Resistance and Rebellion in “Animal Farm”

Rebellion is the path to freedom. This quote was said by Old Major, an important character in the book Animal Farm by George Orwell. The book is about the Russian Revolution, but told as a story about farm animals who are trying to fight for freedom and rights against the ruling party of pigs. This story can convey how unfair life can be for humans in 2018 is, how cruel and power-hungry leaders can get when put in charge of a group of lower class people, and how people with more power abuse the hard work of their people to live in luxury. This essay will examine how the story relates to real life and provide points to improve the argument that the book relates to real life.

Life Can be Unfair

All Animals are Equal. But Some Animals are More Equal Than Others. (pg 80, Orwell) In the book, Old Major is a prize boar who started with a dream of equality and freedom and died with his dream in mind, leaving his power to the pigs on the farm to continue his ruling. Instead of continuing the equal treatment towards all animals, they took over and slowly started abusing their power and their subjects. In real life, rulers may abuse their power as presidents, kings, or dictators and use their subjects as a way to do their bidding and treat those subjects like dirt while doing so. Like in Animal Farm, rulers may dream of equality or rights but may not be able to achieve what they dream before their time is up. Orwell shows this by showing the difference in the way the animals feel about the pigs at the beginning versus the end.

Higher/Lower Class Treatment

FOUR LEGS GOOD, TWO LEGS BAD! (pg 21, Orwell) In the book, The pigs are the hierarchy of the farm and look over it all with a watchful eye. But in the beginning, Old Major is the highest in classes. The horses, Clover and Boxer, come after him. The donkey is next, then the cows. Next is the pigs, dogs, goats and sheep, and finally the chickens, hens, and everyone else. If you were to count the humans, they'd be at the very bottom. This is the pyramid of classes that Animal Farm uses to show how people are treated in real life. Eventually, the pigs start take the rule and change around the pyramid, ending up on the top with the dogs directly under them, then the horses, donkey, pigs, goats, and sheep. The humans eventually are looped out of the pyramid and become partners with the high-class pigs, and both start to mistreat the other animals on the farm. Just like human life, the rulers are capable of changing classes and treating some better than the other. Orwell writes the horse Boxer as a manipulated character who tries his very hardest but is still disrespected and mistreated, ending up being sold to a glue company when he dies. In society, the classes that are high but are respectable and hardworking are disrespected and uncared for while the classes who abuse their power sit in luxury. The book shows this through the way the pigs act and treat others versus how the other animals treat each other.

Effortless Luxury Done Dirt Cheap

It is for your sake we drink that milk and eat those apples. (pg 23, Orwell) Napoleon is the ruling pig off the farm after Old Major passes, and uses his power to get what he wants little by little. In the beginning, a very small movement showed how he gets exactly what he wants by manipulating and abusing the others. He had consumed the milk and apples the horses and cows worked hard to collect. He continues to do this more and more until he forces the animals to do his bidding, even using fear to motivate them to do his work. In humanity, this is practiced with overruling parties that want everything to be done according to their word. They too, use dogs and manipulation to get their subjects to do what they want them to do and even hurt or kill them to punish them. Manipulation is a major factor used often in Orwell's story because it is used in life to trick others into doing things, even being used in trivial manners such as peer pressure between children and teens. Orwell showed this by showing how the pigs are loved and trusted in the start but then turn to fear and respect in the end.

CONCLUSION

Orwell wrote a story originally based off of the Russian Revolution using farm animals to tell the tale, but still used points from real life to convey a meaning. He told a tale that was already written but still managed to write his own story about life and society based on standards and class. Using points gathered by real-life instances and quotes from the book, the argument, Can Orwell's book Animal Farm relate to everyday society was proven true and even provided evidence to prove it further. Orwell wrote a magnificent tale that shows readers how life is lived within human society and how unfairly leaders like Napoleon (Joseph Stalin) can treat their people.

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