As George Orwell teaches readers in his insightful book, Animal Farm, it can be beneficial for a group of oppressed people to overthrow their leader, but if their new leader is given too much power, they may end up being just as cruel and corrupt as their predecessor. One night, Major, the originator of rebellion, had a dream about a song sang by animals long ago; The next day, he confronted the other animals and told them “‘I will sing you that song now … [and then] you can sing it for yourselves. It is called Beasts of England.’ … The singing of this song threw the animals into the wildest excitement” (Orwell 12-13). When a group of people are oppressed, something as simple as a song or chant is able motivate and inspire them to rise up and rebel against their cruel leaders to achieve freedom and finally have control over their own lives. …show more content…
While Napoleon and Snowball -- the two leaders of Animal Farm after Major passed away -- were arguing about the future of the farm at a meeting: “Napoleon stood up [suddenly] and, casting a peculiar side long look at Snowball, uttered a high-pitched whimper of a kind no one had ever heard him utter before.
At this point there was a terrible baying sound outside, and nine enormous dogs wearing brass-studded collars came bounding into the barn” (Orwell 52-53). In a society where there are multiple leaders, if one of them becomes unhappy with the amount of power that they have, they may create a secret “army” to overthrow the current leadership and become the lone leader where they will gain complete control over the
society. After Napoleon -- the new leader of Animal Farm after driving out Snowball -- had slain many animals who were “traitors”, he declared that the rebellion was officially over: “He announced that, by a special decree of Comrade Napoleon, Beasts of England had been abolished. From now onwards it was forbidden to sing” (Orwell 88). For a leader to have total control over a society and suppress any thought of rebellion, they must censor any songs, slogans, or sayings that would excite the people and cause them to think about -- or even plan or execute -- a rebellion. Occasionally, Napoleon and his followers would slightly alter a commandment to meet their needs, but in the end, someone learned the truth: “‘It appears that that wall looks different. Are the Seven Commandments the same as they used to be, Benjamin?’ … There was nothing there now except a single commandment. It ran: / ALL ANIMALS ARE EQUAL / BUT SOME ANIMALS ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS” (Orwell 134). When laws -- pre-set by previous leaders to protect the right of citizens -- get in the way of a new leader’s plan to be all powerful, they leader may slowly change these laws -- without the knowledge or consent of the citizens -- until they align with their personal agenda. At the height of Napoleon’s reign, he had human guests at the farm and when “the creatures [, the other animals,] outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which” (Orwell 141). Oppressed people may believe that overthrowing their leaders is guaranteed to be a good thing, but just because they have a new set of leaders does not mean that the new government will not change over time and eventually adopt previous laws and beliefs and treat their citizens just as cruelly as the government before.
Orwell chose to use the vehicle of propaganda, through Squealer, the pig, to get the theme across to the readers. ‘Beasts of England’ was a chant taught to the animals, by what some could say the starter of the rebellion, Old Major. The chant talked about how the animals deserved better and needed to rebel against Man. When in power, Napoleon did not allow the chant but instead used a poem of his own, ‘Comrade Napoleon’. One part of the poem read, “Oh, how my soul is on Fire when I gaze at thy Calm and commanding eye, Like the sun in the sky, Comrade Napoleon!” (Orwell 94). This quote is part of the propaganda vehicle because it was a tool used by Napoleon, to make the less intelligent animals of the farm, believe that he was a great leader. Propaganda is defined as an idea that is exaggerated (“Propaganda”). The poem is considered propaganda because it exaggerates the societal outlook on Napoleon in the novella. The animals do not hate Napoleon, but they also do not adore and praise him. Another time in the novella when Orwell used Squealer and propaganda as a tool to get the theme across
The saying “history repeats itself” is used quite often, but how many times have you actually seen it happen? The book Animal Farm portrays the idea of history repeating itself. The character Benjamin and the pigs in the story show history repeating itself throughout the book. In addition to these characters within the book, North Korea displays history's repetition outside the book.
Although George Orwell’s Animal Farm was created in order to mimic individuals as well as occurrences that took place during the Russian Revolution period, it is still possible to gain a comprehensive understanding of the text without a past knowledge of history through the exploitation of human nature’s imperfections. Following the publishment of his novel, Orwell confirmed that his goal in writing this fable was to expose the wrongdoing of the Soviet Union as well as the treachery of the true ideas of the Revolution. Nonetheless, there have been several other examples of events such as the French Revolution that can effortlessly be contrasted against components of the allegory. However, we need not to dig no deeper than to the fundamental faults in human nature to witness the catastrophic consequences that attributes such as hierarchy, propaganda and betrayal have on today’s society.
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.
greater part of the members are poor and miserable.” The characters in George Orwell's Animal
When the animals of Manor Farm turn against Mr. Jones and his neglect, the whole country of England is turned upside down. The spread of rumors of Animalism and pigs ruling the farms causes many farmers to fight back. The animals win the battles, but they end up suffering many hardships of farming. George Orwell presents new ideas about humans, government, and farming. Even though this book was written before our government today, it portrays many of its characteristics.
There is a substantial amount of conflicts that occur in this satirical story. Often these conflicts are between the pigs and the rest of the animals. Only a minute portion of the animals didn’t really have some sort of conflict with Snowball, Napoleon, Squealer, or the rest of the dominating pigs. Overall, Snowball was a better leader than Napoleon, yet the animals reacted differently to Napoleon than to Snowball.
Alvin Kernan’s observation that the beast fable is an effective literary tool is quite true. Storytellers have used beast fables since the story was invented. Something that has remained
George Orwell is one of the most prolific writers of the twentieth century and was heavily influenced by his own experience in the Spanish army fighting hars political regimes. The political systems that he grew under and the control of colonizing countries jaded him and as such, he became harshly critical of political regimes. Animal Farm became one of Orwell’s most famous works as it serves as an allegory of the problematic nature of the totalitarian government in Russia. In Animal Farm, Orwell demonstrates how the control of education and the use of fear and violence enables the pigs to easily take advantage of the other animals and exercise their dominance of the farm for their own benefit. Firstly, the pigs hoard the information and
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.
Orwell’s use of purposeful syntax shows the pig’s subliminal control over the unassuming animals and the original purpose of the rebellion. Old Major warns the animals in the beginning of the novel that they must “remember also that in fighting against Man, [the animals] must not come to resemble him” (Orwell 21). The objectification of
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.
Although the animals follow a gradual decline, Animal Farm is written in a friendly style with a matter-of-fact tone. Orwell’s characterisation connects the reader emotionally to the characters through simplistic descriptions which draw upon sympathy when labelled as “feeble” (Orwell, Animal Farm, 1945). Alongside this simplistic style, Orwell’s matter-of-face tone reflects the characters inability to respond to events and depicts the severity of the outcome. Boxer, often used as a figure for sympathy due to his hard work, is taken away from the farm and “rapidly disappears down the road” (Orwell, Animal Farm, 1945) while the others watch on in despair. This becomes a pinnacle moment in the narrative and contrasts with the friendly style Orwell had been using to heighten the readers emotional engagement. Although directed towards a younger audience, Orwell ensures that his views are not altered and finds methods within his work to convey the lies he wishes to expose more
Being that George Orwell’s Animal Farm is meant to portray an allegorical meaning for the events of the Bolshevik Revolution, as well as the Stalin Age in Russia, one can expect a lot of violent scenes. However, these scenes don’t merely exist for their own sake. Rather, they exist as a way to contribute to the overall meaning and purpose for the making of Animal Farm. For it is through those violent scenes that Orwell attempts to to not only condemn, but ultimately humiliate the figures and events from the time of the Bolshevik Revolution, up to end of Stalin totalitarian regime. Due to the fact that the Bolshevik Revolution was one full with aggression and blood, Orwell has the animals of Animal Farm experience a similar event through ‘The Revolution’.