ANGELICA'S BOOKS: ANIMAL FARM BY GEORGE ORWELL. SOME ANIMALS ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS

 

Animal Farm

Animal Farm is an allegoric and satirical short novel written by George Orwell (pseudonym of Eric Arthur Blair) and published in 1945.

The story tells about a rebellion in Manor Farm by the animals who live there. The owner of the farm, Mr Jones, mistreats his animals. At this point, Old Major, the eldest pig, tired about this situation, says that he has dreamt a life without human beings where animals lived in peace and where they were happier. Therefore, he incites other animals to rebel against Mr Jones’ tyranny.

“Is it not crystal clear, then, comrades, that all the evils of this life of ours spring from the tyranny of human beings? Only get rid of Man, and the produce of our labour would be our own. Almost overnight, we could become rich and free. What then must we do? Why, work day and night, body and soul for the overthrow of the human race! That is my message to you comrade: Rebellion!”

In addiction:

“No animal in England knows the meaning of happiness or leisure after he is a year old. No animal in England is free. The life of an animal is misery and slavery: that is the plain truth.”

The animals agree with Old Major. Therefore, the animals, led by the pigs of the farm, rise up against Mr Jones to send  him away. Then, they base their rules on equality and on the hate towards human beings. Indeed, they write Seven Commandments:

1.     Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy.

2.     Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend.

3.     No animal shall wear clothes.

4.     No animal shall sleep in a bed.

5.     No animal shall drink alcohol.

6.     No animal shall kill any other animal.

7.     All animals are equal.

Among all the pigs, Napoleon and Snowball begin to stand out. However, Napoleon succeeds in sending  his rival away and in instituting a reign based on terror and on his decisions.

“They had come to a time when no one dared speak his mind, when fierce, growling dogs roamed everywhere, and when you had to watch your comrades torn to pieces after confessing to shocking crimes.”

Ruling the farm that way, Napoleon does not respect the Seven Commandments. Actually, they will be substituted with only one commandment:

“All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.”

Therefore, Napoleon goes against all the ideals and the principles that had led to the  Rebellion and he becomes just like human beings.  

 “The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.”

 George Orwell’s Animal Farm is a satire of the beginning of the Russian Revolution until Stalin’s totalitarian regime. To avoid censorship, he satirized politics through an allegoric fable. There are many references to events and characters of the Russian Revolution. For example, Napoleon represents Stalin and Snowball Trotsky. Moreover, the sheep, who do everything pigs tell them, symbolize the ignorant population, while Boxer, the horse whose motto is “I will work harder”, stands for the working class. However, Animal Farm can be a tragicomic parody of any revolution turned into a regime. Like any fable, Animal Farm has its moral: at first, every revolution wants to delete a tyranny, but later on it will assume the same characteristics of tyranny, because anyone who has too much power in their hands is then corrupted by it.

 

George Orwell

 

George Orwell, pseudonym of Eric Arthur Blair, was born on 25^th June 1903 in India, where his father worked as administrative officer of the British Empire. However, he and his sister spent their childhood in England. There, he attended Saint Cyprian School in Eastbourne, where he had unhappy years. Indeed, Orwell wrote Such, Such Were the Joys (published in 1947), where he told about his problems during those years: in this college, he felt alone, and he hated the narrow-mindedness of his schoolmates who were from rich families.

Then, thanks to a scholarship, Orwell attended Eton College, where he started to cultivate his intellectual interests.

After his studies, he returned to India and he enlisted in the Imperial Police in Burma.  He stayed there from 1922 to 1927. This experience inspired him to write Burmese Days (his first work, but published only in 1934) and two essays: A Hanging (published 1931) and Shooting an Elephant (published in 1936).

Then, Orwell made a social experiment: he lived in the slums of London and, later, of Paris. Thanks to this experience, he published in 1933 Down and Out in Paris and London, where he faced the problem of poverty in the two big European capitals. He signed his works with the pseudonym George Orwell .  

In 1935, during a party, he met Marie O'Shaughnessy, who would be his wife the next year.

In 1936, he and his wife went to Spain to take part in the Spanish Civil War. However, while Orwell was fighting at the front, he was hit in his throat by a sniper and, for this reason, they had to return to England, where he wrote Homage to Catalonia.

When the Second World War started, he tried to enlist in the army, but he could not take part in it because of his health problems.

In 1941, he began working for BBC, where he transmitted cultural and political programmes for India. Then, he became editor for the Tribune.

Furthermore, in 1944, Orwell and his wife adopted an infant, who they called Richard Horatio Blair. However, the next year, Marie O'Shaughnessy died during an operation, probably because of the anaesthetic.

In 1948, he published one of his most famous works, 1984.

George Orwell got married to Sonia Brownell, but, few weeks later, on 21^st January 1950, he died because of tuberculosis in a hospital of London.

On 7^th November 2017, George Orwell’s statue by Martin Jennings was positioned outside Broadcasting House, the headquarters of the BBC, in London. On the wall behind the statue, there are Orwell’s words:

"If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear"

 Angelica, 3scB