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Disenfranchisement In Animal Farm Essay

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Clearly, Animal Farm is a book about disenfranchisement, and there are many examples to illustrate this. For instance, one of the earliest examples of economic disenfranchisement in the book, can be found in the disparity between the farm owner Mr. Jones, and the state of the animals on the farm. Old Major calls this to mind with his speech; the animal’s hard work yields a high profit, but the animals only ever receive a very meager share of it. Mr. Jones and the other humans profit greatly off the animals work despite not doing nearly as much work as the animals. Another example of economic class disparity can be found with Napoleon’s perversion of “animalism.” This is shown by his constant changing of the seven commandments written on the barn wall to suit his own …show more content…

One could also look at the fact that the pigs eventually began to walk upright and claimed that “four legs were good, but two were better” (Orwell, Animal, pg. 21, 85). On top of the class disparity there are several examples of political and legal disenfranchisement present within the book. No truer example of this can be found than when Napoleon abolished the weekly assembly and subsequently abolished voting rights. This effectively made it impossible for any animal other than pigs to have any form of representation on the farm. Another example can be found through Snowball’s forced exile from the farm. Not only was Snowball disenfranchised by Napoleon for having conflicting opinions with him, but he was also disenfranchised by the entire farm when Napoleon managed to convince them all that Snowball was actually a spy in league with the humans. This is a curious case, as Snowball was actually the only animal on the farm openly advocating for animal equality. He even supported fewer work hours and animal retirement

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