinterest in the topic of the farm’s well being. The pigs do not try to dissuade the animals in the pursuit of being educated; however, they do encourage the animals to be complacent with their lack of knowledge (Orwell 34). The animals are therefore unable to have opinions or take part in discussion for the welfare of the whole community.
Animal Farm - Text Response What prevented the animals from achieving their dream of the ideal society Animal farm can be considered a mere fairy story, yet, on another level it is an allegory for the Russian Revolution, criticising the corruption of politics and communism. The animals dream of the ideal society, yet are prevented from achieving it for a vast array of reasons. However, it is necessary to distinguish the pigs from the other animals. The pigs did attain their ideal society - controlling the farm and obtaining human luxuries such as money and alcohol - but the other animals were not capable of reaching their utopian ideals. The animals’ ideal society consists of treating others fairly and every individual contributing to the
There is a substantial amount of conflicts that occur in this satirical story. Often these conflicts are between the pigs and the rest of the animals. Only a minute portion of the animals didn’t really have some sort of conflict with Snowball, Napoleon, Squealer, or the rest of the dominating pigs. Overall, Snowball was a better leader than Napoleon, yet the animals reacted differently to Napoleon than to Snowball.
Sooner than later, the animals change this commandment, and it is now “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others,” which is not fair. The most intelligent animals on the farm are the pigs because they are able to understand what is happening, and they become more protective of the farm. He uses the
After the Animal Revolution the pigs take the initiative and place themselves in charge because of their claim of having higher intelligence. Over time this power begins to distort the basis of their revolt by recreating the same social situation they were previously in. “When the pigs takeover they claim that their goal is to preside a farm of equal animals, all working together to support one another, yet power quickly proves too much for a pig.” Though the animals originally took over the farm to increase the animal’s independence as a whole, because of the pig’s superiority they soon take the place of the humans further limiting their independence.
The animals on the farm get tired of how they are getting badly treated. So they end up overthrowing their farm owner Mr. Jones. After they overthrow their owner, the pigs start taking over the farm and taking control over all the other animals in the farm.
Following the death of Old Major, the animals of Manor (Animal) Farm abdicate Mr. Jones, create Animalism, establish the Seven Commandments, and live freely from their human tyrant as they undergo a revolution to achieve a utopian state on the farm. Later, a power-hungry pig, Napoleon, takes control over the farm and under his leadership, the pigs begin