Haley Zrnchik Mrs. Hawkins Honors English 1, Red 1 13 December 2012 Silence Kills In George Orwell’s Animal Farm, Benjamin, a soft-spoken donkey, finds his once peaceful home transformed into a tyrannical dictatorship led by a power-hungry pig named Napoleon. Because of Benjamin’s reserved nature, he ultimately was able to lead Animal Farm into its oppression. Benjamin’s silence, his ability to follow without question, and his inability to share his wisdom with the other animals turned him into one of the main contributors to the tyrannical behavior that occurred and the loss of freedom and equality on Animal Farm. When someone keeps their thoughts silent, it usually allows wrong to happen; in this case, Benjamin and his reserved …show more content…
. . except . . . since Boxer’s death, more morose and taciturn than ever” (128) Benjamin’s growing silence caused him to become a bigger contributor to the loss of freedom and equality on Animal Farm. At this point, he wouldn’t speak up; Benjamin confirmed his spot as a follower and never as anything more. Sometimes silence is the deadliest weapon. Benjamin proved that by remaining quiet through a time of oppression, one would only be helping to promote a leader’s totalitarianism. His stubborn silence, his adamancy towards following his orders, and his taciturn attitude after the death of Boxer only stood to show that a follower sometimes can be the strongest contribution to a tyranny. Napoleon’s dictatorship, while strong, would not have been as successful had it not been for his followers. Benjamin and the others, while they may not have realized it, were key attributes needed to lead to the ultimate removal of freedom and equality on Animal Farm. Works Cited Orwell, George. Animal Farm: With Connections. Austin, TX: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1999.
Napoleon, who is dictator by now, proceeds to manipulate the farm animals with his deceitful propaganda. However, his scheming acts become noticeably repetitive. Making some of the animals question his authority. The majority of the animals were blindly following Napoleon’s regime, only a few who realized that it was not what he was claiming it to be. Benjamin, an old, wise, and stubborn donkey was not affected by the rebellion. He is also intelligent, being the only animal other than the pigs that can fluently read. Benjamin represent the humans that hold the idea that life is hard, and that efforts for change are useless. Benjamin can too represent Orwell himself. Both Orwell and Benjamin saw the negatives of a government when the rest were
Animal Farm by George Orwell is a novel about rebellion where the animals are not under human control. Old Major is a Middle White boar who has a dream where animals live without (the tyranny of men; they are free, happy, well fed, and treated with dignity) (Spark Notes). Old Major´s purpose is to convey the idea that animals are the only way to run a farm. animals are not treated right there is going to be a rebellion. Old Major adopts a logical tone in order to show the animals they need to be treated greater if Mr. Jones wants them to work on the farm.
Animal Farm begins on Manor Farm, where overworked, tired, and hungry animals are unhappy in the conditions that they are in, but when an old boar named Old Major introduces the idea of a rebellion and encourages the animals to take control over the farm, the animals begin an uprising against the humans, taking control over the land and renaming the farm “Animal Farm.” However, greedy and corrupt leaders rise to power and turn a once prosperous farm, into a nightmare. In Animal Farm, George Orwell asserts the idea that absolute power results in corruption. Napoleon and the other pigs, interested in remaining superior, persuades the other animals by using intimidation and emotional appeals in order to keep control of the gullible animals.
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
Eric Blair wrote “The Animal Farm” during 1945, which he writes about a dystopian society with animals. He makes connections to real world problems throughout the story. He refers to animals being human by making connections by forming a government, because it's in human nature to form any type of government. In this case, the animals form a democracy from the commandments they put in their constitution; with all the corruption it mimics a communist government. The corruption deals with the leaders taking advantage of the commandments by overriding them while the other animals have to obey them. The main characters were Napoleon, Snowball, Boxer, and Squealer which can be connected to real world leading figures. The author also put in
His silence in the face of the pig's corruption is broken only at the novel's climax as his friend Boxer is driven off to the "knackers" in a truck the other animals believe to be transporting him to the vet. "Fools! Fools!" he shouts furiously, "Fools! Do you not see what is written on the side of that van?" The animals can't read the writing of course, but Benjamin could all along, as he could read Animal Farm's constitution being changed overnight. Benjamin saw the dark path that the revolution was taking and in its early phases had the ability to turn it around. But the apathy he showed landed all of animal farm manipulated and trapped in a position where resistance was futile and the pigs could rule with an iron fist. Benjamin was cynical with his belief that "Life would go on as it had always gone on - that is, badly" but in the same way he was a realist, as in the end of animal farm things did continue as they always had - badly. It is questionable whether Animal Farm's revolution, and the revolution of its allegory counterpart would have reached a different outcome in Benjamin, and those smart enough to sense the corruption had discarded their apathy and made their awareness known.
Imagine you had all of the answers but you didn't share them or use them to your own advantage. Benjamin is the animal in the story that does this. It seems like he always knows what is going on but never wants to speak up about it. In the story when the pigs are try to teach all of the other animals about the alphabet and to teach them to read, benjamin does not want to be involved and learn because he already knows how to read but doesn't tell anyone that he can. He notices things that the other animals don’t throughout the story.
Benjamin was compassion. He thought about other people before him one example that Benjamin stated was “I gave the other two rolls to a woman and her child that came down the river in the boat.” While he could've ate all of the rolls he had he was kind to give his rolls away to a family,because he knew that the mom couldn’t afford to buy any food so he was nice to help them out.
Boxer was perhaps the worst victim of this deception. Boxer, a big strong horse, was very excited by the revolution. His motto was ³I will work harder.² He would get up early in the morning to do extra work because he wanted the farm to prosper. Sometimes when things did not always seem right, he would think about it for a while and then blame things that went wrong on the animals having done something wrong. Once, after several animals were slaughtered for committing ³crimes²l he said after thinking for a long time, ³I do not understand it. I would notthave believed that such things could happen on our farm. It must be due to some fault in ourselves. The solution, as I see it, is to work harder. From now onward, I shall get up a full hour earlier in the mornings² (94). Boxer represents the people who do not fight for rights but just accept things as they are. He worked harder than anyone his whole time on the farm.
In George Orwell’s novel Animal Farm, a major turning point in the novel was when Napoleon used his secret police force, his dogs, to exile Snowball. Snowball had previously been trying to improve the animal’s lives for the future by building a windmill. After Snowball was exiled, Napoleon became leader and everything immediately went amiss. Orwell stated that: "Somehow it seemed as though the farm had grown richer without making the animals themselves any richer- except, of course, for the pigs and the dogs" (p.86). In other words, no one was benefiting from the animal’s labours apart from the pigs and the dogs because the amount of authority the dogs and the pigs, especially Napoleon had, was corrupt. Frighteningly, if Snowball had been
Benjamin was a very determine young man who sat out to find his way and didn't care how he done it, rather he starve and live on the streets. He was going to become a well-known person and that he did after he was taken in by this family whom was rich and he also like the daughter and had intentions of marrying her whenever he had got on his feet to take care of a family. And when he did finally marry Deborah, after their marriage he treated her with disrespect and he was gone all the
George Orwell’s Animal Farm is reflective of Russia during Joseph Stalin’s tyrannical ruling. The story’s antagonist Napoleon leads the Rebellion with Snowball. Once Napoleon overthrows Snowball, he deceives and manipulates the other animals with promise of a life free of restraint and human influence. After gaining their trust, Napoleon capitalizes on the animals’ vulnerabilities and uses his power to better the circumstances of the pigs rather than all animals. Although he initially presents himself as a democratic head, his leadership tactics are that of a dictator. Through examining the syntax and diction characteristic of Orwell’s writing, one can gain a better understanding of the novel’s sociopolitical theme.
He claimed that there was no reason to read. When Boxer, Benjamin’s best friend, is going to be slaughtered, Benjamin shows the other animals he can read again. Now there is question if Benjamin really didn’t read because there was no reason to, or if it was because he knew what was happening with the pigs and what might happen to him if they knew he could
It is the middle of Summer when Boxer, a horse, and Benjamin, a donkey were freed from their human oppressors on Manor farm, or commonly known as Animal Farm. Napoleon, who is the farm’s “President” is a pig, which all pigs are smarter than the other animals (and Napoleon is the smartest pig out of all the pigs, which makes him the leader). Animal Farm is a book written by George Orwell. Boxer, who has a big role in this book, is the main topic of this essay. Boxer has a big role on this farm because of all his actions. Boxer is a hard worker, and his main motto is “I shall work harder,” (Orwell #29) showing that he is a big helper on the farm. He supports “Comrade Napoleon”, which makes him loyal to Napoleon, and he is overall a great animal to have around a farm because of how hard he works and how his personality is.
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.