This relates to the theme statement because the animals were very baffled and confused about what was happening, just like the Jews in the Holocaust. In Martin Niemoller's poem, First They Came for the Communists, Niemoller talks about how every time the German Army comes for different groups of people, one by one. And every time they come, Niemoller says he “did not speak out” because “I was not a communist” or because “I was not a Socialist” and so on (Qtd in Niemoller). By the time everyone else was gone, there was no one left to speak out when “they came for me” (Qtd in
In this moment, if we juxtapose normal animal behavior with this description of the inmate's conduct it can be resembled a lot of similarities, after all this cruelty there is a shift in their behavior towards each other. As this action continues, Wiesel depicts that, “ Soon, pieces of bread were falling into the wagon from all sides. And the spectators observed these emaciated creatures ready to kill for a crust of bread.” (Wiesel 101). In this scene, the situation of the people feeding the inmates for entertainment it’s being compared to the idea of a zoo, in which people watch animals as they give them food, considered a form of amusement.
In the novel of Watership Down, Richard Adams tells a story of a peculiar band of rabbits and writes about an epic journey filled with danger, trials, and hope. One quote Adams says is, “Animals don't behave like men, he said. If they have to fight, they fight; and if they have to kill they kill. But they don't sit down and set their wits to work to devise ways of spoiling other creatures lives and hurting them. They have dignity and animality.”
“The next morning, we walked towards the station, where a convoy of cattle cars was waiting.” (Page 22) Right off the bat, they were treated as cattle. They were perpetually called “filthy dogs” and whipped for bad behaviour. Eventually they had gotten so used to being treated as animals, that they began acting like them.
They let people see this violence, implying that killing and violence is permitted, which leads to the killing of animals. For example, when Montag decides to skip work because he wasn't feeling well, he says, “I’ve got an awful feeling I want to smash things and kills thing” (Bradbury 68). Mildred responds by telling him to take the beetle because you can hit rabbits and sometimes dogs. (Bradbury 68). Anytime something goes wrong, their first option is to kill.
In An Animal’s Place, Michael Pollan describes the growing acknowledgement of animal rights, particularly America’s decision between vegetarianism and meat-eating. However, this growing sense of sentiment towards animals is coupled with a growing sense of brutality in farms and science labs. According to Pollan, the lacking respect for specific species of animals lies in the fact that they are absent from human’s everyday lives; enabling them to avoid acknowledgment of what they are doing when partaking in brutality towards animals. He presents arguments for why vegetarianism would make sense in certain instances and why it would not and ultimately lead to the decision of eating-meat while treating the animals fairly in the process. Pollan
Who is at greater fault? If a tyrant is given the power, albeit to abuse, is it his fault to utilize the power given, or the fault of those who bestow the power on them? Failure cannot be pinned on just one person, but the people involved as a whole. Therefore, by indirectly causing the collapse of one 's own community, it is the community 's fault for acting as catalyst to the events to come. Although unintentional, it is the passiveness and ignorance of the farm animals that leads to the utter failure of their ideal society.
Later the dog whined loudly. And still later it crept close to the man and caught the scent of death. This made the animal bristle back away. A little longer it delayed, howling under the stars that leaped and danced and shone brightly in the cold sky. Then it turned and trotted up the trail in the direction of the camp it knew, where there were other food provides and fire providers.
The satire present here is that the altering of the ten commandments effectively portray how the absurd the concept is. There is no way that animals could become, “more equal” than others. In the beginning of the novel, Old Major expressed that the animals shall overcome their oppressors, but the pigs become the oppressors. Through their chants and the ten commandments, the citizens are brainwashed to believe that everything is just and fair because when the commandments and chants were first written or said, everyone was in agreement, and believed it was fair. The pigs start to alter the propaganda, and the animals still believe that it is fair, when in reality it is not.
One prominent example is when, before the rebellion, an old boar named Major expresses his wishes for the farm, “And remember also that in fighting against Man, we must not resemble him. Even when you have conquered him, do not adopt his vices” (8). This is important because he directly reveals the rest of the plot of the book in that statement. Major goes on to point out that an animal should never drink alcohol, sleep in a bed, wear clothes, or live in a house, which all of the pigs end up indulging in. “When the boulder began to slip and the animals cried out in despair at finding themselves dragged down the hill, it was always Boxer who strained himself…
Ignorance is dangerous. Lack of knowledge can cause someone to be manipulated and used. Knowledge brings choice and freedom which is something that the animals in “Animal Farm” did not have. The story “Animal Farm” is a significant story because it shows that not having knowledge about certain situations can be a bad thing. The theme of the story is knowledge is power.
Animal rights and livestock farming Many of us, nowadays, eat and enjoy eating meat but many would agree that this is actually not an ethical action. Michael Pollan, in his persuasive style article “An Animal's Place" published in The New Work Times Magazine, on November 10, 2002 intends to persuade his audience that humans should respect animals and as long as they are treated well in farms and give them a more peaceful life and death it will be fine to eat them. According to Pollan, in today's huge industrial farms, cruel and unbearable things happen that are against animals rights. There is a high possibility that in the future these actions will stop as already some protest for animal rights have begun, because animals have feelings and farms take advantage of them thinking that they are mere machines, making them suffer. The solution to this conflict according to the author who supports friendly farms that respect and give a fun and secure life for animals.
The animals thought everything was going to be perfect after Mr. Jones left, but after that a lot of bad things have happened. For example the animals
When the narrator heard the news about an elephant going wild and destroying most of the Burmese homes, he rushed to find the elephant and shoot it. During his journey, he told himself that he would not shoot the elephant. But when he arrived face to face with the large mammal, with thousands of people watching, he shot it multiple times until the elephant fell. Minutes later, he came back with a different weapon brutally killing the elephant.
But as the months go on, the pigs change them to their benefit, giving them more power and luxury. The quote, “when the terror caused by the executions had died down, some of the animals remembered that the Sixth Commandment decreed ‘No animal shall kill any other animal’... Muriel read the commandment for her. It ran: ‘No animal shall kill any other animal without cause’,”(Orwell 98) shows that the pigs obviously change the commandment before the other animals got a chance to read it. This happens more times as the book goes on, and shows the pigs abusing their power by changing the commandments to fit their actions and desires.
