| Term Paper Title | Animal Farm |
| # of Words | 962 |
| # of Pages (250 words per page double spaced) | 3.85 |
Animal Farm
“So it is,” implies Orwell, “and so it will always be: once a revolution is made and the leaders get into power, they will be corrupted.” George Orwell illustrates his point best through his “fairy story,” Animal Farm. Napoleon is a blueprint for all revolutions because he starts out professing the Old Major’s philosophy of Animalism, but turns to totalitarianism.
First, Napoleon’s ban on the foundation of the Revolution, the song “Beasts of England,” represents the death of the Revolution and the beginning of a police state. At the beginning of the “fairy story” Old Major gathers the animals together to teach them a song. After hearing it sung, the animals experience uncontrolled delight for removal of their terrible master, Mr. Jones. This could also signify Lenin stirring the people of Russia to Revolution against Tsar Nicholas II. However, now that the song is banned, freedom from oppression no longer exists and totalitarianism returns to imprison the animals because the ideals espoused during the Revolution are now dead.
Next, Napoleon, with the aid of his propaganda minister, Squealer, rewrites and eventually abolishes the Seven Commandments of the Revolution as defined by farm’s inspiration, the now deceased Old Major. The first commandment, “Whatever goes on two legs is an enemy,” is abused numerous times by the ruling class, the pigs. First, Napoleon hires a lawyer, Mr. Whymper, to conduct business with the outside world, which is strictly forbidden. Moreover, by the end of the story, the pigs are walking on only their hind legs and aligning the farm with neighbor Mr. Pilkington. The other commandment which is gradually ignored by the pigs is the second that states, “Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend.” When Napoleon sends the ailing Boxer to the knackers to be made into glue and dog food is the most blatant abuse of this commandment. After that, the third commandment, which states, “No animal shall wear clothes,” is clearly disregarded by all of the pigs when the law is implemented that allows all pigs to wear a green ribbon in their tail on Sundays. Furthermore, Napoleon would dress in Mr. Jones’ old clothes and his mistress would wear silk dresses when in public. Next, the commandment against consuming any alcohol is rewritten to; “No animal shall drink alcohol in excess.” Even then, the pigs drink so much whiskey that some get so fat that it is difficult for them to see. Even more shocking, Napoleon executes numerous dissidents after rewriting the commandment against killing animals to making it lawful to kill another animal if there is justification for doing so. The pigs also rewrite the commandment against sleeping in a bed by adding, “a bed with sheets.”
Lastly, the final commandment of equality is rewritten into one of the most powerful lines is literature, “All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others.” This revision justifies the pi...Read entire document
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