Animal farm
Animal farm Through Animal Farm Orwell teaches us that no one in a position of power can remain true to their original cause, Discuss. George Orwell's classic novel Animal Farm was written to teach people a very important lesson. That few people who have an opportunity to take control and gain power will stay true to their original aims and beliefs. Animal Farm tells a tragic story that aims to prove that human nature and diversity prevent people from being equal and happy. The story takes place on Manor Farm, where animals are overworked and underfed by their drunken human master Mr Jones. However, the animals on this farm catch the wind of rebellion and decide to rise up against their masters. This is all sparked by a dream that a boar named Old Major had about a unique place where animals ruled themselves and where everyone is happy and equal. When Old Major died, the animals acted quickly and were able to overthrow the humans. Their new idea of government was known as animalism, and it was agreed upon that each creature would work according to their capability and respect the needs of others. Seven commandments were agreed upon and all animals swore faithfully to uphold these laws. The laws were: no animal shall drink alcohol, wear clothes, sleep in a bed, kill another animal, those who go upon four legs or have wings are friends and those that walk on two legs are
Trust in Animal Farm. From the extract, Orwell uses Squealer to present the great character of Napoleon,
Afterwards Squealer was sent round the farm to explain the new arrangement to the others. 'Comrades,' he said, 'I trust that every animal here appreciates the sacrifice that Comrade Napoleon has made in taking this extra labour upon himself. Do not imagine, comrades, that leadership is a pleasure! On the contrary, it is a deep and heavy responsibility. No one believes more firmly than Comrade Napoleon that all animals are equal. He would be only too happy to let you make your decisions for yourselves. But sometimes you might make the wrong decisions, comrades, and then where should we be? Suppose you had decided to follow Snowball, with his moonshine of windmills - Snowball, who, as we now know, was no better than a criminal? 'He fought bravely at the Battle of the Cowshed,' said somebody. 'Bravery is not enough,' said Squealer. 'Loyalty and obedience are more important. And as to the Battle of the Cowshed, I believe the time will come when we shall find that Snowball's part in it was much exaggerated. Discipline, comrades, iron discipline! That is the watchword for today. One false step, and our enemies would be upon us. Surely, comrades, you do not want Jones back? Once again this argument wan unanswerable. Certainly the animals did not want Jones back; if the holding of debates on Sunday mornings was liable to bring him back, then the debates
Animal Farm
Draft During chapters 7-10 Orwell goes to great lengths to show sympathy for the animals in animal farm. He achieves this by using different techniques which I am going to show you. George Orwell based Animal Farm on the Russian revolution which occurred many years beforehand. Orwell tries to make us feel pathos for the animals to show what the Russian revolution was like for the people affected by it. In chapters seven to ten the animals have to work harder than ever and one wrong move would take them to the chopping board. One quote which stands out for classical satire of the Russian revolution is "ALL ANIMALS ARE EQUAL, BUT SOME ANIMALS ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS." (Chapter 10, pg. 112) This quote makes people feel pathos for the animals because they would think that they were only on the farm to serve Napoleon and build windmills whilst the pigs whop were obviously better off just lazed around or did less of the work. The animals blamed their faulty memories for forgetting the commandment. At this point the animals would probably feel that they were hard done by in the reign of napoleon. Orwell has done well to create pity for the animals here. "The truest happiness, he said, lay in working hard and living frugally" (Chapter 10, pg. 107) this quote is written by the pigs who lived the best lives whilst doing the exact opposite, the animals would feel that they would
Animal Farm Essay
Animal Farm Essay 'Animal Farm,' a novel by George Orwell, has a theme based around power; how it is abused and how it's used in a good way. 'Animal Farm' also explores how it is transferred between characters as the story progresses. It is also fair to say that every event that takes place on 'Animal Farm' has a political significance which mirror the events which took place in the Russian Revolution. The characters in the novel represent famous political figures from history. I think that George Orwell wrote 'Animal Farm' because he wanted to make people actually think about what the novel and the characters contained in it represent. Power on 'Animal Farm' ends up being totally abused - I think that George Orwell's theory is that when one person has absolute power, it corrupts completely, and that it will never work. At the beginning of 'Animal Farm' we see how Mr Jones is at the top of the power 'hierarchy;' he has the most power, although it's more of an authority that Jones has over the animals compared to him having power. In a way, Jones having all the authority over the farm was a good thing, as all the animals knew where they stood, however, the normal farm animals, who represent the citizens of Russia, wanted more authority and power over the ruling of the farm; the country in Russia's case. Fed up with slaving for Jones and getting nothing except the bare
Animal Farm
How does George Orwell reflect the Russian Revolution in Animal Farm? Towards the end of the First World War in 1917 the defeated Russian nation was forced to surrender to the mighty German army. This lead to the abdication of the Russian Monarchy and the installation of a liberal provisional government. Within nine month however, the provisional government was overthrown by a new system of government which had previously not been seen, Communism, which lead to the establishment of the Soviet Union. In 1945 George Orwell released his well respected satirical allegory of the communist government which was a parody of the soviet revolution in 1917. The book highlights the downfall of communism which eventually developed into a totalitarian dictatorship. In the book Snowball is a fictional character, a pig that is commonly believed to represent Leon Trotsky. The two characters display striking similarities, both appear to have the best interests of their nations at heart. Snowball is concerned with the improvement of conditions on the farm, such as the building of the windmill and the improvement of the animal's social welfare, which is apparent at the battle of the cowshed. This battle represents the civil war in Russia between the Tsarist forces and the Bolsheviks where the old regime tried to retake power. During the battle of the cowshed Snowball is in the thick of
How Does Napoleon Take and Maintain Control Of Animal Farm?
How Does Napoleon Take and Maintain Control Of Animal Farm? George Orwell's character Napoleon is a very clever and sly animal. He uses several methods to take and maintain control of the farm. His primary methods are by using fear, by exploiting the animal and by bending the rules. Napoleon uses is intellect to good effect as far as self-interest is concerned. Napoleon instills fear as a way of giving the animal no chance to argue about what he says. This allows him to run the farm in his own manner and gives him a more confortable life than the other animals. Early on in Animal Farm, Napoleon takes Jessie and Bluebells nine newborn puppies. These puppies become the forefront of his campaign of fear. He uses them to gain power by eliminating his nemesis, Snowball "They dashed straight for Snowball...he slipped through a hole in the hedge and was seen no more." Also, Napoleon used the dogs in the public forum he created by setting an example of what would happen to those animals who chose to disobey him. When it was revealed that some of the animals had done things to side with the Snowball, Napoleon executed them in front of everyone else. Orwell's character Squealer was given a great ability to speak, this helped Napoleon get out of sticky situations and inscribe fear into the animals' heads all at once. When any of the animals questioned any of Napoleons actions, he
Animal Farm - Power Corrupts, and Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely
In 1887, Lord Acton told his friend in a letter, "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men." In 1945, George Orwell published the short novel Animal Farm, which was as allegory to Soviet totalitarianism, in which he made his views about several topics clear. Many of the characters in the book are corrupted by power, particularly the pigs, as they begin to manipulate their position of leadership to exploit the other animals, showing that absolute power corrupts absolutely. Firstly, it can be seen how power corrupts the pigs in Animal Farm simply by their actions, which include the changing of the commandments and their manipulation of the other animals. The actions of the character Napoleon are a particular case in this argument. In the fifth chapter of the book, Napoleon ousts Snowball from the farm during one of the regular debates with the aid of his trained dogs. Napoleon, not being satisfied with the amount of power that he currently had, decided to expel Snowball from Animal Farm with the support of his trained dogs. He did this in blatant disregard to the second of the Seven Commandments of Animalism. "Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend. (Chapter 2)" The law is written so that every animal is considered a friend. However, Napoleon chose to treat Snowball as an enemy because Snowball's
Overview of Animal Farm
Overview of Animal Farm George Orwell (who's real name is Eric Blair) wrote animal farm in 1943 to describe how he felt about dictators and leaders during revolutions. A good example of this is Russian revolution (the events of which are paralleled in Animal Farm), Orwell believe that once leaders had achieved their goal, they should resign and let the community take over and a committee should make the decisions. However in the Russian revolution Josef Stalin (the leader in this case) did not resign and (in my words) became corrupt, as he thought that Capitalism no longer communism was the best way to go, the idea that the original plan that even was equal got thrown out the window after the revolution. People greed and hunger for power is overwhelming and each time someone has obtained this power it has been met with by conflict. The only way the human race has progressed (shall we say) is by the slaughter of one another. Most wars are a good example of this. However when someone does come to total power (totalitarianism) the community don't realize what power they have in these situations. If one worker refuses to do his duty then he is met with conflict and is set t death or another form of punishment, but if the mass of them form together and protest then there is little that the person with total dominance can do, he has to met the problem with another solution than
How does Orwell use the fable form to explore ideas about power in Animal Farm?
How does Orwell use the fable form to explore ideas about power in Animal Farm? Remember to write about the society in which the stories are set. Orwell wrote this play to illustrate the Russian revolution. He used the animals to symbolise the main characters in the Russian Revolution. The moral of this fable is that power can corrupt anyone if they are not careful. Animal Farm is used to represent Russia in the time when Stalin was ruling Russia. Orwell represents the populations of Russia through the animals. Boxer is used to represent the community of Russia that did just as Stalin liked and didn't question his word. When the dogs attacked him he held them down with his hoof with ease. "Boxer looked at Napoleon to know whether he should crush the dog to death or let it go." He doesn't understand that the dogs were sent to attack him by Napoleon. This shows just how imprudent Boxer is. He is not as clever as Napoleon at all. If Boxer had a brain as good as a pig he would have been a great leader of the farm. Snowball is meant to symbolise Leon Trotsky and how he tries to do good for the country. Snowball has many attributes. He is a very helpful character and tried to help all the animals on the farm." He formed the Egg production Committee... the clean Tails League..., the wild Comrades' Re-education Committee" This shows that Snowball is dedicated to spreading the
How has George Orwell used Animal Farm to criticise the Russian Revolution
Animal Farm Essay, page 1 Animal Farm is an allegory and a warning, written by George Orwell. Orwell wrote books about societies and was interested in how people worked in a group. Animal Farm is a story about animals, based on events that happened in the Russian Revolution. Orwell wrote it to criticize the Russian Revolution and show how the people of Russian ended up worse off. In Animal Farm, farmer Jones represents Tsar Nicholas II, who was the leader of Russia before the revolution. He believed in his divine right to rule, as humans believe in their right to rule over animals. The Communists seized power and drove Tsar and his family out, as the animals chased the Joneses out. Napoleon represents Stalin, and Snowball represents Trotsky. They were Russian leaders. Stalin took control of the secret police, just like Napoleon took control of the puppies. Stalin became a dictator. A propaganda about external enemies helped him keep control of Russia, after he drove Trotsky out. There was famine. Stalin became distant, just like Napoleon was seen less and less. Stalin encouraged his followers to worship him. The idea of hard work was proved wrong, and Stalin had absolute power. Boxer is a strong, hard-working horse. He believes that the solution to any problem is to work harder. I know this because Orwell writes "His answer to every problem, every setback, was 'I will work
