Animal Farm Human Nature Analysis

If something was doomed to fail, and you knew that, would you still try anyway and hope that the people you follow know what they are doing, or would you rebel against the so called rulers, and do things your own way in the hope of succeeding? What if human nature said to blindly follow the people who say they have your best interests at heart? Would you still do that? The animals in the book Animal Farm by George Orwell showed everyone that a bad idea could never succeed under any kind of rule because, human nature will always stay the same, the “stronger minded” will always want to control the “weaker minded”, and propaganda will always influence how people see politics.

The definition of human nature is “ the general characteristics,

feelings, and behavioral traits of humankind, as regarded by all humans.” Some people believe that human nature can change. But, in the book, Benjamin was the only one who believed that human nature could never change. “ Only old Benjamin professed to remember every detail of his long life and to know that things never had been nor ever could be much better or worse- hunger, hardship and disappointment being, so he said, the unalterable law of life.” (page 130, chapter 10) On the other hand, most animals followed Napoleon and Snowball because they didn’t know what else to do. Towards the end of the book all of the animals begin to realize how they followed blindly behind their leaders, and let terrible things happen to their friends and family. They realize how they let the hopes of Napoleon blind the original hopes of what old major had wanted. “These scenes of terror and slaughter were not what they had looked forward to on the night when Old Major first stirred them to rebellion.” (page 86, chapter 7) The animals almost completely forgot the original reason that they had done everything leading up to that point. They wanted to get away from tyrannical rulers and finally live the life they thought they deserved. But, human nature says that something like that wasn’t possible. “Is it not crystal clear, comrades, that all the evils of this life of ours spring from the tyranny of human beings? Only get rid of Man, and the produce of our labour would be our own.” (page 9, chapter 1) Old major said that in his speech about rebellion. But, that speech was soon forgotten when the pigs decided to use human nature against the other animals.

Not only did the pigs use human nature against the other animals, they also used their intelligence to trick the weaker minded animals.

They changed the rules by making the other animals feel dumb, they used the farm's resources for themselves, saying that the food and the luxuries were necessary for their intelligence, and they denied the animal's right to speak and have their own opinions by always coming up with a reason why the pigs were the best fit to rule, and how Napoleon was always right. “Comrades!” he cried “You do not imagine, I hope, that we pigs are doing this in the spirit of selfishness and privilege? Many of us actually dislike milk and apples. I dislike them myself. Our sole object in taking these is to preserve our health. Milk and apples (This has been proven by science Comrades) contain substances absolutely necessary to the well being of a pig.” (page 35, chapter 3) Squealer is explaining to the animals how they need the extra food for the wellbeing of themselves. Any good ruler would understand that when everyone has very little to eat, the remaining food should be shared with every person, not saved for those who are the smartest. But, in the book it was made clear that the needs of the many do not outweigh the few, but the opposite of that, the needs of the few outweigh the many. Not only did they take the food from the animals, Napoleon had Boxer killed so that they could get whiskey for themselves. The pigs explained to the other animals how the

van that was taking Boxer to his death was actually a van to transport Boxer to a medical facility where he would be taken care of. “The van had previously been the property of the knacker, and had been bought by the veterinary surgeon, who had not yet painted the old name out.” ( page 125, chapter 9) “ It was almost unbelievable , said Squealer, that any animal could be so stupid.” (page 124, chapter 9) The animals try to prove how much they know by saying what they read on the side of the van, and yet the pigs have come up with a reason why they are smarter, and how the animals are stupid to think anything different.

The pigs don’t just use their intelligence to influence the animals.

They also use their persuasive speaking capabilities and propaganda. "Comrades,” he said, “ I trust that every animal here appreciates the sacrifice that Comrade Napoleon has made in taking this extra labour upon himself. Do not imagine, comrades, that leadership is a pleasure! On the contrary, it is a deep and heavy responsibiblity.No one believes more firmly than Comrade Napoleon that all animals are equal. He would be only too happy to let you make your decisions for yourselves. But sometimes you might make the wrong decisions, comrades, and then where should we be?" ( page 55, chapter 5) Snowball convinced the rest of the animals that they wouldn’t want to lead the farm because it is a lot of hard work. He has also convinced them that if they were to rule instead of Napoleon, they would make a mistake and “ruin” the life that Napoleon has worked so hard to achieve for all the animals. Furthermore, Napoleon and Squealer managed to run Snowball off the farm, and make the rest of the animals believe that Snowball was working with Mr. Jones the entire time. Along with, making them think that Napoleon was the one who injured Snowball during the battle between the animals and the people , and the battle cry that Snowball gave was actually a battle cry for the humans. “ For we know now- it is all written down in the secret documents that we have found-that in reality he was trying to lure us to our

doom.” (page 80, chapter 7) Napoleon and Squealer kept giving the animals reasons to believe that the lies they were spreading about Snowball were true and that if the animals were smarter they could see the documents, but they weren’t smart enough to read them, so they just had to trust Napoleon. “Once again some of the animals heard this with a certain bewilderment, but Squealer was soon able to convince them that their memories had been at fault.” (page 98, chapter 8) If the animals really knew that their leaders that they had put all of their trust in were just playing them to get what they wanted, the pigs would have never been in control. But, the pigs had so much propaganda that the animals couldn’t see around what the pigs were saying to better themselves, while killing all of the animals who spoke out against the rule of Napoleon. No one would want a ruler who is so good at speaking and persuading people to be their ruler. But, the point of propaganda is to make people appear to be something they’re not, and to make the citizens have false hope in that person.