“ANIMAL FARM” By “George Orwell”

Animal Farm

Supremacy can drive anyone crazy and this is the theme of George Orwell’s 

short novel, which eloquently and vividly describes the reason of failure of “communism”. Orwell himself exclaims” it is the history of a revolution that went wrong”.

“Man is the only creature that consumes without producing” ― George Orwell, Animal Farm

“Animal farm” is an ironic story where in the beginning the animal’s patience was tested till the breaking point. Afterwards they rebel and drive out Mr. Jones, their master. At that juncture, they have dreamt to have a state of their own based on the foundation of equality and respect. But with time, the whole system breaks down due to the tyranny of pigs.

“The only good human being is a dead one.” ― George Orwell, Animal Farm

Revolution has good start with “seven commandments” and a motto of “generating self esteem among fellow animals”. Whether feeble or strong, plain or intellectual, it is ensured that all got equal opportunities in terms of living with contentment and enjoying life.

“Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy. Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend.” ― George Orwell, Animal Farm

But under the leadership of domineering pig, Napoleon, pigs go on height of craziness. They go on delivering absurd commands, killing fellow animal beings. The shrewd napoleon has also chased out snowball who works for the goodwill of animals. The pigs make others believe that snowball is responsible for all evil happenings. Squealer, a brilliant orator who can anytime swing the argument to his side, manages to alter all the seven commandments. The story teaches us how the pigs, once a four leg comrades turn into dictators .The story has parallels with history of soviet reign. We can identify napoleon as Stalin, snowball as Trotsky, and boxer as simple soviet people with “I will work hard “as answers to all questions.

Animalism is a philosophy that Animal Farm adopted to unite the animals against humans. The short form of it is “Four legs good, two legs bad!”. The original commandments are:

1. Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy.
2. Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend.
3. No animal shall wear clothes.
4. No animal shall sleep in a bed.
5. No animal shall drink alcohol.
6. No animal shall kill any other animal.
7. All animals are equal.

Gradually, absolute power corrupts the pigs and they start to break their own rules and hide their manipulation by altering the rules:

1. No animal shall sleep in a bed with sheets.
2. No animal shall drink alcohol to excess.
3. No animal shall kill any other animal without cause.

All laws are replaced with “all animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others”, and “four legs good, two legs better!” as the pigs become more human.

The downfall of communism was due to the concentration of power in selected hands which hampered the dissemination of resources among the masses. The whole story is aptly concluded by the last line “The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again, but already it was impossible to say which was which”.