Animal Farm by Geroge Orwell is an allegorical novella that relates to the Russian Revolution which was a turning point in the 20th Century. The plot, which follows a group of animals that try to establish themselves a new life at a farm they overtook, is a mirror of the timeline of the Russian Revolution. Like it, the uprising at Manor Farm (renamed Animal Farm by the animals) had a lot of potential, but due to corruption and wrong choice of leaders, the revolution gradually decreased in purpose and slowly, the life on the farm returned to normal (same as before the revolution, if not worse) for many animals. However, the pigs, who had established themselves as the leaders of the farm hoarded resources and managed to live a luxury lifestyle, slowly assimilating themselves to humans. This is evident at the end of the book when the animals can no longer tell apart pig from human at a dinner party. This story holds much historical context in the Russian Revolution and reflects many of its events. Apart from just having roots dug deep into pivotal times in history, the themes in this story can also just be applied to everyday life, as they hold morals and lessons that will only be appreciated later on.
An important aspect of this book is the history in it. The Russian Revolution, which the novel is based on started in 1917 and brought a time of political and social change to Russia. Marking the end of Russia’s involvement in WWI, the Russian Revolution abandoned the monarchy and adopted different government systems such as communism. Totalitarianism is also discussed in this book, on the basis that the result of the “new” Russia after the revolution was simply a Russia worse off than during the monarchy rule. The characters in this book are based on important political figures that stood dominant in the Russian Revolution, such as Old Major (the boar who started the idea of the revolution) being regarded as a combo of Karl Marx, one of the creators of communism and Vladimir Lenin, the communist leader during the revolution. Napoleon, the lazy yet clever pig that takes over the farm is allegorized to Joseph Stalin, who ended up as the leader of Russia after the revolution. The creation of “Animalism” in this story is like how totalitarianism reigned after the revolution. At first, the seven commandments created to follow this concept are fair for every animal, but as the story develops, the dictator Napoleon tweaks the rules to fit his needs better. He then uses Squealer, who is basically the nomenklatura (during the Russian times) to spread propaganda. The rise and fall of the good intent of the revolution in this story follows those of the Russian Revolution loosely yet fiercely. It shows how much aptitude went into both the real and the fake rebellions, yet ended up futile because of poor leadership choices that influenced the entire nation to fall under a tyranny of unfair rule that was possibly worse than it had been before.
Corruption starts small, but only grows without management. And when it spreads, it has results so disastrous you couldn’t even imagine. There has been a quote that says “power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” - Lord Acton. And it isn’t just a figment of Acton’s imagination, it has been lived up to at many different times in world history. This can be directly applied both to the historical Russian Revolution and the revolution that took place on Manor Farm. Both revolts had a meaningful purpose and could have changed many things for the better, but the corruption of power that occurred in both cases destroyed everything. In Animal Farm, the pigs are a major reason for this, as they took needed resources, like in chapter 3. “The mystery of where the milk went was soon cleared up. It was mixed everyday into the pigs' mash.” - Orwell. They also kept all privileges for themselves and let the other animals suffer. The social classes also played a role. Before the revolution, without having to say so otherwise, the animals already regarded each other as equal. For example, the seating arrangement. “Before long the other animals began to arrive and make themselves comfortable after their different fashions.” - Orwell. There were no rules and everybody just did as they pleased, like a lawful, fair community. When the story goes on, though, the pigs install themselves as mind workers and make all the other animals be the physical laborers, doing the dirty work. As the pigs climb to the top of the social ladder, they gain more access to what is available on the farm and begin to use it for themselves. They become increasingly conceited, and start making the other animals do things for their personal gain. Almost literally, their mind narrows itself down to focus on one thing: improving their own lives at all costs. The pigs, under the rule of Napoleon, develop into heartless, oppressive, self-serving gluttons that have no awareness of any of the other animals that are struggling alongside them. Their vain acts betray the original seven commandments, which they have also “altered”. Napoleon’s rise to power demonstrates the corruption of revolutionary ideas. He consolidates power, and adopts human rules all over again when the whole point of the revolution was so that the animals could develop their own society. As the power corrupts, the rules become alarmingly self centered based on the pigs’ personal needs. By using violence, the pigs also force the animals under their rule. Instead of persuading them nicely and actually revealing to them the basis of which they are developing the rules on, the pigs resort to violence. The other animals worry, but can’t do anything because they don’t remember life before the revolution and those who try to fight back, like the hens are killed of starvation. “For five days the hens held out, then they capitulated and went back to their nesting boxes. Nine hens had died in the meantime.” - Orwell. Brainwashed, the animals believe the pigs’ words and trust that their leaders are doing what they can. Because they have no prior knowledge of life that was better, they believe that this is the best they deserved even though they had barely any food and had their rights stripped away. As the power of the pigs corrupted, the other animals settled down into a road of demise because the rules that the pigs established after corruption were simply unjust, as they were only tailored to one type of animal: the sinister pigs. Corruption of power during a revolution simply sets everything off track. As power develops in a certain group of people that is unchecked and definitely not diverse, the power will likely be hoarded and abused, resulting in a failed revolution. The ideals that the revolution started with will quickly erode away, leaving everyone but the wielders of the power worse off than before.
A movement only yields the results that are adopted during the movement. That’s when the big changes happen, not after. So, if you want to end with equality, practice equality as you make change. And the same goes vice versa. If you want a simpler example, take habits. Habits are made when you repeatedly do an action, and only broken if you repeatedly don’t do it. The main result of any action will always be what you have practiced and prepared for, not something random out the blue. The animals had a goal for equality for the animals at the start of the revolution, but the route that they took hoping to achieve the desired results weren’t that great. Majority of the animals on the farm are treated unequally by the pigs. And there’s a catch, too. All the animals that are treated badly are also physical laborers, the ones that are less educated. They are not knowledgeable, so they can’t raise their kids and then the kids succumb to Napoleon’s brainwashing. Some animals are weak, like the hens and can’t do anything. Some others, like Boxer, are strong but have no grasp of their capabilities and are also tricked into believing that Napoleon’s ruling system is correct. “His two slogans, "I will work harder" and "Napoleon is always right," seemed to him a sufficient answer to all problems.” - Orwell. Lastly are the smart ones, like Benjamin, the donkey, who knows what is going on but prefers to stay silent and observe the process instead of stopping it. A large population of the animals on Animal Farm are subject to the pigs harsh and cruel rule. They get different treatment based on their danger factor to the pigs. For example, the hens are treated the worse because they are weak and the pigs know that, so they use it to their advantage. Boxer, though, is an exceptionally strong horse. Normally, the pigs would take everything to keep him under control, but since Boxer in this case is already a firm believer of Animalism, the pigs have no trouble. For the smart ones, like Benjamin, the pigs simply decide to leave him alone and have him as he pleases. For the small fraction of animals who are not physical laborers, they are mind workers. And want to know a secret? The mind workers are solely made up of pigs and run the entire farm. Though you have to give some credit to them for being smart and literate and having the abilities to run a farm (whether or not it's successful, at least it's running), they can be blamed for abusing their power. They have a good theory and deduce Animalism well, but because of corruption, like discussed, nothing good really comes out at the end. The phrase that was later made, “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others,” is a solid example of the inequality that poisoned the farm. The first part reads to be innocent, but the second part after the comma initiates a distinct hierarchy. And with the governing of the farm, we all know that the pigs are at the top. The pigs, at the top, revel in their special privileges and cover up their tracks with lame excuses that all the animals buy. “For the time being, certainly, it had been found necessary to make a readjustment of rations (Squealer always spoke of it as a "readjustment," never as a "reduction"),.....” - Orwell. By twisting their words, the pigs made the other animals believe that they were actually living a better life. They state that the milk stolen from the other animals is “brain food” needed to run a farm. The inequality of the animals brought to the pigs a sense of authority, even though wrongly established. They elevated themselves, and began to think of themselves highly, as better than the other animals and deserving more. By putting themselves on a pedestal, they isolate themselves from the rest of the animals and give themselves even more power that will end up corrupting. Inequality is not solved with more inequality, because that only brings hierarchy and demise. What you wish to change has to start with making the change, not just hoping for the result.
If you shape someone when they are young, they will grow up to adopt the teachings that you installed into them. When kids/animals are younger, it will be a whole lot easier to train them. For instance, it is easier to train a dog to do some complicated tricks when they are young and obedient, not when they are old, tough, and not afraid of you. The pigs, in the story, control the next generation of animals on the farm by raising them by himself. When Jessie and Bluebell have pups, the pigs take them away immediately. “As soon as they were weaned, Napoleon took them away from their mothers, saying that he would make himself responsible for their education.” - Orwell. This would prove to be useful as the “training” the pigs give is simply training them to be his bodyguards. They create “animalism” which is basically totalitarianism and the seven commandments that go with it. As the plot progresses, though, the pigs change three of the rules into rules that have a fully different meaning and serve the pigs so that they can enjoy their luxuries, like not drinking alcohol to excess instead of not drinking alcohol and not sleeping in a bed with sheets, not just human beds. In the end, all the rules are replaced with one unfair maxim that totally opposes the foundation of the revolution, “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” By taking the babies away from their parents early and secluding them from the rest of the animals on the farm, Napoleon successfully raises a group of dogs that are loyal to him and will act as his guards with a moment’s notice. Through the examples, it is evident and clearly shown that education does play a role in the social hierarchy. The pigs, as the smartest of the animals, use their brains to manipulate the other animals into agreeing with what they are saying and bowing under his rule. It is a chain, as the animals the pigs raise will go on later to do the same to more generations to come. This illustrates how those who wield the ultimate power can exploit it to then turn it against other animals. Napoleon is a mind worker, one that is clever and sly about what he does. He is hungry for power, and does everything he can to get it. When it is within his grasp, though, he abuses it for his personal interests. With education and overambition, a person who once had a good heart can end up consolidating power only for themselves without realizing what they are doing is not beneficial to anyone else around them. If the animals are the smart pigs, then they are the uneducated physical laborers. This makes up most of the animals, and doesn't play to their favor. The animals who are illiterate and cannot read do not have the ability to raise their own children, so their children get turned over to Napoleon, who turns them into his army. They, like Boxer, work hard, and have no time to read or learn. “Finally he decided to be content with the first four letters, and used to write them out once or twice every day to refresh his memory.” - Orwell. Boxer was a hardworking one, but it left no time for him to improve his mental skills. None of the other animals except for maybe Boxer remembered the first original seven commandments, so they were given no choice but to take the changed ones as the best ones. With no other idea of how to govern a farm, they had to resort to trusting their leaders who were tricking them. The animals didn’t even know how to read at the beginning. They couldn’t address themselves to the leaders and present their own opinions. They just had to go with the flow and pretend like they were always in agreement with whatever was going on. As Napoleon and Squealer continue to manipulate them, the animals lose their memory of what life was like before the rebellion. Without the ability to read, they can’t read the commandments, either. The more control the pigs put on, the less the animals are able to resist because the more their own meager skills are squashed down. As the pigs install fear, worry, and false ideas into their minds, the animals, who have no recollection whatsoever or the life before or any little idea of how to stop them end up becoming terrible victims that are forced to accept the pigs’ false truth. Controlling someone’s education allows you to have an upper hand, because then, you, as the smart one, can decide what to put into their minds and how to twist their thinking to always align with your motives.
Beware of what you say, because the impact it has on the people around you is bigger than you think. Our language is a powerful thing. It can manipulate people to think in a certain way, as if you are changing reality. One of the main reasons why it was so easy for the pigs to manipulate the other animals on the farm was because they pretty much worshiped the pigs. In their eyes, the pigs were smart, they were their leaders, and because of that, they were supposed to be trusted and listened to. The animals were also uneducated, which did not help their case of realizing the pigs’ true intentions. The pigs also used scare tactics to win the animals over, stating that without Napoleon, Jones would come back. The police dogs also impose violence. With their central belief around the fact that everything is better because of Napoleon and everything is better without Mr. Jones, the animals are really left with no other option except for simply believing the pigs. Squealer’s method he uses to keep the animals under control in this book is really quite clever. He, like Napoleon and all the other pigs know that most of the animals with Benjamin excepted are quite a level dumber than they are. They cannot read, and cannot come up with many new ideas. So, he uses that to his advantage. He uses propaganda that he animals cannot deny, persuasive language that he animals fall under the spell of immediately, and threats that he backs up with Napoleon’s team of fierce dogs that will do anything for him. “"That was our mistake, comrade. 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."” - Orwell. Squealer even makes up truths to persuade the animals to believe him. Boxer and some others were skeptic, but because of their bad memory and inability to think of an alternative explanation, they had to accept it. Squealer really was a mind worker, and he used his cunning to bring himself to the top. He employs rhetorical techniques and justifies the pigs’ actions in a socially unbelievable manner that ends up being sufficient to the animals because they can’t formulate another idea. With the sheeps’ continual bleating of whatever maxim is in fashion at the moment, the animals, spurred on by the thought that one of their own trusts the pigs also begins to rely on the pigs’ words more. With their comrades in a certain sense of mind, the animals follow them to not be the odd one out, and because they see it as a sign that if they believe Squealer, no harm will come to them. The pigs, with knowledge, are the ones that are able to create rules and change them. They create a form of government themselves that is an XXXism and follows a set of rules, but by the end of the story, they use their knowledge on language and speech to change the rules into something that the animals believe as fair yet only benefits the pigs. As the story slowly progresses, the use of language by the pigs becomes more and more erratic. At first, the rules of the seven commandments listed everything clearly. But due to the animals’ inability to read, Snowball summarized it into one maxim that still held some meaning though was beginning to be pointless. The animals, thinking that that simple line benefited them, took it that Snowball was being fair and equal. Since the other animals are uneducated and have no time to get educated, the pigs slowly realize through experience that they don’t really understand the long, elaborate speeches that Squealer gives (such as the reading of the rations), they just take it that it is true and that they should listen to it. By the end of the book, the pigs’ words don’t even make sense anymore, and they don’t have to make sense. They just need to make it look like the pigs are superior and doing a lot to try to keep the farm fair whereas in reality they just need to give a few short yet complex speeches, and then lie back and wait for the farm’s harvest to come in so that they can eat and buy alcohol with the money they receive. The pigs’ use of language to manipulate the animals is fully effective, giving the animals the illusion that they are still living in a perfect world when they have worse living conditions than ever. When a person doesn’t understand something, they will either take it as true or false. When they see their friends taking it one way, they will likely follow. Language is a delicate power. Wielded by the wrong person, and they can sway the entire world to do as they say.
Animal Farm by Geroge Orwell is a truly astounding satirical novella that leads back to the Russian Revolution. The animals of Manor Farm do lead a successful revolt and manage to take over, changing the farm’s name to Animal Farm, but what ensues is really not ideal for anyone but the pigs, who are the leader. The book has significant historical context and many themes that everyone can look to to learn from. Through the corruption of power that happened in this novel, we can learn how a revolution almost always starts with a fresh, new idea that holds potential, but can just as easily be poisoned by a few hungry for power, not caring about the fact that they harm other powerless beings in the process. Totalitarianism, which is discussed in this book gives readers a sense of how it comes into being and how to avoid it (don’t hand all the power to a select group of individuals that are already smarter than the rest of the population). The control that the pigs have over the education of the story is a cautionary theme telling readers to choose what meets them in the face, because that thing will leave an impact, whether big or small. Whatever you grow up with is what you will take with you later on in your life. Language is also a key to manipulation, and it is important to strive for literacy and a level of prowess in speech to prevent yourself from falling into someone else’s devious trap. Animal Farm really is a compelling read for all readers. With a deep dive into a pivotal point in history as well as themes so harsh yet so beneficial you just have to learn from, Animal Farm can be regarded as one of history’s most riveting classical works.
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