Revisionist History In George Orwell's Animal Farm

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"Sometime the older ones among them racked their dim memories and tried to determine whether in the early days of the rebellion, when Jones expulsion was still recent, things had been better or worse than now" (Orwell 130). The book Animal Farm is about a farm in which the animals residing within, take over. The smartest of the animals; the pigs start a communist society in which they trick the dumber animals that their lives have improved though in reality the animals are slaving away as before. They use the concept of revisionist history in order to change the rules around. Revisionist history is the reinterpretation of a historical record. The use of this in Animal Farm is in order to change the 7 commandments which contributes to the Animal's confusion. In George Orwell's Animal Farm, Orwell proves the quote, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it" by George Santayana to relate to the animals in his novel and how their forgetfulness adds to Napolean's power and the animals suffering.
One example of the animals repeating the past due to forgetfulness is when Squealer convinces the animals that Snowball didn't contribute to the Battle of the Cowshed, this helps amplitude Napoleon's power and increases the equivalence of …show more content…

The first example of this is when the fourth commandment changes to "No animal shall sleep in a bed with sheets”(Orwell 67). This is the first time that the commandments are slightly changed in order to improve Napoleon and the other pig's lives. Another change is when the sixth commandment is changed to "No animal shall kill any other animal without cause" (Orwell 91). This is a huge change in the animal's lives as when Mr. Jones was in charge he would slaughter animals. The commandment changes increased the slow change back to the animal's original

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