Animal Farm 10 Essay, Research Paper

Animal Farm

Animal Farm, by George Orwell, is a science fiction story based on the Russian Revolution, where instead of humans, the animals are the main characters. The story is predominantly about how power can overcome people who don t know how to use it correctly and from that, in almost any situation comes a revolution or as it was stated in Animal Farm a rebellion. In order to prevent that very thing from happening the animals adopt a form of constitutional government to govern the farm. The principles drafted and adopted by the animals for governing Animal farm initially succeed in establishing a constitution. Furthermore, their Seven Commandments do provide the aspects essential to the nature of their constitution, but fails to incorporate a system of checks and balances. In the end a written constitution does make a great deal of difference to a country.

The principles drafted and adopted by the animals for governing Animal Farm were initially successful in creating a constitution that everybody was in accordance with. However, the political figureheads were unsuccessful in following through with the initial principals that outlined the constitution and what it stood for. The demise of Animal Farm s successful constitution began when Squealer, at Napoleon s command, began to amend the constitution so that it would greater favor the pigs rather than have equality among all as it was supposed to. The government that the constitution stood for was no longer evident when at last it read all animals are equal, but some are more equal than others. So the original principles were successful up until they were amended and began to favor those in power, instead of the general public.

Their Seven Commandments do provide the aspects essential to the nature of their constitution. The ideology and the dream are very well laced into the Seven Commandments; however, one of the things they fail to incorporate is a system of checks and balances to limit the power of the government. Another important aspect that the animals overlooked was that their constitution only told them what they could not do. It failed to let them know what rights they had as citizens of Animal Farm; perhaps they wouldn t have been taken over by a dictator, such as Napoleon, if the constitution outlined some basic rights for the animals.

A written constitution does make a great deal of difference to a country, because without one there would be no foundation for that country s government. In the case of The United States our constitution says, This is what we stand for, and this is how we uphold it. Without that we would have nothing to protect us against our government and vice versa. A constitution is basically an agreement between the government and it s people on how things are to be run and kept in order. The animals of Animal Farm knew this and attempted to have some sort of order in heir society with their constitution. What they failed to realize was that they focused too much on what they could not do and didn t place any emphasis on what rights they had and what they could do with them. A written constitution plays an important role in a sound working government because it sets the rules for which society is to live by otherwise no rules would equal a fallen society and an unsuccessful one at that.

Finally, for the most part the animals of Animal Farm were on the right track towards a well-working government with their constitution. It wasn t perfect and needed to be thought over a little more. As with any government there s always room for improvement. The United States didn t get it right the first time either and since then little minor changes have been made to better fit our ever growing and vast changing society. The animals just needed to think of future problems and better plan for them in their constitution.