Animal Farm: Importance of the Seven Commandments

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Animal Farm: Seven Commandments

Without law and order, it is nearly proven that civilization will fail. Because of this, Snowball saw it necessary to create a set of rules for the animals on the newly evolving farm, so came about the 7 Commandments. Unfortunately, but undoubtedly in the pigs’ advantage, most of the other animals did not know how to read or write. Because of this the other members of the farm had to bestow their trust and goodwill in the more educated of the animals. Little did they know that their innocence and their devotion to the farm as a whole would in the end lead to their demise. “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. “

As the story of Animal Farm progresses, the pigs take a leading role and find themselves hungry for power and suffering from a chronic case of ruthless greed. In due time, the once staple and communal 7 Commandments start to change to ‘accommodate’ the selfishness of the pigs, most prominently Napoleon. Shall we say Napoleon has a bit of a complex? Although all of the commandments originally acted as a bible, their importance is gone now and they have been modified to allow the pigs to be heartless in their ways. Three of these commandments jump out as to being the most important of the bunch.

“Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy.” This commandment is crucial in demonstrating the betrayal that the other farm animals experienced. This commandment it basically making the point that the animals are good and the humans are evil. In the end, the pigs did what they said they would never do, follow in the evil footsteps of the humans. As the changes on t...

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...s and the story has come full circle. Unfortunately this is not uncommon in history. Once one person or group is given a small privilege, the power hunger is inevitable. Political corruption is defined as the use of governmental powers by government officials for illegitimate private gain. By completely altering and depleting the once almost sacred 7 Commandments, the pigs (Napoleon) have done a spotless job of creating and leading a politically corrupt society. The justice of all of the hardworking, devoted animals on the farm has been obstructed. In this case, the law and order of Animal Farm has been changed to the pig’s advantage and tragically, the other animals are oblivious to the fact until it’s too late. “The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again, but already it was impossible to saw which was which.”

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