“1. Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy.
2. Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend.
3. No animal shall wear cloths.
4. No animal shall sleep in a bed.
5. No animal shall drink alcohol.
6. No animal shall kill any other animal.
7. All animals are equal.”(15)
These seven commandments were changed to, “ALL ANIMALS ARE EQUAL BUT SOME ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS.”(90) Some animals of the farm questioned the pigs, but they were assured that the commandments had always read as what they were changed to be. Another example of dishonesty on the pig’s behalf was when the hard working horse (Boxer) was dying. The pigs arranged for him to be picked up by a van that said, “Alfred Simmonds, Horse Slaughterer and Glue Boiler, Willingdon. Dealer in Hides and Bone-Meal. Kennels Supplied.”(82) (This was a company that would take Boxer to be killed). The pigs told the other animals that Boxer was going to the veterinary in Willingdon, who would do his/her best to make Boxer healthy again. At this time in the novel some animals were beginning to suspect that the pigs were not telling the truth. An animal who could read knew what the van had said on it and asked the pigs about it. The pigs, as clever as they were, simply said that it was really a van for the hospital, it just had not been painted yet. One last time that dishonesty was displayed by the pigs was when they promised the animals that by building a windmill their lives would be much better. The animals trusted the pigs and went ahead with building the windmill no questions asked. Once this windmill was built their lives became no better, and instead the windmill only benefited the lives of the pigs. This windmill was used to produce more wealth for the pigs. For the three reasons above, the pigs in the novel Animal Farm displayed dishonesty to the animals on the farm, and this dishonesty caused the deterioration of the animals’ equal society back to that which they had experienced under the control of man.
Secondly many deaths of animals occurred on animal farm following the takeover and their new life, free of man. The first significant death was that of Boxer, a very hard working horse, whom all of the animals looked up to. Boxer died while pulling rock to the site where the windmill was being constructed. Boxer knew that he was getting old and he felt that getting stone would be a helpful contribution to the future of all the animals on the farm. Another death was that of one of the sheep. This sheep died during a battle defending animal farm. One day animal farm was attacked by humans who were attempting to take back the farm from the animals. During this commotion the sheep was shot and killed. This death showed the animals that they could still experience hard times, even though they were no longer under the control of man. The final deaths were those of the animals who betrayed Napoleon, the leader pig of the farm. Any animal who betrayed him was brutally slaughtered in front of all the other animals. These uncalled for deaths exhibited the savagery of the pigs and how they were transforming into the humans that they had once hated. These examples of deaths of animals on animal farm indicated how the animals’ lives were changing back to the way it was when man controlled them.
Finally the animals on animal farm were turned into the pigs’ slaves. Slavery was demonstrated by the animals when the hens were being forced to lay more eggs. Napoleon said that they needed more eggs to pay for parts to build the windmill (which was said to benefit all the animals’ lives). The hens refused to lay more eggs and flew up into the rafters where they believed they would be safe from Napoleon and his followers. The consequence for this disobedience of the hens was that they would no longer receive rations and were starved to death. Next, the intense labour of building the windmills and the schoolhouse indicated slavery. All of the animals participated in these constructions, except the pigs. Years of continuous effort and hard work were executed by the animals, with the exception of the pigs that were “the brains” of the operation. The final example of slavery in the novel Animal Farm was displayed when Napoleon was guarded by dogs. These dogs intimidated the other animals on the farm and gave Napoleon complete control of the animals on the farm. As a result of these three examples of slavery, the downfall of the animals’ equal society occurred, causing them to revert back to the identical life they had experienced under the control of man.
The paragraphs above illustrated dishonesty by the pigs to other animals on the farm, the death of animals on animal farm, and by the slavery on animal farm. These three events indicated that the animals went from a new and free society into a society of death, starvation and slavery, which they had experienced before under the control of man. For the reasons above the novel Animal Farm portrayed a truly negative outlook of human nature, due to the negativity shown by the animals’ deterioration from an equal society to a society which the animals thought they had left behind in their previous life with Mr. Jones.
By: Mark Gomez
