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Foreshadowing Animal Farm

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George Orwell wrote Animal Farm in 1945 as a fable about the Russian Revolution, illustrating how easily people can be manipulated by leaders who act with different interests. In a manner similar to that of the Russian Revolution, Napoleon capitalized on the idealism of the other animals to put themselves in control. Did the pigs successfully do everything Old Major warned against? As Old Major continues his speech, it’s obvious that his points are foreshadowing some form of checklist of crimes that will slowly be ticked off, if you will. can see this as he talks about things like drinking alcohol or sleeping in bed. The Old Major essentially lays out the storyline before the reader finishes the first chapter. This is made all the more easy …show more content…

This is demonstrated multiple times, such as when Snowball, Squealer, and Napoleon demonstrate their literacy. “The pigs now revealed that during the past three months, they had taught themselves to read and write from an old spelling book that had belonged to Mr. Jones’s children and which had been thrown on the rubbish heap.” (23) By writing commandments, and using human objects, the pigs subtly undermine the animals by creating a sense of inferiority simply backed up by the idea that the pigs use it for good, not evil. Without suggesting to anyone else to do the same and learn to read and write, the pigs create another way to intimidate and overpower the animals through writing and reading. By taking advantage of the poor literacy among the populace, the pigs can frequently change the rules when deemed necessary. When changing the commandments on the barn wall, the pigs are very up-to-date and quick to adjust the rules to fit how they are acting/behaving that day. “Actually the commandment read: ‘No animal shall drink alcohol to excess.’” (109) The pigs are quick to change up the rules when and where it’s mentioned. For example, when they begin sleeping in beds and the animals bring this up, the commandment magically changes to “No animal shall sleep in beds with sheets”

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This point is evident from the way the other animals comply with the alterations the pigs make according to their ever-changing values and beliefs. This compliance from the farm animals could be traced back to their lack of intelligence. The pigs have not only learned to read and write like Man, but to also control and manipulate the farm animals into doing as they please, just as Man did. Other animals on the farm were not capable of adapting to the human language as quickly as the pigs, which led them to become inferior and conforming individuals of the farmhouse. Their lack of intelligence, critical thinking and autonomy of all of the farm animals, excluding the pigs, led to the overexploitation and conformity they displayed and endured.

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This, he said, contained the essential principle of Animalism.”. Throughout the book the commandments are changed to fit the pigs lifestyle. Animalism was supposed to be used to keep one animal from having more, or less power than the others. One of the commandments states that “5. No animal shall drink alcohol.”.

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The pigs were masters of manipulation. High on the pigs’ priority list was their ability to alter the Seven Commandments, enabling them to have a life of power and privilege. When a governing body rewrites the accepted rules, its power increases exponentially. Every article of the Commandments was modified to be diametrically opposed to its original phrasing. Every article expanded the right and might of the pigs and relegated all onerous tasks to the other animals.

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The pigs are teaching the sheep to say whatever they want them to say. The sheep are just blindly following the pigs. These are all examples of how the animals besides the pigs are ignorant.

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However, the pigs started drinking, so it was changed to “No animal can drink alcohol

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Throughout the book the pigs tend to break rules and add loopholes to those rules so they would not be questioned. The animals were stupid enough to not realize that the rules were being changed each time they would refer to them. This shows that the animals don’t realize the change of rules without their opinion and allow it to

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It ran: "No animal shall kill any other animal without cause." (Orwell, 1946, p. 91) The commandment had originally read simply "No animal shall kill any other animal. " After the words "without cause" were added, the animals had reluctantly decided to silence their opposition, since technically, no rules were being broken. The pigs knew that the other animals, with few exceptions, would not remember the original commandments, and would have no way to speak against it.

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In the book, the pigs who have taken over change the seven commandments to benefit their needs to help themselves. “All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others" (Animal Farm pg. 112). The original commandments show the pig's hypocrisy and their use of words to manipulation to use their advantage over other animals. Changing the commandments demonstrates how the higher class is created through rhetoric to win the animal's approval.

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In the novel, The animal’s ignorance makes them prey to Squealer’s manipulation. For example, when the milk and apples are lost and the animals find out the pigs have taken them, Squealer justifies why the pigs took the milk and apples by saying that they “preserve their health” and “contain substances absolutely necessary to the well-being of a pig” (36). The animals on the farm are gullible to Squealer’s lies. The animals believe Squealer because they know the health of pigs is important, for the pigs are the leaders of Animal Farm. In the novel, the animals cannot read the Seven Commandments created by Napoleon, so Squealer tweaks them by adding specific phrases, such as “to excess” after the original commandment.

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The pigs became the rulers of the farm because of their intelligence over the other animals. Three examples of the animals ignorance are, when the seven commandments changed, snowballs beliefs in rebellion and on which side of it he stood on, and when Napoleon executed some of the farm animals for communicating with Snowball. After old major died, the oldest and wisest pig on the farm, Snowball and Napoleon came up with the seven commandments of animalism, whatever goes upon two legs is a enemy, whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend, no animal shall wear clothes, no animal shall sleep in a bed, no animal shall drink alcohol, no animal shall kill any other animal, all animals are equal. These set out the basic

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Furthermore, Napoleon gives the other animals the impression he was the sole leader of the rebellion on Animal farm and makes Snowball -a leader who wanted what was best for the animals- seem like an enemy who was in cahoots with Farmer Jones since long before the animals took over the farm. Napoleon and Squealer (another “fat cat” pig.) always put the blame on Snowball whenever something went wrong in the farm to avoid having the blame fall on them. Napoleon is an exemplary example of just how selfish and hypocritical people can be in furthering their own aims because he continued to subtly but purposely change the seven rules put in place as the pillars of animalism. For example, Napoleon and the other pigs move into Farmer Jones’s house and sleep in his bed after commanding “No animal shall sleep in a bed”, so he changes the commandment to read “no animal shall sleep in a bed with sheets”.

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(Orwell 94). This quote demonstrates how the pigs manipulate the animals’ fear of their former human oppressors to justify their betrayal, further solidifying their power. Another example of the pigs’ manipulating the other animals for themselves is, “Napoleon announced that he had decided upon a new policy. From now onwards Animal Farm would engage in trade with the neighboring farms: not, of course, for any commercial purpose, but simply in order to obtain certain materials which were urgently necessary” (Orwell 62-63).

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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.

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449 Words | 2 Pages

In Animal Farm, we see the sinister theme of abuse of power and corruption displayed throughout the story. The epitome on how the pigs abused the power was how they manipulated the 7 commandments to their own benefit. The 7 commandments were inscribed on the wall and they would form “an unalterable law by which all animals on Animal Farm must live for ever after”. Ironically, the 7 commandments were changed one by one to suit the benefit of the pigs. For example, when the pigs discovered a case of whiskey and got drunk, they got attracted to the taste of alcohol.

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1040 Words | 5 Pages

This is exactly what the humans did and the pigs, in effect, take over from the humans and rule in just the same oppressive manner. In this way, they destroy the original ideals of the revolution which called for complete equality for all animals and the rejection of all human contact. By the end of the novel, the pigs are in an open alliance with the humans and behave just like them, even by walking on two legs. A revolution aimed at improving the lives of the animals, with the best possible intentions, has degenerated into a nightmare. Similar to the creation and destruction of the Soviet Union, Napoleon in Animal Farm is directly connected to Joseph Stalin, while Snowball represents Leon Trotsky, and Old Major is Vladimir Lenin.

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