Oppression In '1984 And Animal Farm'

"All oppression creates a state of war" -Simone de Beauvar, French Philosopher. Animal Farm by George Orwell is an allegory for the Russian Revolution. Each animal was a key character in the Revolution such as Napoleon being Joseph Stalin, Mr. Jones being Tsar Nicholas and Boxer, being an ignorant. Mr.Jones was run off the farm because the animals were tired of the drunken man mistreating them. What the animals didn't know was that they went from one dictator to a whole group of them. The pigs. Ignorance contributes to political and social oppression and is proved by the inability to comprehend what the pigs are doing to the other animals. The animals cannot read or write as well, are perplexed easily, couldn't see the blemishes in the pig's leadership, or how the pigs changed things and didn't see or completely ignored how the pigs had acted.

What is power? Power means the strength and the right given of controlling anyone else. However, when too much power is given to someone, dictatorship cannot be avoided. In the book “Animal Farm”, George Orwell used a lot of events happened on the farm to illustrate that how did the ‘animalism’ turn into “totalitarianism” and well defined the sentence “Absolute power corrupts absolutely”, which also reflects how the society was like at that time. Therefore, in order to find out the reason why George Orwell wrote the story, this essay will talk about how power is abused and the effect on other "comrades" by using several events and the examples of language features used in the story.

Imagine a world where every person is equal: everyone has the same possessions, everyone shows respect to each other, no one kills anyone else, and no authority rises over others to give dictating commands. It sounds wonderful doesn’t it? George Orwell’s haunting book Animal Farm shows however, the near impossibility it is to make that idea a reality. In this fairy tale, a group of oppressed farm animals revolt against the tyrannical bonds of their evil master Farmer Jones, chases him off the farm, and attempt to make a society based on the idea listed above. But instead of having this incredible society, the pigs decide to make one instead where they are the ultimate authority. This book highlights the dangers of trying to establish an

Animal Farm by George Orwell which is an allegory of the Russian Revolution and the film adaptation of George Orwell’s novel 1984, which is set in a futuristic dystopian society, directed by Michael Radford uses Symbolism, foreshadowing and irony to convey the central ideas of power, politics, control, fear and they both also portray the dangers of totalitarianism. 1984 follows one main character (Winston) which shows how the society is being controlled whereas Animal Farm does not follow one character specifically. Though there are differences, Animal Farm and 1984 use the language techniques of symbolism, foreshadowing and irony in very similar ways.

George Orwell uses his novel 1984 to convey that human beings, as a species, are extremely susceptible to dehumanization and oppression in society. Orwell demonstrates how a government’s manipulation of technology, language, media, and history can oppress and degrade its citizens.

Napoleon, the leader of all the animals of the Rebellion, can be compared and contrasted with Big Brother, the leader of all the people of 1984. Both Big Brother and Napoleon show the qualities of a cruel ruler. Similar to Big Brother, Napoleon is a secretive plotter who works behind the scenes rather than openly. However, unlike Napoleon, Big Brother periodically appears on the television screen. Napoleon and Big Brother both work continually to weaken their rivals, whether it is by removing Snowball or eliminate Rutherford. Both place importance on complicated ceremonies and parades to prevent their workers from thinking about their schemes. Napoleon’s control over animal farm is not as powerful as Big Brother's

Jones by using detail and as well as unknown terms. While Squealer attempts to convince the animals that Snowball’s is an enemy and traitor, he says, ‘“That was our mistake comrade. For we know now---it is all written down in the secret documents that we have found---that in reality he was trying to lure us to doom… Jones’s shot only grazed him. I could show you this in his own writing, if you were able to read it.’ … Now when Squealer described a scene so graphically, it seemed to the animal that they did remember it” (90). At this point in the story, the animals are confused about what has happened to Snowball and if he really is a traitor. To dispel their ideas about Snowball’s loyalty to animalism, Squealer tells the animals that all the information about Snowball’s criminal actions and his conspiracy with the humans is written down in a secret file. He describes the file and the conspiracy with such detail that the animals start to believe that these stories are actually part of their memories. Squealer also ensures that the animals recognize that the information is written down, which would make it incomprehensible to most animals seeing that they would be unable to read it. Because the animals believe that all this information must be true because it is written down in a secret document and cannot prove this or their memories to be false, they accept that Snowball is a

Soon after building the windmill, it falls and Napoleon blames Snowball for its destruction. Some of the animals sympathize with Snowball, saying that there was no way he could have pushed it over. Napoleon becomes angry, purging the farm, killing anyone who he accuses of allying with Snowball. After he did so, animals questioned his tactics only for Napoleon to ask the animals, “Surely comrades, you would not want Jones back? (Orwell, pg. 67 Chap. 6)” By saying this rhetorical question, the animals would not question what it was that Jones had done that was worse than Napoleon, and they would just get back to doing their work. Napoleon used Squealer the pig to help him get out of situations that he brought upon himself. When Napoleon would say something that he was not supposed to, Squealer would justify for

George Orwell’s Animal Farm is a satirical allegory through which he presents his cynical view of human nature. He uses the animal fable effectively to expose the issues of injustice, exploitation and inequality in human society.

Throughout reading animal farm one can’t help but ask several question like who decides that someone is oppressing? Do some people deserve to be oppressed? Does oppression bring more oppression? And the answers remain ambiguous because once the oppressed have the power they start oppressing those whom they see inferior; just like what Napoleon in Animal Farm did; he started becoming more and more like the humans that oppressed them. The first sign that showed the start of the power of the pigs, Snowball and Napoleon, in Animal Farm was the seven commandments, which had to be followed by the animals. The seven commandments of Animalism if reduced in a phrase it would be “Four legs good, two legs bad” (Orwell, 34) and even though the pigs used the human’s language and knowledge to constitute their rules they used the animals’ ignorance to make it in their own

Fear within the ignorant animals of Animal Farm and defeated humans of 1984 exist to uphold each novel’s totalitarian government. Each of these George Orwell novels delve into the power and manipulation of an absolute dictatorship. Napoleon in Animal Farm and Big Brother in 1984 both claim the newly established system of authority is of superior quality than the preceding regime. Apprehension is due to both fictional and realistic threats, twisted for the government’s power-hungry use. Feelings of fear permit the pigs and the Party to control devotion and independence in ignorant citizens. Animal Farm and 1984 simulate fear utilized by authoritarian rule to control, keep citizens loyal and modify reality. George Orwell’s two novels warn

1984 and Animal farm are acutely similar books. They both revolve around a dictatorship government. There are two main dictators in these stories, Big Brother and Napoleon. The pigs are aggressive and big brother is always watching what the people do. In these novels the leaders start out with using the ruling to use it for good but then focus on corruption of power that Napoleon and Big Brother use it for the worse and not the good. 1984 and Animal farm the totalitarian governments used dehumanizing tactics like using television to hypnotize the animals, take away rights and using fear to show the people and animals that the government has the power.

In Orwell’s 1984, he displays psychological manipulation through Oceania’s government which it uses to control its citizens. This includes the use of propaganda, control of content, and ethnocentrism. The Party’s methods of control relates to real life events repeated in history such as the Nazi Regime from 1933 to 1945 headed by Adolf Hitler and common patterns in cultural history.

“The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and and from pig to man again, but already it was impossible to say which was which.” Orwell wrote Animal Farm as an allegory based on problems resulting from the Russian Revolution. In Animal Farm, George Orwell uses tone, characterization, and stylistic elements to show that people in power use manipulation to stay in power.

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.