Benjamin The Donkey In Animal Farm

¨Apathy: lack of interest, enthusiasm, or concern.” The choice of not caring about your surroundings can lead directly to being taken advantage of. That is exactly what happens in the story ¨Animal Farm” and is exhibited the most by one character. Benjamin the donkey is most responsible for destroying the principles of animal farm because he possesses intelligence but doesn’t act upon it and he doesn’t attempt to influence the animals to stand up for themselves. Benjamin is consistently described as stubborn and smart throughout the entire story, but he never utilizes his intelligence to do good. Once animalism had been established, the pigs started creating committees/classes for the animals to follow. Of these there was a reading/ writing

When Boxer is put on a truck to be sent to the “hospital”, it is Benjamin who reads that the truck is actually a horse slaughterers truck. He asks the animals if they understand what that means and that he’s being sent to his death. “A cry of horror burst from all the animals. - All the animals followed, crying out at the tops of their voices.” (pg. 122) It’s shown here that Benjamin uses his skill and shows all the animals the truth, completely changing their minds from being happy to complete terror. If Benjamin utilized this ability and wasn’t completely apathetic about what Animal Farm had turned into, he could’ve easily stepped up with every animal on his side and prevented the corruption of the farm. Another example of how Benjamin’s extreme pessimism and inability to see past bad things, poisons his chance to influence the animals again happens after his only friend Boxer, dies. “Only Benjamin was much the same as ever, except for being a little greyer about the muzzle and since Boxer’s death, more morose and taciturn than ever.” (pg. 128) Even after Boxer, who’s described as an animal Benjamin’s devoted to, dies, he still shows indifference. Benjamin shows no anger or even the slightest uneasiness that his only friend had been murdered. He’s so tainted by choosing

One reason this argument is flawed is because Old Major is dead throughout the majority of the story, which means he could have no real impact on destroying the original principles, that he created. “All animals are equal.” (pg. 11) “Three days later Old Major died peacefully in his sleep.” (pg. 15) Since the original commandments were created and deemed acceptable by all animals and then Old Major dies, there 's no way he could be responsible for the downfall of the ideas everyone had agreed upon. However; the same cannot be said about Benjamin who was, while older, still alive and refused to do anything when things did start getting hairy besides give the usual cynical remark. The second reason the argument is flawed is because originally, Animalism was a successful system that was equally contributed into, and the animals were happier. After the animals bravely overtook the farm from their cruel owners, they realized the liberty they gained. “Yes, it was theirs - everything that they could see was theirs! In the ecstasy of that thought, they gambolled round and round, they hurled themselves into the air in great leaps of excitement.” (pg. 22) This proves how Old Major give the animals the freedom they needed through his rebellion and everyone was grateful for it. That only changes farther into the story when animals become greedy or