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Themes of abuses of power in animal farms
Themes of abuses of power in animal farms
Marxist theory of Animal Farm
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Animal farm, a wonderful book, tells the story of how animals on a farm rose up against the despicable rule of the humans and take control. The animals, tired of how farmer Jones mistreated them, had a meeting lead by old major, a boar, to discuss the injustices they have dealt with. This is where the basis of animalism which is a philosophy built upon the ideal that “All animals where created equal”. Inspired by animalism the farm animals overtake the farm, kick the humans off the land, and rename the farm “Animal farm”. After triumphing over farmer Jones, animal farm was in need of order, this is where three pigs , Napoleon, Snowball, and Squealer, step up and help form a government. This animal run government starts out as a way to help …show more content…
This is one of the many similarities between animalism and communism. Animalism beliefs are that all animals considered and worked towards, in order to govern themselves. Everyone are treated equally, all shares of work were equal and portions of food. None of the animals showed any unfairness in equality. This is very similar to the basis of communism which is a structure that promotes equality, fairness, classless society, which is followed by a group of people who believe in an egalitarian system. The major differences between the two in my mind are some of the commandments in animalism such as “no animal shall sleep in a bed”(Page 15 Animal …show more content…
Stalin is related to Napoleon in the novel Animal Farm, who is the leader of the farm. The reason why they are related is because the personality of Napoleon is quite similar to Stalin because they are both dictators and they both have opposing rivals that they wanted to kill. After Old Major’s death, which in turn symbolizes Lenin's death, Stalin and Napoleon gathered support and kill all the people who went against them. In the novel, Napoleon killed all the chickens because they didn't want to give them anymore eggs. This is to symbolize what Stalin did in the past when he killed the farmers who would not give up their
The initial goal of animalism was that every animal gets treated fairly and gets the same amount of food. But greed kept that goal from being achieved, starting with the pigs taking all
In today’s world, people have always strived to create a utopian society. In the novel ANIMAL FARM written by George Orwell, the animals strive to create their own utopian society based on equality and prosperity. Animalism was created to, as like the Ten Commandments, Animalism’s Seven Commandments were rules for the animals to live by. However, similar to God’s rules, Animalism was a difficult concept for all the animals to follow and live by. Secondly, the collapse of Animal Farm was due to the animal’s own intelligence and their ability to fully understand how the farm was being run. Finally, the failure of Animal Farm was due to in large part by the pigs power over the other animals and the greed and desires that the pigs wanted to achieve. Therefore, the collapse of Animal Farm had to do with Animalism itself, the animals, and the corruption of the pigs.
George Orwell's novel Animal Farm is subtitled "a Fairy Story", a label that may make the book seem innocent and appropriate for children and classroom settings. However, the title is misleading. Animal Farm is a work of Communist propaganda. It outlines and even encourages the overthrow of the government, and explains how to set up and maintain a communist state. It portrays government as corrupt and the public as stupid and easily manipulated. Orwell himself wavered between being a socialist and an anarchist.
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.
"Comparisons to Capitalism, Communism and Socialism - Animal Farm Discussion." ENotes - Literature Study Guides, Lesson Plans, and More. Web. 15 Sept. 2011. .
Soon after they take over the farm, the animals create a system called Animalism. Animalism is based on th...
...hing a tyrannical society. Another factor contributing to this process, which has not been mentioned in this paper yet, is that animals that were capable of seeing wrongness in the actions of the leaders did not express their opinions publicly, when they had a chance. They did not want interfere in the affairs of the farm because they thought there would be no use out of their actions. Another reason for their unconcerned behavior towards the affairs of the farm might be that they were merely disinterested in obtaining the power and leading the farm in which they would have been engaged had they asserted their positions publicly. That is why those animals decided to stay aloof without trying to prevent injustices that were happening. These all factors promoted the tyranny to emerge in the society that had meant to be just.
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.
George Orwell’s Animal Farm is a political satire of a totalitarian society ruled by a mighty dictatorship, in all probability a fable for the events surrounding the Russian Revolution of 1917. The animals of “Manor Farm” overthrow their human master after a long history of mistreatment. Led by the pigs, the farm animals continue to do their work, only with more pride, knowing that they are working for themselves, as opposed to working for humans. Little by little, the pigs become dominant, gaining more power and advantage over the other animals, so much so that they become as corrupt and power-hungry as their predecessors, the humans.
The satire Animal Farm by George Orwell expresses the idea of self-government through the animals. The animals play the role of humans, in this way using most, if not all, of the human characteristics.
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 light. While the two words are not named in Animal Farm, communism and totalitarianism are two things that are explored immensely in this book. Communism is defined by Webster’s Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language as: “a theory or system of social organization based on the holding of all property in common, actual ownership being ascribed to the community as a whole or to the state.” In addition, totalitarianism is defined as “absolute control by the state or a governing branch of a highly centralized institution.” Starting their rebellion, the animals were undoubtedly going for the ideal communism, where all the animals were treated equal and had all things in common.
Animal Farm is about rebellion against authority. The animals on the Mannor Farm are sick of being worked to death and getting small rations, so they decide to over throw the humans. They endure many hardships, including two human invasions. In the end the leaders, the pigs, turn into exactly what they had fought to over come.
Yet, as soon as the ideology is initiated as its own movement, Animalism, pigs are presented as the dominant class and leaders. Thus, immediately the ideal of equality among the animals is bent, later to be broken as the power that comes with being the dominant and leading class corrupts the pigs. Yet, through continued spread of propaganda, the citizens are made to believe that the original principle of equality is still in place, and excuses and exceptions are made and added to the original ideology as the pigs begin breaking each core principle, at first attempting to amend the exception to the original rules, making it seem as though it
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. After a while, the animals ended up rebelling, and managed to kick out Mr. Jones. During the beginning of “Animal Farm’s” reign under Snowball and Napoleon’s (main characters) lead, it brought the animals on Manor Farm together into a peaceful world. However, after this initial stance of power, Snowball and Napoleon began to fight for it. In the end, Napoleon ends up with control of the farm and Snowball is never seen again. Power is a corrupting influence in Animal Farm and both Snowball and Napoleon’s way of leading are very different.
This very well parallels the theory of Animalism in the beginning of the book. Animalism was originally the idea of rebelling against the humans and taking over Manor Farm for themselves whilst creating and entirely animal run government free from all humans and human influence. They must avoid anything resembling or relating to things associated with being a human. Communism, put into the most basic terms possible, is a society in which every member is completely equal with no exceptions, but in both the real world and in the book Animal Farm the perceptions of that idea soon become