Olivia Moens
April 10th, 2015
Period 8 Animalism or Communism Oppression is the exercise of authority or power in a burdensome, cruel, or unjust manner which is seen throughout the book
Animal Farm. Animal Farm is the story of the animals on Manor Farm who decide to rebel and get the tyranny free lives they deserve. Initially, the rebellion is a success where all the animals are pleased with their living conditions and responsibilities. As new pigs take leadership positions, they take advantage of the other animals illiteracy. They manipulate them to sacrifice their time and food only to benefit the pigs. Eventually, the animals begin to acknowledge that the pigs are becoming exactly like the human oppressors who were initially overthrown. George Orwell develops the theme of oppression in
Animal Farm through precise language choices in the development of the animals on the farm as their sense of identity is challenged once they face oppression from the pigs.
Oppression is first seen in
Animal Farm when the animals feel oppressed by humans. In response, they overthrow Mr. Jones. Major, a pig, takes over. He said, “Is it not crystal clear, then, comrades that all the evils of this life of ours spring from the tyranny of human beings” (Orwell 7). Major believes that they are all being oppressed by humans and it is a time for change. He has a bright vision for his theory of Animalism
until he passes away after a short period of time.The remaining pigs establish themselves as the ruling class in the new society and abandon Major’s vision. They trick the other animals for their own gain
“In April, Animal Farm was proclaimed a Republic, and it became necessary to elect a President. There was only one candidate, Napoleon, who was elected unanimously” (80). The pigs convinced the others that they needed more food since they were the leaders and had all the intelligence. The animals were fearful under leadership of Napoleon, a harsh dictator pig. This fear parallels Franklin D.
Roosevelt’s address to congress, the “Four Freedoms Speech”. Freedom from fear is discussed when FDR says, “...world wide reduction of armaments to such a point and in such a thorough fashion that no nation will be in a position to commit an act of physical aggression against any neighbor.” The pigs are constantly living in fear of their oppressors. The animals sense of identity is challenged in different ways throughout the book. Before Major comes to power the animals are sad and lonesome. They don’t want to be oppressed and under control of humans anymore. After the farmer was gone and
Major came to power with a great vision for the future of Animal Farm, the animals were excited. They finally had the freedom they dreamed of. All this happiness and excitement was put to an end when Major died and Napoleon took over. Napoleon emerged as a corrupt opportunist. He never showed interest in Animal Farm itself, but only his power over it. It is ironic because the animals escaped oppression from the farmer only to discover that they faced new oppression by Napoleon and the other pigs.
A horse named Boxer said, “Squealer could turn black into white” (11). This shows how
powerful the pigs were and how conscious the animals were of the harsh dictatorship.
As time went on, the pigs convince the others that they have the best interest for the farm when they actually are only looking out for themselves. The animals became more weary as their food demands were not met and work hours became longer under direction of Napoleon. “It had been felt that the existence of a farm owned and operated by pigs was somehow abnormal and liable to have an unsettling effect in the neighborhood” (94). This shows that even the farmers and
