Sarah Michael Michael 1

Mr. Golden
H Eng 1A
25, Oct. 2013

Animal Farm by George Orwell is a story about animals taking over a farm to escape the

harsh cruelties of humans and live better lives. One day, Mr. Jones, the human owner of the

farm, forgets to feed the animals so they break into the food shed to feed themselves.

Immediately, Jones and his men come out with whips and attack the animals. The animals fight

back and drive the humans off the farm. They immediately create Animalism and the 7

Commandments so that all animals will live peacefully and equally. Unfortunately, the pigs

make themselves the leaders and a pig named Napoleon becomes their overarching leader. The

animals dont realize that Napoleon is a dictator and is breaking the rules of Animalism. He

becomes a worse leader than their former farmer, Mr. Jones and doesnt take care of the animals

like he promised.

In the beginning when the animals first took over, their lives were better than when Mr.

Jones was around. Soon went downhill and their lives became worse when Napoleon became

leader. After the rebellion, the animals happily worked to feed themselves and the harvest was

double what they made with Mr. Jones. However, it wasnt long before the pigs started making

themselves stand out and Napoleon became leader. As Napoleon rose to power, the other

animals lives kept getting worse and worse. It first started with the animals getting less food.

Then the pigs kept changing the 7 commandments, and finally, they started killing the other

animals. All that year the animals worked like slaves. (Orwell, 59) This quote shows that the

animals were being treated no better than they were in Joness time. Actually, they are being
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treated worse because Napoleon started killing them if they are either of no use to him or

supposedly working against him.

As the book progresses, Napoleon becomes a tyrant similar to Mr. Jones. He works the

animals very hard and barely feeds them. Rations, reduced in December, were reduced again in

February, and lanterns in the stalls were forbidden to save oil. But the pigs seemed comfortable

enough and in fact were putting on weight if anything. (114) This shows that the animals were

being underfed and mistreated, while the pigs were eating all they want and had better living

conditions. Napoleon also sent Boxer, the horse, to be killed as soon as he couldnt work

anymore. This is what Jones would do when he owned the farm. Napoleon also made sure the

animals were uninformed and couldnt think for themselves. The only ones being educated were

the pigs. He even had a school house built for just the pigs. The rest of the animals just blindly

believed what the pigs would tell them and didnt question them.

The animals had so many chances to stop Napoleon and the pigs from rising to power,

but didnt. Throughout the book, the pigs broke the all animals are equal (24) commandment

several times. That gave the animals several chances to rebel against the pigs. The first time

they broke the commandment was when the pigs were secretly learning to read and write and

didnt invite the other animals to join them. In the end, they blatantly broke the rule and made

Napoleon their official leader. In April, Animal Farm was proclaimed a republic and it became

necessary to elect a president. There was only one candidate, Napoleon, who was elected

unanimously. (116) This shows how oppressive the pigs were and their complete break from

the rules of Animalism. Additionally, the pigs keep changing the commandments. They changed

no animal shall sleep in a bed (24) to no animal shall sleep in a bed with sheets.
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They also changed no animal shall kill another animal (24) to no animal shall kill another

animal without reason. Finally they changed no animal shall drink alcohol (24) to no animal

shall drink alcohol to excess. Furthermore, the animals clearly caught Squealer, the pig,

changing this commandment, but were too stupid to realize what, exactly, he was doing. One

night at about twelve oclock there was a loud crash in the yard, and the animals rushed out of

their stalls. It was a moonlit night. At the foot of the end wall of the big barn, where the Seven

Commandments were written, there lay a ladder broken in two pieces. Squealer, temporarily

stunned, was sprawling beside it, and near at hand there lay a lantern, a paintbrush, and an

overturned pot of white paint. (108) If the other animals realized what was happening, they

could have rebelled against the pigs. These are just a few of the many times when the animals

had a chance to stop the pigs from rising to power, but didnt.

It was very easy for Napoleon to take over the farm and break the rules of Animalism

without the other animals realizing it. This was because the animals werent very smart and

didnt know what was going on. They just blindly believed what they were told and didnt

question anything. The pigs used big words and movements to distract the animals so they didnt

understand what was actually going on. The birds did not understand Snowballs long words,

but they accepted his explanation (34) This quote only mentions the birds, but it was the

same for the other animals in not understanding the pigs big words. The pigs spoke the most

ridiculous speeches to the animals and they often contradicted themselves. Yet the animals still

believed in what the pigs said. In one instance, Squealer said that Napoleon believed strongly in

equality for animals and thats why he was becoming their leader. If he really believed in animal

equality, he wouldnt be their leader because that immediately puts him above the other animals.
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Orwell tries to show how important it is to think for yourself and question authority

through Animal Farm. The book shows how bad things can get when you blindly accept

authority and dont think for yourself. Anybody could tell you anything they wanted if you dont

think for yourself. Many blatant lies could be told to you and you would just accept them. The

animals just accepted what Napoleon was doing and didnt think about how wrong it was. The

more lies they were told the more they forgot the truth and believed everything they were told.

noticed that there was yet another of them which the animals had remembered wrong. (109)

This quote is talking about the Seven Commandments and it was saying that one of the

commandments was remembered wrong. In actuality, it was changed by the pigs and the

animals were so dumb, that they thought they remembered wrong.

In summary, Animal Farm is about when animals take over a farm to better their lives

and escape humans. Animalism, a set of rules, is created and it is the ideals of the new lives the

animals will live. The animals fight bravely for their dream of better lives and get it when they

overthrow Jones. Unfortunately, it didnt take long for the pigs to rise to power and Napoleon

become their leader. Things then take a turn for the worse and the rules of Animalism are clearly

violated, but the other animals dont realize it. To conclude, Animal Farm by George Orwell is a

study of what happens when people dont question authority and think for themselves.
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Works Cited

Orwell, George. Animal Farm: A Fairy Story. New York: Plume, 2003. Print