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Animal Farm
Life on Animal Farm, a novel by George Orwell, was enjoyable at last. Jones was removed from his terrible tyranny and Snowball was taking on the symbolic role of a leader of the animals. He was an honorable and intelligent pig, who organized the victory battle against humans. Snowball did things that Napoleon could not handle, such as knowing how to build a windmill and still keep a wealthy food supply. However, jealousy can get the best of animals too. After having Snowball banished from the farm, Napoleon became the leader. With an unsuccessful attempt at leadership, he and his agents did the next best thing; they lied. As time progressed, they told the animals countless tales of untruths. This was to make everybody believe that these pigs were the best thing that had happened to the farm, a picture perfect example of propaganda. Propaganda means “when a government says one thing to intentionally get the public to believe something that is mostly lies.” (www.urbandictionary.com) The commandments were slowly changed, lies were made up about Snowball and if the pigs were to mess up, they would blame it on somebody else.
In the beginning, there were seven commandments made by the pigs. These were based on a speech that old Major had made just before he passed away. “Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy,” “Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings is a friend,” “No animal shall wear clothes,” “No animal shall sleep in a bed,” “No animal shall drink alcohol,” “No animal shall kill any other animal,” and “All animals are equal.” Of course, under Napoleon’s rule, these did not last very long. “These Seven Commandments would now be inscribed on the wall; they would form an unalterable law by which all the animals on Animal Farm must live for ever after.” (Page 42) The pigs were nothing more than a group of hypocrites. They could do one thing, but if any animal were to do it before them, they would be punished. Napoleon and his gang learned how to walk on two legs, and violated the first and second commandment by having the sheep chant, “Four legs good, two legs better!” (Page 132) While the pigs did not change the third commandment, they still ignored it with the wearing all of Mr. Jones’ clothing. There was a little something added on to the fourth commandment, “no animal shall sleep in a bed with sheets.” The curly-tailed animals argued that it was no different than sleeping in a bed of hay. One night in the house, the pigs discovered a stash of alcohol that had been overlooked. They drank, got hung over and then changed the commandment to, “No animal shall drink alcohol to excess.” There were things happening on the farm that the pigs either caused, or could not explain. The only way out of it for them was to blame it on others. Animals were killed because they apparently had been having relations with Snowball. Of course, they had not been, yet the commandment was changed to, “No animal shall kill any other animal without cause.” Lastly, near the end of it all, the pigs made a very drastic movement. All of the commandments were removed except one, which was altered. “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” The animals would have been well aware of these unfair changes, under the circumstances that they had not been brainwashed.
At the very first sign of a defect in Animal Farm, Napoleon is quick to point his hoof at Snowball. Why would he do this when Snowball is already gone? For starters, Napoleon does not want the animals to side with Snowball if he ever comes back. Napoleon also wants to be seen as better than Snowball, making it seem like he was the better leader because he was not a traitor. In a speech after the Windmill was destroyed for the first time, Napoleon remarked, “Do you know who is responsible for this? Do you know the enemy who has come in the night and overthrown our windmill? SNOWBALL!” (Page 82) This was obviously not true, but the animals had nothing else to believe. “He stole the corn, he upset the milk-pails, he broke the eggs, he trampled the seedbeds, he gnawed the bark off the fruit trees. Whenever anything went wrong it became usual to attribute it to Snowball.” (Page 88) Some animals even started to say that they were allied with Snowball or that they basically knew for a fact some of the things that he was doing at night. Napoleon and his agents tried to look smart by making it seem like they could sniff out the scent of the ‘bad’ pig. Clearly, Snowball was used as a scapegoat too many times in this novel.
Snowball was normally associated with the mishappenings on the farm, but on some occasions, others were on their own (or jointly) accused of doing something wrong. When there is a shortage of the food, the leaders tend to say it is becuase the animals are not working hard enough. As a partial result, the hens were punished; they were told to give their eggs up because they were being sold. However, the hens took a stand. They had to go without food, they dropped their eggs, and eventually ended up dying. “Napoleon now called upon them to confess their crimes. They were the same four pigs as had pretested when Napoleon abolished the Sunday Meetings. Without any further prompting they confessed that they had been secretly in touch with Snowball ever since his expulsion, they they had collaborated with him in destroying the windmill, and that they had entered into an agreement with him to hand over Animal Farm to Mr. Frederick.” (Page 92) The animals that would not cooperate had to be killed; there is no way that the pigs could continue to rule while somebody more trustworthy told the animals the truth. The entire rule of Animal Farm was becoming more and more like a dictatorship everyday. Basically, at that point it could be considered a dictatorship.
Unfortunately, the farm had to die down. If Snowball had been around, the Farm would have definitely turned out a lot different. There would have been less lives taken, less work, and more goals being reached. The promises made would be kept, and the entire farm would be a much more enjoyable place. It would be hard to think of one thing, if any, that Napoleon’s goverment did that had nothing to do with propaganda. It is sad that a new ruler could not have been elected, maybe the farm would have lasted and then would not be re-inhabited by humans.
By,
Elishah Luptak