Essay 2: Politics and the English Language George Orwell’s Animal Farm is an allegoric, political satire rich in manipulation of language. In fact, some believe it was written for the purpose of portraying the Russian Revolution of 1917 and many years following which concluded in a “more oppressive, totalitarian, and far more deadly” government than its predecessors. Each of Orwell’s characters is also believed to represent principal figures of that time. The story opens on Manor Farm, an English farm owned and operated by a Mr. Jones. Old Major, the prized pig of the farm, and eldest, fears that he will die soon and wants to leave behind a legacy by educating the other farm animals on how they are being misused. He calls a meeting …show more content…
At the same time the leader pigs convince the others that they need more food and luxuries since they are the “brains of the operation”. Hence the oppression they had always witnessed from Jones continues under the rule of their elected pig president Napoleon, only with a different spin on it. The leader pigs profess that all animals are created equal, but in the end, they change many rules to their advantage. The pigs continue to use persuasive techniques and language manipulation on the other farm animals to get their way. All farm animals are expected to live by the Animals “Seven Commandments” but when it doesn’t suit their needs the pigs change the language of the commandments to their benefit. Whenever the farm animals suspect Napoleon of any wrong doing, he uses Snowball as a fall guy to distract the farm of any unlawful activity. Years go by and under the dictatorship of Napoleon the farm is expanded. The farm animals continue under the oppression of Napoleon. In the meantime, Napoleon and his crew begin to socialize with humans. They even begin to walk on two legs, now completely personifying humans. Ultimately the commandments are abolished and only one biased commandment remains: "All Animals Are Equal / But Some Are More Equal than Others." The pigs begin to socialize with the humans and eventually even the name Manor Farm is reinstated. In the end, the animal farm is worse off than
George Orwell’s Animal Farm is, first and foremost, a political satire warning against the pursuit of utopian desires through unjust and oppressive means. Operating under the pretense of an animal fable, Orwell disparages the use of political power to poach personal freedom. He effectively alerts his readers to the dangerous price that can accompany the so-called “pursuit of progress”. And he illuminates how governments acting under the guise of increasing independence often do just the opposite: increase oppression and sacrifice sovereignty. While the cautionary theme Orwell provides proves widely applicable, in reality his novel focuses on one tale of totalitarian abuse: Soviet Russia. The parallels between the society Orwell presents in his Animal Farm and the Soviet Union – from the Russian revolution to Stalin’s supremacy – are seemingly endless. Manor Farm represents Tsarist Russia, Animalism compares to Stalinism, and Animal Farm, with the pig Napoleon at its helm, clearly symbolizes Communist Russia and Joseph Stalin. But Orwell does more than simply align fiction with fact. He fundamentally attacks Soviet Russia at its core. And in so doing he reveals how the Communist Party simply replaced a bad system with a worse one, overthrowing an imperial autocracy for a totalitarian dictatorship. This essay will demonstrate that Orwell’s Animal Farm is
Elie Wiesel in Night and Snowball from Animal Farm are very similar characters because they were victimized by tyrants and used as scapegoats, but they are also unique and individual characters because Elie knew he was being taken advantage of and Snowball did not. Animal Farm is written by George Orwell, and it is about a farm of animals that take over the farm. Napoleon, a large pig, slowly takes away food and supplies from the other animals until he starts walking on two feet and becomes a “human.” Because of him Snowball is expelled from the farm and acts as a scapegoat for everything that goes wrong on the farm. Night is an autobiography written by Elie Wiesel, and in it Elie tells the story of he was taken from his home and put into a concentration camp under the control of Adolf Hitler.
People respond to control and power differently for various reasons, however, one of the main reasons is based on their personality; their confidence and intelligence. In, Animal Farm by George Orwell, confidence and intelligence is a big factor for why certain animals obtained power and control and why other ones did not. People with confidence and intelligence are likely to gain most of the control and power. People with little intelligence, but lots of confidence are more likely to have some power or work underneath the leader. People with intelligence, but no confidence seem to have no power at all and shy away from it. Both intelligence and confidence are needed for someone to take total power. Therefore, the amount of confidence and intelligence a person has will decide how they respond to control and power.
“In past years Mr. Jones, although a hard master, had been a capable farmer, but of late he had fallen on evil days”(Orwell 38). In Animal Farm George Orwell describes life for the animals on a farm in the english countryside during the mid to early 20th century before, during and after a revolution against their master Mr.Jones in order to represent the russian revolution and describe to people throughout the free world how leaders in both capitalist and communist societies oppress the working class as a result Orwell 's tone throughout the novel is concerned. Tsar Nicholas II led Russia into failure in the Russo-Japanese war as well as World War I and allowed the shootings of over one thousand protesters on Bloody Sunday; these actions inspired Orwell to create a representation of tsar Nicholas II in the character Mr.Jones who is known for being drunk and forgetful.
“Power is not a means, it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution. One makes the revolution in order to establish a dictatorship.” George Orwell (Brainyquote.com). Animal Farm is a satire written by George Orwell which uses animals to portray political issues most likely that of Russia under the rule of Joseph Stalin. Mr. Jones is the owner of Manor Farm which is meant to represent Russia and Mr. Jones it’s leaders that were neglectful. He forgets to feed the animals as well as well as beating them and treating them badly. A wise boar “Old Major” gives a speech that pushes the animals to rebel after Mr. Jones goes on a drinking binge and forgets to feed the animals. After Old Major dies, and the animals rebel, three pigs step up to take over. Napoleon, Squealer, and Snowball convince the animals that a strict regime is the only way to prevent to prevent their former life of misery and slavery. The animals fear allowed the pigs the power they were seeking and the more powerful they became the more corruption surfaced. They used manipulation, fear tactics, and propaganda to make the other animals see a false sense of reality. In order to keep the other animals from rebelling Napoleon, a pig and the leader, began to execute any animal that he thought threatened his control. The hens who revolted when required to surrender their eggs were killed along with any pigs that associated with Snowball ( the pig that challenges Napoleon for control). The farm has is now being used for Napoleon’s own agenda which is to make money for him and the other pigs. In turn, this also satisfies his need for power. In the final pages of the book the pigs are walking on two legs and meeting with neighboring farmers to let them tour the farm. In this final scene the it is
The English language is one of the most complex languages known to man. Words, sentences, and ideas can be built and misconstrued because of the language’s depth. In the novel Animal Farm, the head pigs in charge, Napoleon, twists words in order to gain control and power over the entire farm. The Manor Farm transforms from the totalitarian rule of Mr. Jones, a mean farmer who feeds his animals meager portions, to Napoleon, a pig that will have you liquidated for a bottle of liquor. Language is used as a means of social control because of its irony, it changes, and it’s illegible by some.
Fredrick and Pinchfield are two farmers who run different farms. Fredrick is quite rude and shrewd while Pinchfield is easygoing
George Orwell’s Animal Farm is an allegory based Russian Revolution. This book shows that parties of power can easily over rule the classes of society. This allegory shows forms of dreams control and power related to the Russian Revolution.
They make commandments for all the animals to follow: whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend. No animal shall wear clothes. No animal shall sleep in a bed. No animal shall drink alcohol. Boxer, a strong cart-horse, devoted himself to the cause and the barn. Soon enough, the animals get rid of the humans on the farm and have it all to themselves. The three pigs soon become the leaders of the farm. At first, Animal Farm (which they called it, instead of Manor Farm) grew and prospered. Snowball works at teaching the animals how to read. Napoleon also takes a group of young pups to have them learn about Animalism (the commandments). Mr. Jones tries to take back the farm, but fails. Over time, Napoleon and Snowball fight for power as both of them want to rule the farm. Snowball came up with the idea of a electricity-generating windmill, but Napoleon rejects the idea. Snowball holds a meeting about the windmill, Napoleon gets angry, calls for his “puppies” or attack dogs and order them to chase Snowball out of the farm. Napoleon claims leadership and changes his mind about the windmill. He builds it. After a
George Orwell includes a strong message in his novel Animal Farm that is easily recognizable. Orwell’s Animal Farm focuses on two primary problems that were not only prominent in his WWII society, but also posed as reoccurring issues in all societies past and present. Orwell’s novel delivers a strong political message about class structure and oppression from the patriarchal society through an allegory of a farm that closely resembles the Soviet Union.
Although George Orwell’s Animal Farm was created in order to mimic individuals as well as occurrences that took place during the Russian Revolution period, it is still possible to gain a comprehensive understanding of the text without a past knowledge of history through the exploitation of human nature’s imperfections. Following the publishment of his novel, Orwell confirmed that his goal in writing this fable was to expose the wrongdoing of the Soviet Union as well as the treachery of the true ideas of the Revolution. Nonetheless, there have been several other examples of events such as the French Revolution that can effortlessly be contrasted against components of the allegory. However, we need not to dig no deeper than to the
Imagine that you were an animal 's or citizen living under Napoleon or Stalin rule and the fear that your life can be taken always from you at any time. In the novel of Animal Farm, George Orwell he wanted to show how a book is a sarcasm of the Russian Revolution during the communist years and the satire of that time between Trotsky and Stalin. Where Orwell chose to create his character base of the common people of Russia at the time of the Revolution. Animal Farm is a social or allegory about Napoleon influences of all the animals and getting rid of his partner; however, how he uses his power for great evil.
“Boxer, who had now had time to think things over, voiced the general feeling by saying “If Comrade Napoleon says it, it must be right”” (Orwell 56). Boxer, a horse, was unsure of how he felt with Napoleon and the rest of the pigs having all of the power, was not informed enough to know or argue that he did not like this new way of governing, so he just settled with what he was told. George Orwell’s Animal Farm is about Manor Farm that is seized by its maltreated animals that set up their own government in the now renamed “Animal Farm”. There are many animals on this farm, including Benjamin, a donkey who is quite old, Clover, a horse who is not very bright, and the two main leaders, pigs named Napoleon and Snowball. Napoleon and Snowball
George Orwell’s foremost objective when composing Animal Farm was to depict the Russian Revolution of 1917 as an affair that produced a government more repressive, totalitarian and lethal than the one it replaced. Various components of the text including the setting, characters and plot were created intentionally to parallel key figures and events surrounding the communist territory of Russia during the revolution. Manor Farm – where the plot unfolds – is based on the country of Russia. The character of Mr Jones is a replica of Tsar Nicholas II, the final Russian emperor. Throughout Nicholas’
In 1943, Eric Blair, under the pen name of George Orwell, began writing Animal Farm. Although born in Bengal, he eventually moved to Eton for schooling. After completing his schooling, Orwell served for the loyalist forces in the Spanish Civil War. At the end of the war, Orwell moved to England. It was in England where he decided to devote himself to British Socialism and writing. The masterpiece, Animal Farm, was created out of Orwell’s love of Socialism and his passion for writing. Although he had trouble at first, on August 17th, 1945, Orwell finally found someone who would be willing to publish his novel. During the writing of Animal Farm, Soviet Russia’s involvement in thwarting the Nazi Army caused many of the English publishers to refuse publication. These publishers saw numerous risks in publishing Orwell’s masterpiece because of the impact it could have on Stalin himself. When asked why he would offend Stalin in such a way, and also the USSR, he simply stated that he had only intended to write a cautionary story for the democratic west, warning it against a dangerously alien form of “socialism”. (Orwell i-ix)