Oppression In 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.

George Orwell’s novella “Animal Farm” is an allegory of the Russian Revolution retold by the rebellion of beasts over mankind. Through the actions and influences of the pigs in the story, Orwell highlights and mocks various human weaknesses, showing that although humans are thought to be the superior race, they are still flawed. Orwell ridicules man’s hunger for power and the benefits that come with authority. Furthermore, he brings to light the effects of alcoholism, and man’s detrimental and uncontrollable ability to cause physical harm.

The novel ‘Animal Farm’ created by George Orwell heavily expresses the ideals of a prolonged cruel or unjust treatment and the exercise of authority. The exponential ignorance of the farm animals towards the actions and ideas of the pigs (Napoleon, Squealer and Snowball) prove the incentive that it is easier to conform to the ideals/ways of the ‘New England’, than to rebel, as well as through the exposure to propaganda and the distortion of reality. This therefore leaving them docile, numb, and oppressed.

The pigs disobeyed all of the commandments. The main one was to do things like humans and Napoleon started trading with humans. Napoleon traded with Frederick and Frederick did not pay Napoleon with real money so Napoleon was furious. Frederick put together an attack on Animal Farm and planned to take down the windmill. Frederick put together an army and each man had a gun. In this battle, several animals were injured and several died, even Boxer was shot. If Napoleon were to follow the commandments the humans would not turn on him and knock down the windmill because, there would be no association. Today if you do not follow the rules you could get a detention or even worse, go to jail which would lead to your life being ruined. Or if you don’t follow certain rules in the branches of military you have a chance of death.

In Animal Farm, the pigs used their superior knowledge to persuade the other animals into thinking whatever they say is true. The first example of this in the novel is when the pigs are caught sleeping in beds. Clover remembered a rule against animals sleeping in beds, but when she went to check, she found “...herself unable to read more than individual letters...”(47) When she finally finds someone that can read the rules, it seems as though it has changed. This lack of education shown in Clover allows the pigs to change one of the Seven Commandments. Yet another example of the pigs changing history is just a few chapters later. Originally, the sixth commandment stated that no animal shall kill another animal, however when the animals checked after the massacre put on by Napoleon, “It ran: "No animal shall kill any other animal without cause." (63) This once again goes to show that without education, these animals are susceptible to deception. The pigs realize the power they have and use it against the unintelligent animals in order to cover up their

“Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely” (Lord Acton) This quote is telling us that when people get into the roles of absolute power they tend to become corrupt, as a result of that power. This quote can be applied to Napoleon from the book Animal Farm by George Orwell, because at the beginning of the novel Old Major’s words inspired Napoleon. As a result, he believed that humans were evil for forcing animals to work for them and that animals should be able to live freely, not under anyone’s control; however, as the story progresses his belief changed and the animals did not get to live their utopian dream.

George Orwell, in Animal Farm, addresses blind conformity and misuse of power. There are many comparisons between Animal Farm and Germany under Hitler’s tyranny concerning these two themes. Napoleon and Hitler both used propaganda to ensure there was blind conformity amongst the common people/animals and they both misused their power. The two themes of blind conformity and misuse of power are constantly repeated throughout the novel and will be studied throughout this essay.

In chapter 7 Napoleon began punishing and executing the animals who he believed to be traitors, by forcing them to confess to “crimes” that they committed. Through this, it is obvious that although the pigs goal is to keep humans out of animal farm, and make sure that the animals are safe, it is causing a sense of fear and terror in the animals. This also shows how the animals have no freedom of

For instance, it is for a fact that after the animals rebelled against the tyranny of humans and Farmer Jones, they worked together to establish equality. The ‘honeymoon’ of a revolution would have never lasted long and since there was not anyone to control the animals, a power vacuum was naturally created. It would only be a matter of time before the next generation, in this case, Napoleon, would assume totalitarian control. Napoleon rose from the rest of the animals and craved the need for power, which was done through taking advantage of the naivety of the labor force, by making volunteer work seem mandatory. Additionally, Napoleon would change the commandments to suit his needs. An example of this is when the pigs start sleeping in the farmhouse beds so Napoleon decides to change the commandment so that now the commandment says "No sleeping in a bed with sheets." Squealer assures the animals, though, that this is for the pigs' welfare. The animals are forced to be okay with this change because they don’t want what happened with Snowball to happen to

George Orwell’s Animal Farm is a perfect example of how ignorance and lack of education can be used for control. Control which can lead to political and social oppression. The experiences of the various characters present how the pigs use this idea to oppress the animals of Animal Farm.

Napoleon's driving force that kept the pigs in power was his way of forcing the animals to depend on the pigs for everything, and that they were simply more capable and therefore more deserving. “It

Throughout George Orwell’s novel, Animal Farm, the accumulation of power results from language and the use of rhetoric. Through language and the authority of words, the expulsion of Mr. Jones transpires and the undemocratic ascension of Napoleon’s dictatorship is made possible. The remarkable rhetorical and articulation ability of the pigs and their skillful manipulation of language for any situation that questioned their integrity dictated the fate of the farm. The novel demonstrates, through the animals on the farm, humans’ susceptibility to the manipulation of language, the illusion of integrity created by powerful words and the influence of persuasive oratory without fully comprehending its meaning.

Last but not least way a corrupt leader advances to power is by possessing aspects of intimidation. In Animal Farm, one aspect is intimidation Napoleon uses is dogs. He recruits 9 puppies who he was suppose to provide an education for but instead Napoleon rears them into fierce, elitist dogs that acts as his security guards. The very first time Napoleon use the dogs is at a meet before Snowball has a chance to stand up and give a counter-argument to Napoleon’s disapproval of the windmill. Orwell asserts “Napoleon stood up and, casting a peculiar sidelong look at Snowball… nine enormous dogs… came bounding into the barn. They dashed straight for Snowball… Snowball was racing across the long pasture that led to the road… he out on an extra spurt

An example of this is when the pigs decide to sleep in beds. This in fact was against the commandments. According to the fourth commandment “No animal shall sleep in a bed, with sheets,” (Pages 17-18) Clover had not remembered that the fourth commandment mentions “sheets” In this way the pigs violated the original commandment, but altered it to fit their needs. They did this not only by writing all of this on the barn, but also squealer went around and used his powers of persuasion to reassure the animals of the pigs’ “noble intentions”. In fact, the animals had witnessed this the night the pigs drank too much. They caught squealer adding to the fifth commandment in the middle of the night, but didn’t fully understand what was happening. Another example of this is when animals were killed because of connections to the traitor Snowball. After the confessions the animals “crept away in a body. They were shaken and miserable… until today, no animal had killed another animal.” (Page 61). This was not only a violation of the original sixth Commandment but it was also a display of oppression. Napoleon demonstrated that any animal that contradicted him would be slaughtered. In this way, Napoleon slowly developed a near-tyrannical rule over Animal Farm. This leads me to my final

Animal farm is a book that describes the harsh reality of inequality and injustices towards people of different races in the form of animals on a farm. In a fictional world, talking animals on a farm overthrow the owner, Mr. Jones, and drive him out of his own farm. These shockingly human animals have many of the characteristics that humans have, notably greed and social class differences. In Animal Farm, the revolution and rule of the animals is used as a metaphor to show how corrupt power can lead to inequality and unfair social classes.