Animal Farm Essay, Research Paper

Having so much power is not always a good thing. In George Orwell s classic novel Animal Farm, this is proved to an almost scary extent where the characters are mainly animals, not people. In this novel, the animals speak to each other as humans would talk to other humans, making the novel very interesting to read. The point I am trying to make here as it is proven time and time again in history, as well as in this book, is that absolute power corrupts; and it corrupts absolutely.

It all starts on The Manor Farm, where Old Major (the elder pig), makes an announcement. He includes in his speech that one day the animals will revolt against the humans taking charge of them, and treating them unjustly. He ends his speech with a song, called the Beasts of England that he taught the animals from his childhood. On the farm were two pigs who Mr. Jones (the owner of Manor Farm) was breeding up for sale. One was Snowball, the other, Napoleon. Snowball was more of a talker and Napoleon more likely to take action. The rest of the pigs were porkers and there was a little fat one that was well known to most of the animals on the farm and was very persuasive, he was called Squealer. There were also sheep, chickens, and horses, the only one worth mentioning is Boxer out of the lot. Boxer was the strongest animal and the hardest worker on the farm, and so, as you could imagine, was a great help to it. As time passed, so did Old Major, and Mr. Jones was treating the animals unfairly. One night, he got drunk and didn t come back for a whole day and even when he did, the animals were not fed. As a result the animals had enough and took a stand, they chased Mr. Jones and his men off the farm as they called it their own. Celebrations followed and life was good for the animals, they even changed the name of the farm, and got rid of anything that reminded them of humans or Mr. Jones. A few months passed and the pigs revealed that they could now read and write. As a result of this, Snowball set up the “Seven Commandments” that every animal must follow with no exceptions, but the main idea was that all animals are equal. Later that evening however, it was noticed that some of the animals food was missing after they got back from harvesting. During the harvest the pigs did absolutely no work at all, but supervised the other animals doing the work. This was just the beginning of corruption. Snowball and Napoleon were never in agreement with each other and constantly had debates about the future of the farm. Later on, it was discovered by the animals that the milk has been mixed into the pigs mash every day and all of a sudden, the apples were also ordered to go to the pigs for supposed “safe keeping”. Around the world, however, rumors have been spreading of a successful farm by which was run by animals. This caused many outbursts of strange animal behavior, and gave Mr. Jones incentive to go back to get his farm. His six men and himself were gored, kicked, trampled, and bitten almost to death. One was thought to be dead and boxer exclaimed that he did not mean to kill the lad, but he was only stunned and ran off afterwards. The battle was named “The Battle of Cowshed” because that was where the ambush of Jones took place. By now it was decided that since pigs were the smartest of the animals, they would decide farm policy and have a majority vote to see what passes and what does not. In debates, Snowball usually ended up victorious over Napoleon because of his brilliant speeches. Snowball wanted to make a Windmill to produce more for the animals of the farm, but it would take a lot of work to do it. This was one of the most controversial debates that ever took place between the two pigs as Napoleon greatly opposed it. At the time to vote, almost all of the animals wanted to go for the windmill and Napoleon ended up chasing Snowball off the farm with angry dogs at his side. From then on, Snowball was never seen again, and Napoleon, surprisingly announced that the windmill would be built after all and it has been Napoleon s idea the entire time. Work was brutal, and any animal who didn t show up was sure to have their rations halved. Soon after it was noticed by the animals that Animal Farm engaged in trade to receive materials for the windmill and other projects, that the seven commandments were tweaked to the pigs favor and the pigs even woke up an hour later than other animals. The next night, there was a violent storm and the windmill ended up in ruins and it was blamed on Snowball by Napoleon, claiming they would make the walls twice as thick, twice as strong as before. Living conditions on the farm became much more harsh, there wasn t enough food to eat, and the chickens were forced to give up their eggs again, which was promised never to have to happen. As a result, the chickens smashed all of their eggs in a form of rebellion against Napoleon. Whenever something went wrong on the farm, it was often linked to Snowball and it is claimed that he is in one the neighboring farms as well as being in league with Jones from the very beginning of this whole fiasco. Time passed and now Napoleon went on a killing spree with his dogs against anyone who might ve been in touch with Snowball or had anything to do with destroying the windmill and the singing of the Beasts of England was abolished. The executions lasted all day until there was a fresh smell of blood, not known until before the revolution. Many of the animals felt that they would ve been better with Jones owning the farm because this is not what they had in mind for a lifestyle. Once again, the commandments were tweaked so it was okay for Napoleon to have those animals killed. Napoleon made up a poem praising himself to replace the song he abolished as a couple of hens were executed for confessing to be on Snowball s side as opposed to his. Snowball was once again claimed to be up to his old tricks when animals on other farms were being mistreated and their corn would not grow correctly but the windmill was finally finished and named Napoleon Mill. Time passed and one of the neighboring farms had ripped Napoleon off by giving him fake bank notes for timber, so an attack was planned for. The day of the attack the neighboring farmers came in and blasted the windmill to pieces with gunpowder and dynamite. The animals won the battle, with many deaths, wounded, and disappointed as the windmill was gone, again. It was then rumored that Napoleon was dying and that his dying order was that any animal to drink alcohol was to be put to death. The next day Napoleon was fine and he said “No animal shall drink alcohol to excess”. Later on, it was announced that all barley was reserved for the pigs and that all pigs had special privileges on Sundays and for education. About 3 days later, Boxer had fallen and could not get up, he was claimed to have been sent to a hospital but the truck that took him said “Horse Slaughterer and Glue Boiler”, but the animals were convinced by Napoleon that it was a borrowed truck and he was with Boxer during his last moments. Boxer was never seen again but somehow the pigs got money to purchase more items such as whiskey for themselves. The farm finally seemed to be getting richer without the animals getting any richer, except for the pigs and dogs who got extra rations of food and shelter. A couple of days later, a pig was seen walking on his hind legs and Napoleon was seen with a whip in his trotter as the commandments that used to be on the barn wall were gone and replaced by a single one which read: “All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others”.

In conclusion, when a community is not governed in a democratic fashion but rather in a totalitarianism fashion, feelings of resentment and suspicion will eventually destroy the community.