Essay, Research Paper
Totaliterainism found in Animal Farm
George Orwell+s story, Animal Farm, is a satire of Soviet Russia. In a more general sense, however, the story traces the rise and fall of any totalitarian regime. All of the animals on Animal Farm somehow contribute to either the creation, destruction, or temporary success of the totalitarian government. The original goal of the Animal Farm society is a socialist society, but it turns bad.
As the animals begin the Animal Farm society, everyone is equal. As time passes, it is realized that of all the animals, the pigs are the smartest. This is slowly the beginning of Animal Farm moving froma socialistic socoety to a totalitarian society. Snowball and Napolean are two pigs who are constantly arguing over issues; they compete for power. Snowball is a good speaker and can easily persuade people, whereas Napolean is not a very good speaker. Napolean was jealous of Snowball, and he was power hungry. One day, he had his nine enourmouis dogs chase Snowball off the farm. Now Napolean was in complete control, and he made it seem like he was putting a hardship on himself by doing so. Squealer was sent around and said, |I trust that every animal here appreciates the sacrifice that Comrade Napolean has made in taking this extra labor upon himself. Do not imagine, comrades, that leadership is a pleasure!X (69) It was here that the shift to totalitarianism became rapid.
Aside from the pigs and dogs on Animal Farm, the other animals were not that smart. Most could not learn to read or write like the pigs and were very easily convinced by Squealer that their memories just deceived them sometimes. Boxer was perhaps the worst victim of this deception. Boxer, a big strong horse, was very excited by the revolution. His motto was |I will work harder.X 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 |crimesXl he said after thinking for a long time, |I 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 morningsX (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.
Of the pigs and aside from Napolean, probably the most influential contributer to the success of the totalitarian society was Squealer. Squealer was used by Napolean as a propagandist. Squealer had the most contact with the other animals and whenever another animal would be a little confused about things going on on the farm, Squealer would reassure them and use the sheep as help. The sheep would belt out the phrase, |Four legs good, two legs bad!X or |Four legs good, two legs better!X as it became known, and this would divert the animals from wondering. We see Squealer tell the animals things, such as |That evening Squealer explained privatly to the other animals that Napolean had never in reality been opposed to the windmill, on the contrary, it was he who had advocated it in the beginning, and the plan which Snowball had drawn on the floor of the incubator shed had actually been stolen from among Napolean+s papersX (71). Squealer lied and maipulated the animals and since the animals were not that smart, they believed it.
In the beginning, Animal Farm, like Soviet Russia was supposed to be a fair, socialist society. However, because of power hungry Napolean, like Stalin, the peaceful society turned into a totalitarian society. The animals were treated unfairly and were fed little. THey were lied to and through propaganda, they were manipulated. The once peaceful society Old Major had envisioned was forever destroyed.