The Decline Of Freedom (Animal Farm) Essay, Research Paper

The Decline of Freedom on Animal Farm

The simple idea of a world with no humans was introduced to the animals by a pig named Old Major. This led to a revolution like no other. The animals of Animal Farm, a book by George Orwell, decide that there has to be something better for them than the life they are living. It is dominated by humans who treat the animals with little respect for all the things the animals do for them. After a great injustice is done to them a revolution takes place. The animals try to survive by themselves in a peaceful, democratic way, but one pig named Napoleon enjoys the taste of power and turns it into a dictatorship. Throughout the whole story, the animal s rights, along with their freedom and equality, which they fought so hard to gain begins to disappear. With equal blame on the thirst for power from Napoleon and the willingness to follow authority no matter what happens from the animals such as Boxer, the perfect world which the animal s dreamed of becomes worse then they had ever thought possible.

Napoleon, a selfish, manipulative pig, decides that he wants power and will gain it using as much force as he needs. Napoleon decides that Animal Farm would be better off with a strong leader to take care of all the decisions and he believes that he is the pig for the job. He takes over the farm by force with a group of nine dogs wearing brass-studded collars (p.67). He then announces that from now on the Sunday-morning meetings would come to an end (p.68) which eliminates the voting process and all that was left of the democratic process. He also forces the animals to work longer then ever before with less rations. It is obvious that Napoleon does not care for the animals. He

only cares about his well being and getting as much power as possible. This is evident when he starts doing business with the humans just to get more money. This goes against everything Animal Farm stood for when Old Major first thought of it. Napoleon s ability to gain a lot of power in such a small time was also helped by the actual inhabitants of Animal Farm.

Boxer, who was the strongest animal on the farm, is a hard working, strong-hearted horse that only wants to help. He was discouraged by Napoleon s take over, but he believed that Napoleon is always right (p.70). His only goal in life was to satisfy his friends and leader on the farm by living by his motto I will work harder (p.70). He worked harder than everyone else and it resulted in his lung bursting. Because he was not able to work anymore, Napoleon sold him to a man whose truck read Alfred Simmons, Horse Slaughterer and Glue Boiler, Willingdon. Dealer in Hides and Bone Meal. Kennels Supplied. (P.123), just to get some spare cash to buy some whiskey. Boxer s whole life was following orders of others and he never got to live his own life, which he was hoping to do when he retired. He wasn t very smart and therefore he believed whatever was told to him by Napoleon. Boxer believed deeply in what the idea of Animal Farm stood for and because of this he fought valiantly, worked amazingly hard, and sacrificed his own life for what he believed in but what never happened.

Because of Boxer s idea that Napoleon was only looking out for the best intentions of Animal Farm, along with most of the other animals, is the reason that Napoleon achieved his dictatorship. If Boxer had questioned Napoleon, he would ve been able to gather the other animals as well and revolt, but instead he decided to follow

his leader and look the other way at what was happening around him, hoping that it would soon be better. If no one questions authority, then leaders will only gain more and more authority until they have all the power. This is the same with human nature. Without limits, a person will keep on doing something even if they know it is bad just to better themselves in the long run. That is why, as long as humans are around, there will be authority, and those who oppose it or at least question it. This is needed in a country, which wishes to be free from all the troubles of government and life that Americans have fought against in the past.