In Animal Farm by George Orwell social class in inequality is a big issue. The animals treat and rank each other differently based on what they ‘bring to the table’. If they can work hard and get tasks accomplished than they are treated better than the other animals. This inequality in social class is present with the pig’s changing the commandments, the animals being taken advantage of and the mistreatment of certain social classes.
The evolution of commandments showed true inequality throughout the book. The original seven commandments seemed to benefit all the animals at first. One of the commandments even stated that all animals are equal (25). This commandment seems to be positive for the animals but in reality, that’s not the case.
…show more content…
Napoleon and the pigs start to revise the laws separating themselves even further up in the social class than they already are. The pigs tell the animals that they are all equal but then place themselves above the others. As the story progresses the commandments begin to be changed by the pigs so that it’s known that the pigs possess a higher power. The new modified version of the law says that all animals are equal, but some are more equal than others (134). The animals seem to be oblivious to the fact that the commandments are being changed and thus hurting themselves by taking no action. The pigs changing the commandments of society shows just how unequal the social classes are in the book. Not only do the pigs place everyone else below them, they take advantage of them as well. The pigs use their authority to maintain their role atop the farm. When possible they use this authority for their own pleasure and take advantage of the animals. Right after taking control of the farm there are extra apples and milk from the harvest. The animals leave the extras with the pigs while they go out to work the next day. The animals noticed when they came back the milk had disappeared (26). At first the pigs denied taking the extra necessities and told the animals it must have just gotten lost. The pigs were in control for only a few days and they already began to mistreat the animals. Later on Squealer stated, “Day and Night we are watching over your welfare. It’s for your sake that we drank that milk and ate those apples” (36). The pigs attempt to tell the animals that they took their food for the animals sake. Not only do they take advantage of the animals, they lie to them to cover up their unfair acts. This shows the pigs inequality towards social class because they take from the workers and feed themselves with what they didn’t work for. Along with showing the pigs inequality towards the animals this begins to show the pigs becoming more like man as their leadership continues. The mistreatment of social class becomes worse as the book progresses.
The animals at the bottom of the society aren’t allowed to speak their opinion. The middle class workers get to share their thoughts but the leaders of the farm don’t listen to anyone. It was as if our government today had decided to take away the voting system and just said that Barack Obama was our leader until America collapsed or he was dead and that the people had no rights or say in what happened from this moment on. One example of the horrible treatment of the animals is when Squealer sends Boxer to his death. At the beginning of the book, before the animals even riot, this statement is made, "You, Boxer, the very day that those great muscles of yours lose their power, Jones will sell you to the knacker, who will cut your throat and boil you down for the foxhounds" (6). Later on in the book Squealer tells all the animals that he is sending Boxer to the vet to become healthy and strong. When the truck comes to pick him up they realize not only did it not say Veterinarian on the side, it said ‘Horse Slaughterer and Glue Boiler’. Boxer worked harder than everyone else and the pigs still placed him on a level below themselves. This once again shows the pigs unequal treatment because they killed an innocent animal because he was beginning to challenge their way of life. The pigs continue to mistreat the animals and place themselves in a social class above all
others.
one of the leaders of the Soviet Union. Joseph Stalin like Napoleon was not a good speaker, cared deeply about power, and he killed all that opposed him. They both were extremely great at promising wonderful lies. One huge conflict that I discovered while reading this novel is over power, the human beings versus the animals on the farm and later in the story the animals versus the other animals. The animals and the humans are always fighting each other. The pigs were trying to convince other animals not to take orders from the humans. Old Major which was the original creator of the animal revolution says “Man is the only real enemy we have. Remove Man from the scene, and the root cause of hunger and overwork is abolished forever”. Old Major basically is the one who in my opinion created the idea of all humans being their major problem. Old Major also says “There, comrades, is the answer to all our problems. It is summed up in a single word- Man”. This is a perfect example of how he strongly believes that their life would be much better without human beings. He continues to try to convince the animals how terrible humans are by saying “Man is the only creature who consumes without producing. He does not give milk, he does not lay eggs, he is too weak to pull the plough, he cannot run fast enough to catch rabbits. Yet he is lord of all animals”. Old Major sang this song to the farm animals “Beasts of England!
In the beginning of the story Old Major gives a speech to the animals on the farm, and in this speech he mentions how cruel the humans are. During his speech Old Major uses Boxer the horse as an example when he says “You, Boxer, the very day that those great muscles of yours lose their power, Jones will sell you to the knacker, who will cut your throat and boil you down for the foxhounds.” (Orwell 11). He then proceeds to tell the animals that once they revolt the cruelty will end, and at first it does, but soon the pigs begin to act more like humans. The pigs act so much like the humans that at the end of the book it is said that the other animals can’t even tell the difference between the pigs and the humans.
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.
Squealer, using excellent scare tactics and under Napoleon’s control, acquires the pigs the power to control the decisions made on the farm by giving the animals daunting thoughts of a farm gone array due to their flawed decision-making. He dispels the idea of Snowball’s loyalty to animalism by saying that if the animals would have followed Snowball, Jones would have returned and if the animals do not choose wisely whom to trust, the humans and Snowball will return. By cleverly inducing fear into the animals, the pigs are able to convince them to agree with and support anything they suggest. The pigs in George Orwell’s Animal Farm use specific laws, use unknown vocabulary and excruciating detail, implement scare tactics, and create and manipulate laws to successfully attain the other animal’s trust, acquire certain luxuries unavailable to most animals, and establish themselves as the dictators of a totalitarian-like society. Through using detailed, unknown vocabulary, specific laws, and scare tactics, the pigs acquire the ability to drink alcohol, sleep on beds, eat and drink the milk and apples, destroy Snowball’s credibility, and establish a trust between themselves and the other animals.
Karl Marx’s perfect society described in his Communist Manifesto is in direct conflict with the implementation of Soviet Communism, which was scathingly criticized by George Orwell’s book Animal Farm. Karl Marx believed that in order to form a just and equal society, the working class, called the proletariat, would have to overthrow those who owned the means of production, who were known as the bourgeoisie. This was to be known as the Proletariat Revolution where the oppressed laborers in capitalist societies, such as England, would unite under a common cause to overthrow the oppressive bourgeoisie, and establish a communist society. This would be a society where all were equal, each performing to his ability, and each receiving according to his needs. A dictatorship would be necessary at first to get the ball rolling, but would eventually voluntarily give up power, as it would no longer be needed. However, this was never destined to be. The rise of the Soviet Union was a testament to this, brilliantly depicted and condemned by George Orwell.
What is power? Power means the strength and the right given of controlling anyone else. However, when too much power is given to someone, dictatorship cannot be avoided. In the book “Animal Farm”, George Orwell used a lot of events happened on the farm to illustrate that how did the ‘animalism’ turn into “totalitarianism” and well defined the sentence “Absolute power corrupts absolutely”, which also reflects how the society was like at that time. Therefore, in order to find out the reason why George Orwell wrote the story, this essay will talk about how power is abused and the effect on other "comrades" by using several events and the examples of language features used in the story.
As soon as Old Major had died Napoleon took his place as the leader of
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.
The animals in awe of the difficulty of telling from which was man or pig, they went back to the barn, gathered in the barn and were all about to go into their own stalls until the slightly blind Clover said, “Friends please wait.” The animals stopped and looked at Clover that was giving a saddened expression that made most of the animals walk over except for the hens and roosters walked to the chicken coop with their baby chicks following except for two chicks that walked over to Clover. Clover looked at all the animals gather and gave a serious stern look, “there was once a time when this barn brought joy to me and all of the others on this barn. It wasn’t when the humans were in charge or when Napoleon became our leader. Snowball on the other hand was the leader that actually didn’t become a dictator of this farm and wanted greatness for all and not just for the pigs and
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.
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.
Animal Farm Research Paper According to dictionary.com, rule - (verb) - to control or direct; exercise dominating power, authority, or influence over; govern. All people have experienced a ruler in their lives. Some rulers are fair, kind, and have the goal of making the area they have control over the best it can be for everybody living in it. Other rulers do not have the same idea.
Throughout history discrimination has always been a major dilemma, whether it be race, gender, or religion, people have never stopped fighting for equality. George Orwell’s allegory Animal Farm revealed many injustices that emerged in Russia under Stalin’s rule from 1920-1953. While reading this in modern times many of the injustices that arose in the novel are closely comparable to injustices brought up today. Just as the pigs in Animal Farm were given more benefits than the other animals, men are paid more than women in the United States, revealing the continued need to improve discrimination inequalities.
...lectual increase in the exploitation of the animals started with little things such as the eating of the apples for the pigs' health. Then the animals couldn't make an informed decision, which led to their bad decision making. Next Squealer would constantly tell the animals of the great things that they accomplished now that the pigs had gotten rid of Jones. After that the pigs used the animals' lack of memory to their advantage by changing laws and telling the animals that the rules that were on the wall, had been there forever. At the end of the book, the pigs had completely manipulated the lower animals' memories by going against the original views on animalism and by wearing man's clothing and walking on two legs. George Orwell wrote this novel as a warning to man about what is going on in society today and he also warns about the importance of an education.
“When I sit down to write a book, I do not say to myself ‘I am going to produce a work of art.’ I write because there is some lie I want to expose and some fact I want to draw attention to…”