Animal Farm

When it Hit the Fan To the animals on Animal Farm things seem to be perfectly fine. But how are they supposed to know? They have been brainwashed by their meticulous leader Napoleon. They believe every single one of his little lies. The only one that doesn’t fall for it is Benjamin and he doesn’t get involved. The animals have no idea that the things that they have been working their butts off for are being stolen and used for selfish wants. Very few of the animals remember the times before the overruling of Famer Jones. “As for others, their life, so far as they knew was as it has always been,” (Orwell, 119). But they are oh so wrong. The whole perspective of the rebellion was so that every animal was equal to one another. By the end of the book that had all changed. There used to be 7 commandments written up on the barn wall. They read,
“THE SEVEN COMMANDMENTS
1. Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy
2. Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend
3. No animal shall wear clothes
4. No animal shall sleep in a bed
5. No animal shall drink alcohol
6. No animal shall kill any other animal
7. All animals are equal” (Orwell 33) But that had been changed since the pigs decided that acting like humans was better than acting like the selfish animals that they are. So it was changed and only commandment that was written on the barn wall was the one that said, “All Animals Are Equal But Some Animals Are More Equal Than Others,” (Orwell, 123). This had not been the true intentions of the rebellion. But once the pigs took over everything took a turn for the worse. I must say that things had been much better when Farmer Jones was in charge. “They were generally hungry, they slept on straw, they drank from the pool, they labored in the fields; in winter they were troubled by the cold, and in the summer by the flies,” (Orwell, 119). Farmer Jones never gave the animals anything extra, but at least he gave them what they needed. A lot of animals on the farm died of famine because the pigs kept the food for their porky selves. The pigs gave them the very bare minimum. But the animals did not know that. “There was nothing with which they could compare their present lives: they had nothing to go upon except Squealer’s lists of figures,” (Orwell, 119). And plus, they were too dim witted to remember the time when Jones was master. The whole reason for the rebellion was to get rid of the humans so things on the farm would be better for the animals. But by the end of the story the pigs were acting just like Farmer Jones. Clover was the first to realize the odd behavior. She saw the pigs walking on their hind legs. When the rebellion first took place their motto was “Four legs good, two legs bad,” so she was in some sort of shock. “Then there came a moment when the first shock had worn off and when, in spite of everything- in spite of their terror of the dogs, and of the habit, developed through long years, of never complaining, never criticizing, no matter what happened- they might have uttered some word of protest. But just at that moment, as though at a signal, all the sheep burst out into a tremendous bleating of- “Four legs good, two legs better!”(Orwell 122). I think things hit the fan right from the beginning when Snowball and Napoleon put themselves in charge. There was never any discussion about who should lead the animals. There was never a meeting. Snowball and Napoleon just began giving their orders knowing that most of the animals were gullible enough to believe every word that they said. But it’s hard to say whether things would have been worse or better with Famer Jones in charge, because at the end of the book, “The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which,”(Orwell 128). That quote from the book is obviously saying that things had not gotten better after the rebellion and the animals were finally realizing it. It was the same as it had been, except with more work, even less food, and poor living conditions. But the animals just kept on living, because it’s like what Benjamin said, “Things never had been, nor ever could be much better or much worse- hunger, hardship, and disappointment being, it’s the unalterable law of life,”.