Nancy Zhong Bark 1˚ English 9A 16 May, 2014 Animal Farm In George Orwell's novel Animal Farm, Orwell introduces a society where the population values intellect and education, giving special status to people who are considered well-educated. In this society, those who are regarded as intelligent attempt to prevent the masses from questioning them by silencing the masses and withdrawing their governance from society; however, those who control the intellectually inferior often leave the masses susceptible to manipulation, forming a world in which the educated and powerful classes obtain absolute power, and true equality can never be achieved. Thus, according to Orwell, given a world where intellect and education are valued, a person who is intelligent and well-educated will often use their superior intelligence to manipulate society to their own benefit. Orwell establishes the idea that intellect and education are universally accepted by most of society as qualities necessary for leadership and that those who have these qualities can easily attain power and control with little or no opposition. After Snowball declares that the Seven Commandments can be reduced to one single maxim, “Four legs good, two legs bad,” he supposes that the birds may object because they have two legs; However, Snowball explains that the birds’ wings should be regarded as a leg, but “the birds did not understand Snowball's long words, but they accepted his explanation, and all the humbler animals set to work to learn the new maxim by heart. FOUR LEGS GOOD, TWO LEGS BAD, was inscribed on the end wall of the barn, above the Seven Commandments and in bigger letters” (24). Even though the birds do not understand what Snowball is saying, they decide to go along... ... middle of paper ... ...y for the longest. The pigs are intimidating humans because they want to establish a world in which the educated and powerful classes obtain and keep unchecked power, and the educated and power classes are themselves. Orwell conveys that intellectuals often use their intelligence and education to control others and manipulate society to benefit themselves, while the others accept being separated from their governance of society. Those who seek fairness and equality do not desire to control others or to be controlled. In order to pursue equality and justice, all members of the society must maintain a basic level of education so as to be able to participate in the decision making of the governance of the society. When there is a great disparity between those who rule and those who follows, a dangerous situation can be created in which unfairness and tyranny occurs.
One of the main characters of Animal Farm is the heartless and merciless leader Napoleon. Napoleon is a leader that prefers to have things his way and not cooperate with others, in other words really obnoxious. For example “He declared himself against the windmill from the start. One day, however, he arrived unexpectedly to examine the plan. He walked heavily round the sled, looked closely at every detail of the plans and snuffed at them once or twice, then stood for a little while contemplating them out of the corner of his eye; then suddenly lifted his leg, urinated over the plans and walked out without uttering a word.”(Page 33, chapter5) Thus, this proves that Napoleon is an obnoxious pig because just because he was against Snowball’s windmill idea he urinated all over his work so he could get his way.
Orwell’s use of purposeful syntax shows the pig’s subliminal control over the unassuming animals and the original purpose of the rebellion. Old Major warns the animals in the beginning of the novel that they must “remember also that in fighting against Man, [the animals] must not come to resemble him” (Orwell 21). The objectification of
pigs begin to take control. By the end of the novel, the pigs have manipulated the rest of the animals into doing everything they want. The pigs then become almost exactly like the humans. The most important pigs are Napoleon and Snowball, that is until Napoleon
Howe, Tom. "George Orwell." British Writers Volume VII. Ed. Ian Scott-Kilvert. New York: Scribner, 1984. 273-287.
As soon as Old Major had died Napoleon took his place as the leader of
Manipulation was a strong outcome of the animals being uneducated. The pigs had all the power when it
In the beginning of the text, “all animals are equal” (Orwell 6) and are united under the common goal of freeing themselves from “the tyranny of human beings” (5). However, life on the farm progresses in a manner contradictory to this initial belief, and ultimately does not benefit the masses. Rather, it is driven exclusively by and for the privileged elite, “the cleverest of animals” (9): the pigs. Napoleon and his supporters are able to impose their authority upon the “lower animals” (92) by using language to create “the seven commandments” (15), and consequently re-creating them when they see fit. For example, it was declared in the Commandments that “no animal shall kill any other animal” (61). Yet, when the very pigs that created the law break it, it is re-written such that “no animal shall kill any other animal without cause” (61). These subtle manipulations take place consistently throughout the story, until all previous laws are eradicated and replaced with one overarching commandment: “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others” (90). Here Orwell highlights the fact that by re-writing the past, those in power are able to directly control the future. By monopolizing language, they monopolize progress. Without “the words to express” (59) their opposition, the animals lack agency and are effectively silenced, forced to accept what is written “on the
And he debates that the end of the Cold War is “an ideal context for a reassessment of Orwell 's political ideas” (Newsinger ix). Newsinger gives us a map of Orwell 's intellectual terrain, and deftly orientates the reader around the key Orwellian debates which run around the idea of war and revolution against inequality and dictatorship. He examines how Orwell 's politics developed in a changing world. Newsinger 's argument is that, although Orwell 's politics shifted throughout his lifetime, the one constant was his unwavering socialism. What detractors - and even some admirers - have missed is that he never ceased to write from within the left, attacking the betrayal of the revolution rather than the revolution
...art of the whole society and have greater power through the amount of support for the party, while those who believe otherwise are less powerful as their support is much less and limited. Orwell shows how those who do not conform will end up being taken down by those with the power and there is not much anyone could do about that. Those who believed in change and tried to change the society only ended up meeting failure as majority rules, those with more power will overpower the weak and succeed.
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.
...ll return. By cleverly inducing fear into the animals, the pigs are able to convince them to agree with and support anything they suggest.
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.
There is no definite message that Orwell is trying to point out about power, instead he lets us get a view of the negative effects of power. He also helps us realize what kinds of things are used to maintain power. Many people rise to power saying that they will do what the best for the people. But what happens is that a strong leader seizes absolute power. As the leader gains control he begins to abuse his powers to make his life better. The tyrant then uses his powers for his own good; whenever there is power there is money (luxury) involved and people will go a long way to have a good life.
In Animal Farm by George Orwell, the dominating pigs are the ultimate hypocrites. They implement many harsh rules for the farm, but continuously bend and break them according to their own needs. These actions lead to the breakdown of the animals’ supposed communal society and make evident how the dystopian elements in the novel lead to a controlling and dictatorial government. Through the ruling class of pigs, Orwell is able to provide commentary on the authoritarian governments of his time, as well as those in the future. Animal Farm by George Orwell uses the dystopian elements of societal control and the illusion of perfection to provide a critique of authoritarian governments and their tyrannical impact on society.
Imagine a world where every person is equal: everyone has the same possessions, everyone shows respect to each other, no one kills anyone else, and no authority rises over others to give dictating commands. It sounds wonderful doesn’t it? George Orwell’s haunting book Animal Farm shows however, the near impossibility it is to make that idea a reality. In this fairy tale, a group of oppressed farm animals revolt against the tyrannical bonds of their evil master Farmer Jones, chases him off the farm, and attempt to make a society based on the idea listed above. But instead of having this incredible society, the pigs decide to make one instead where they are the ultimate authority. This book highlights the dangers of trying to establish an equal society under the ideas of communism, and also has poignant symbolic characters that display historical figures in new lights.