Animal Farm Essay George Orwell’s Animal Farm, a satirical piece about the Russian Revolution, exemplifies a farm as a stand-in for Stalin’s communist rule, and the resulting problems. The story represents the manipulation of the people and the power plays involved and displays the unjust circumstances that the common people live with. In Animal Farm, the pigs keep up their position of power through several tactics, including violent threats, propaganda, and education and food restrictions. The pigs utilize the aggressive guard dogs’ attacks for a fear factor, continual propaganda and rewriting of the rules, exclusive education, and restrictions on food to inflict inferiority amongst the other animals. The pigs maintain power through the …show more content…
When the animals notice the pigs are hoarding food, Squealer compellingly emphasizes, “You do not imagine…that we pigs are doing this in a spirit of selfishness? … Do you know what would happen if we pigs failed in our duty? Jones would come back!” (48). By telling the animals that Jones will come back, Squealer threatens the return of a more difficult life, hoping the animals put their trust in the pigs. Squealers’ dismissal of their assumptions about the pigs’ actions with his rhetorical questions indicates the manipulation and ignorance of the animals. Not only do the pigs make up excuses, but they also edit the original commandments. And as some of the smarter animals begin to notice, “Squealer soon convince[s] them that their memories had been at fault” (49). Squealer tells the animals they are not remembering them properly, and the animals, unable to read and know any better, believe they did misremember. This allows the pigs to continue rewriting the rules as they please, so the rules fit and justify their actions within power, raising no …show more content…
The pigs keep the bulk of it for themselves, while the rest suffer. When the pigs order the hens to give up their eggs, they rebel. Napoleon then orders their “rations be stopped, and decreed that any animal giving so much as a grain of corn to a hen should be punished” (38). The pigs take away food from any animals against their wishes, putting their lives in jeopardy if they do not conform. The hens are forced to do as Napoleon says to survive. The severity of the threatened item - food - reveals just how far the pigs are willing to go to keep their power, and Orwell connects this to Stalin’s role in preventing the people from the ability to do anything other than work to earn their rations and stay alive. The pigs’ ability to control rations and reduce them at any time is a massive enabler for their continual
The second reason is that the pigs are deceitful and liars. They use Squealer to convince the other animals that life nowadays is much better than in Jones’ day. “They knew that life nowadays was harsh and bare, that they were often hungry and often cold, and that they were usually
Us pigs knew all along>” As seen, squelar shuts down all opposing statenments and gaslights the animals into thinking that the pigs had superior knowledge all along. This caused major paranoia for the animals as “the cows declared unanimously that snowball crept into their stalls and milked them in their sleep. The hens raved on angrily abou = t how he had stolen their eggs when they weren;t looking!” This demonstrates that he had the animals exactly where he wanted through convincing them through his language, misleading them and manipulating them to his advantage which in Orwell’s opinion, is the best way to represent how communist leaders brainwash their population by using language and knowledge as a powerful weapon and overall palpably gaslight them without them even having an inkling of a
Squealer ensures that the pigs' rule remains unchallenged by gaslighting the animals and making them doubt their perceptions. This suppression of dissent prevents the animals from advocating for their rights and perpetuates the unfairness of Animal
An early showing of pigs' natural superiority
Betrayal is a recurring theme in literature, often serving as a motivation for character development and plot progression. In Gerogre Orwell’s Animal Farm, the act of betrayal plays a pivotal role in shaping the narrative. One such betrayal occurs when the pigs, led by Napoleon, betray the principles of Animalism, which they initially championed. This essay will analyze the nature of this betrayal and its contribution to the novel as a whole, highlighting the significance of power dynamics, manipulation, and the erosion of ideals.
Jake Morita Mr. Souders 7-1 May 17, 2023 “Why the Animals were Oppressed” Have you ever hated someone so much that you ran them out of their own home for good? Animal Farm, by George Orwell, is a fable about a group of animals on a farm that get treated with cruelty. They decide to rebel, and run their owner out of his own home. Then, the animals provide for each other and create a healthy, safe environment. Although, throughout the course of the book, the pigs took over, and the animals became unequal.
“Animal Farm” by George Orwell, is a story to show how absolute power corrupts, just as Stalin’s power did during the Russian Revolution in 1917. In the allegory “Animal Farm” each character represents a political figure from the days around the Russian Revolution. For example, Joseph Stalin is represented by a pig named Napoleon, Squealer, another pig, represents Stalin’s propaganda department, and the dogs represent the Secret Police (KBG). Using the nine dogs that Napoleon raises (intimidation), Squealer (propaganda), and manipulation, Orwell illustrates how Napoleon was able to gain and maintain control of the farm. The nine dogs that stay by Napoleon at all times are useful for Napoleon to gain and maintain control of the farm because they scare the other animals, intimidating them so that they do not disobey Napoleon.
The pigs were elected for their supposed intelligence, which was regularly exploited for their own gain. The pigs exploited their supremacy over the other animals while keeping them subdued, by regularly reminding them that they did not have what it takes; compassion, leadership, wisdom, and charisma. When we start out in chapter 3, the
In addition, Squealer often threatens the animals that Mr. Jones will return if they did not follow as instructed by Napoleon to manipulate the farm animals. For instance, pigs decided that the milk and windfall as well as the main crops of apples should be reserved for the pigs alone. Ostensibly, pigs need to be in healthy state as they claimed to be the Einstein of the welfare of the farm. Here also, Squealer threatens the animals that Jones would return if they oppose the idea. Therefore, the animals agreed with
Abuse of power is the primary reason for corruption within society. Corruption is seen when the pigs and Jones start exploiting farm animals. In George Orwell’s allegorical novella “An Animal Farm.” published in 1945, he intended to display the dangers of the theme of power abuse through various literary techniques such as metaphors and juxtaposition. In the novella, George Orwell intends to convey the message of how leaders like Stalin abused power during the Russian Revolution and the dangers which come with it.
At the end of the book, the pigs begin to walk on two legs, Squealer then teaches them a new chant, “four legs good, two legs better.” This shows that the pigs are becoming more like humans and the pigs don’t even notice it and are just following what they are
Animal Farm is a political fable based on the events of Russia's Bolshevik revolution and the betrayal of the cause by Joseph Stalin. George Orwell’s Animal Farm examines the insidious ways in which public officials can abuse their power, as it depicts a society in which democracy dissolves into autocracy and finally into totalitarianism. From the Rebellion onward, the pigs of Animal Farm use violence and the threat of violence to control the other animals. While it is true that the pigs and dogs led to the farm’s corruption, the pigs were the ones that did the most corruption of Animal Farm. One factor that led to the corruption of animal farms was how good the pigs were at manipulating the animals.
He makes them believe everything he and the pigs are doing is for the greater good of the whole farm despite the fact that it is not. Squealer controls them in many ways but the strongest or most apparent are telling the other animals Mr. Jones their neglective abusive owner will come back, lying about Boxer the horse’s death, and finally changing the unalterable commandments into one that reads “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others”. One of the very first and most used techniques Squealer uses is instilling fear in the animals. He does this by threatening Jones’s return.
George Orwell’s novel, Animal Farm, was a great example of political satire and allegory. One of the main ideas in this novel was how each event paralleled events from the Russian Revolution. The novel was written to criticize tyrannical rule and particularly Joseph Stalin's corrupt rule in Russia. The characters, settings, and plot described the social disturbance during this period and proved how the good nature of communism could be turned into something atrocious from an idea as simple as greed.
It is important to remember that this period represented the recent past and present at the time of writing and that Orwell understands the significance of the story’s action to be immediate and ongoing rather than historical. Analytical Review Chapter 1 Although Orwell aims his satire at totalitarianism in all of its guises - communist, fascist, and capitalist - Animal Farm owes its structure largely to the events of the Russian Revolution as they unfolded between 1917 and 1944. Because of Animal Farm’s parallels with the Russian