preview

What Is The Similarities Between Life Of Pi And Animal Farm

Better Essays

INTRODUCTION

A utopia is “an imaginary place in which the government, laws, and social conditions are perfect” (Merriam Webster Dictionary). It is human nature to desire and dream of living in a place, where everything is in perfect order with abundant food resources, companions, and equality. Yet, it is also human nature to become self-centered and covetous, which corrupts our minds and leads us to chaos. Therefore, achieving a utopic society in the real world is hardly conceivable. Many well-known literary works illustrate this statement. They cover the theme of utopia by portraying the human traits that contribute to the collapse of the utopic society. In an attempt to investigate those human attitudes that undermine utopias, I have decided to compare the utopic societies in Life of Pi by Yann Martel and Animal Farm by George Orwell. Life of Pi is the survival story of an Indian boy named Pi Patel in a boat with a hyena, a zebra with a broken leg, a female orangutan, and a Bengal tiger that weighs more than 200 kilograms. Pi creates his own version of a utopia while the boat is adrift at sea. Animal Farm covers the story of a number of farm animals that rebel against humans and construct their own ideal community. Hence, …show more content…

In Animal Farm, Mr. Jones and the other humans represent the powerful high-class or the so-called bourgeoisie while the animals represent the inferior proletarians who work for the bourgeoisie. Similar to the purpose of communist proletarians, Old Major’s goal is to end humans’ supremacy because they take advantage of their workers for high profits without rewarding them accordingly. He is convinced that, “the forcible overthrow of the existing social conditions” (Marx 34) would create the necessary conditions for animals to establish a utopic society and reap the rewards of their

Get Access