7 Commandments Or 7 Amendments?
“All animals are equal”(Orwell, 21). This is the most important aspect of Old Major’s utopian society. When Animal Farm is first established, the animals work diligently and get equal amounts of food. All of the animals sleep in the barn together and do not engage in any human activity. However, this quickly changes once Napoleon and the pigs tailor the Seven Commandments to validate all of their anthropomorphic actions. Life on the farm starts to change from a utopian, equal society to an oppressive, totalitarian rule.
Everything is fantastic at Animal Farm at first. For instance, the animals’ “food was an acute positive pleasure, now that it was truly their own food” (24). In democratic meetings, the animals discuss new policies for Animal Farm, and the animals joyously sing Beasts of England. However, early into the establishment of Animal Farm, the pigs assume leadership and oversee the other animals. This already shows that a difference persists between the pigs and the other animals. Napoleon gradually
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When Clover asks Muriel to read the commandment that prohibits murder, the commandment actually read “No animal should kill another without cause”. Soon, there are baby piglets who get to spend their days in a school with ribbons in their ears. Yet, Mollie was condemned for ribbons earlier in the novella because ribbons are the mark of human beings (17). Eventually, the pigs reduce the Seven Commandments to “All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others.” This justifies that the pigs have more privileges and are “more equal” than the other animals. It masks that there are really two classes, the animals and the pigs. Ironically, this mutated society is exactly the same as before the revolutionary Battle of the Cowshed. Napoleon simply replaced Mr. Jones as the tyrannical