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Animal Farm Totalitarianism

Decent Essays

In George Orwell’s classic novel, Animal Farm, Orwell uses symbolism to suggest that totalitarianistic governments do not always last. Symbolism is the use of a person, place, thing, or idea to represent something else. Because of how they run the farm and scare the animals into submission, Old Major, Mr. Jones, and Napoleon are all characters in Animal Farm that symbolize totalitarianism. At the beginning of the book, Old Major, a highly respected figure, had experienced a dream that he had wanted to share with all of the other animals. Because Old Major was becoming old and was living out the last of his days, the dream had prompted him to gather the animals in the big barn to relay the dream immediately. He urged the animals to rebel against Mr. Jones and take control of the farm by scaring them into action. “No animal escapes the cruel knife in the end.” (Orwell 9) he had stated. By the end of his speech, the animals were angry and scared of how their lives would eventually end according to Old Major. Not long after his speech Old Major died, but not without making the animals fearful of what would happen if they did not respect his wishes. …show more content…

Jones, the alcoholic owner of Manor Farm, ran the farm in a similar fashion to Old Major. He scared the animals into obeying by abusing them and neglecting them. “The next moment he and his four men were in the store-shed with whips in their hands, lashing out in all directions.” (Orwell 19). Mr. Jones would forget to feed the animals and when they would attempt to get food, he would punish them with whips. In turn, the animals would submit to him out of fear and Mr. Jones stayed in charge. That is until they got fed up with the ill-treatment and rebelled against Mr. Jones. The animals chased Mr. Jones from the farm and once again got rid of

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