Animal Farm
Question:
Analyze The novel Animal Farm, What is it supposed to portray? What are the strategies the pigs used to rise to power? Analyze how the animals were affected by the change
Animal Farm is a novel that explores the ways leaders and politicians take advantage of their power. The book depicts a civilization that is being run by the animals with their own democracy called 'animalism,' and how it slowly erodes its own basic foundation and begins affecting the animals, turning them into their enemies, 'the humans.' The pigs in the book are the ones portrayed as leaders; They used intimidation and violence to keep in power and control all the animals. Still, sometimes physical violence and intimidation wasn't enough to keep their civilians from acting out and speaking their own truth, so the pigs used false propaganda, songs, and slogans to reinforce their rules and to hide the leader's inevitable corruptions against the lower working classes.
At the very beginning of the book, old major, an idealistic pig, shares ideas of a dream he had about animal rebellion and self-rule. He decided to establish seven commandments for the animals, mostly not to repeat human actions. He taught the animals a song, Beasts of , helping create a sense of friendship and comradery. A few months after Old Major's death, the animals rebel against the drunk and neglectful farmer, Mr. Jones. The rebellion was successful, and they took the farm for themselves. On account of the uprising, the farmers struck back, but their combined efforts were not enough, so the animals successfully defended against their attack, naming the war 'cowshed.'
Read also: “Satisfy your write my essay request with help of expert writers”
After their successful uprising, There needed to be a leader to guide the animals closer to a utopia, The pigs were considered to be the smartest and wisest within the animals, so the pigs (The protagonists) 'Napoleon' and 'Snowball' compete for leadership of the farm. Napoleon ends up expelling Snowball using propaganda and poorly educating the other animals about Snowball, slowly eroding his legacy and turning Snowball into the villain. As he does this, the animals work more and more for less, while all the pigs detach themselves from the community. After realizing the animals are not working as hard as they should, Napoleon ordered the construction of a windmill, which was initially Snowballs idea. Napoleon starts having collisions with the humans, the animal's sworn enemies, for supplies. The animals defend their farm once more from another farmer, Frederic, and unfortunately, The farmers destroyed the windmill in the process. After the attack, Napoleon was desperate for more money for alcohol and furniture for himself, sent an excellent and healthy horse to a glue maker to be slaughtered. He spread lies saying that he went to the 'animal hospital' so the working-class animals don't question him, or it will be a disaster for Napoleon.
By the end of Animal Farm, the original seven commandments the animals lived by had been modified to only say, 'All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others.' every single rule broken and altered. The final scene of the book shows a party in which all the other animals from the farm observe from outside, where they saw the pigs and the humans gathered to toast their exploitation of the hard workers of the farm. The animals looking from the window could no longer tell the pigs and humans apart.
The use of propaganda in animal farm serves a tremendous insight into how Joseph Stalin's character 'napoleon' controls the population. Napoleon relied primarily on commandments, slogans, and poems to both inspire the animals to work to keep their society alive and keep them submissive so a rebellion against a leader would be difficult, 'Several of them would have protested if they could have found the right arguments' (Orwell, 54) Napoleon and his followers carefully crafted their language and changed the rules to use for their civilians to further control them. For example, in chapter three, Squealer, who was the speaker for Napoleon, declared that the original seven commandments could be reduced to one 'all animals are equal, but some are more equal than others.' (Orwell, 110) To ultimately gain leadership, he falsely accused his former friend Snowball, who wanted to create a utopia for all the animals, and tried to give his best to reward the animals with equal amounts of food portions and tools. Still, Napoleon, by continually implying his followers that Snowball committed treason against all the animals in the in, by planning the destruction of the most valued symbol in Animal Farm 'the windmill.' without anyone opposing him the animals suffered, they knew what was going on, but if they acted upon it, they would have been killed, 'Let's face it: our lives are miserable, laborious, and short.' (Orwell, 87) With Napoleon's successful banishment against Snowball, nothing was standing in his way, so ultimately, there was nothing he could do to add to his power, which started the collusion with humans. The pigs began becoming alcoholics, sleeping in human beds, and walking on two legs. This was the point where Napoleon, by changing every rule and corrupting his o civilization, ultimately lead to his own demise, the corruption of his on society.
Animal farm's Deceptive leaders are based on real Russian leaders, and Orwell's representation of them is significant; Initially, you could think George Orwell's novel Animal Farm is a novel about anthropomorphic animals, but the parallels that Orwell draws between the plot and the Russian revolution. This makes the book an example of an allegory, for instance, Old Major, a well-respected pig, inspires the animals of Manor Farm to revolt in the hopes of a better life. He says that it would create a civil government that benefits all, but unfortunately, he died before his wishes are realized. Old Major represents Karl Marx, who in 1848 inspired an uprising against the ruling class with his book The Communist Manifesto, and also represents Vladimir Lenin, who helped lead the Russian Revolution of 1917 using Karl Marx's rule. Like Old Major, both Marx and Lenin did not see if a revolution had happened. Napoleon, representing Joseph Stalin, didn't care about debates and ideas. Instead, he valued power for his own gain, and by 1927, he had complete control of communist Russia by being the one behind acts of terror and using brutality. Napoleon's dogs represent Stalin's KGB (Committee for State Security). The dogs were like a secret police that he used to eliminate all that opposed him. As Napoleon gained control under the hidden lie of improving the animals' lives, Stalin used many kinds of propaganda; this is symbolized by Squealer in the novel, who represented a visionary wanting change. Multiple events in the novel are based on real ones that happened during Stalin's leadership. For example, the Battle of Cowshed represents the Civil War that occurred after the 1917 Russian Revolution. The two humans in the novel, farmer Jones and his neighbor farmer Frederick both combine to represent Adolf Hitler, who started an alliance with Joseph Stalin in 1939, but then after complications with the war, he ended up fighting against Stalin's army in 1941.
Often, only the smart come to power and leadership, Orwell demonstrates that the more intelligent population effortlessly manipulates and uneducated civilization. After all the animals overthrow the farmer, Jones, they agree to establish animalism rules to make sure every animal is equal and that they don't copy human actions. In the novel, Only the pigs are capable of reading and remembering the commandments. The pig's higher intelligence results in them controlling the animals and getting all the luxuries by using the hard work of the other animals, but the animals were not educated enough to know were being taken advantage of. The ignorant lower-class Animal Farm illustrates how exploitation is the result of an uneducated population. First, the animal's inability to think and question the higher authority allows the pigs to make decisions for their own gain. Also, the animal's low capacity memory enables Napoleon's main speaker, Squealer, to craft false propaganda and rewrite history to rewire their view on their past. Finally, the ineptitude animal's lack of literature skills grants the pigs the power to deceive the ignorant population with specifically written words or laws. As a result, calling out the leader's mistakes and speaking your own truth is the only way to oppose the authorities.
In conclusion, The pigs' slogans, propaganda, and catchphrases have brainwashed the other animals so much that even when Napoleon's guard dogs slaughter dozens of innocent animals for supposedly having colluded with napoleon's former ally Snowball, they still don't question Napoleon's deceptive leadership. Old Major's song 'The Beasts of ' had a significant impact on the animals and how it gave them the courage to overthrow their worst enemy, Farmer Jones, and create their own democracy 'Animal farm.' George Orwell Notes 'that language can be used just as effectively for more sinister purposes, as a device of social manipulation and control, and that such rhetoric is often far more powerful than state-sanctioned violence or the threat of physical force.'- George Orwell. This quote is the best way to describe the best way of gaining power, and authority is navigated by using control and manipulation to enstate that you are the one in power.
