Clover's Illiteracy In Animal Farm By George Orwell

One of the traits that George Orwell chooses to focus on throughout the book is Clover’s illiteracy. We see this in many ways throughout the book as the animals are learning to read or when they read the commandments. For example, Orwell states, “Clover learnt the whole alphabet, but could not put words together.” (28) In her illiterate manner, she asks others to try and read things like the Commandments for her. Another example would be when it says, “Clover asked Benjamin to read her the Sixth Commandment…” (80) Where I found this example, it shows that even being so far along in the story, Clover may never understand the concept of reading and putting her letters into words. It is also evidence of her illiterate ways and not being able to