Symbolism of pigs in Animal Farm
An Analysis of Themes through Pigs in Orwell’s Animal Farm
For centuries now pigs have been defined as very important animals with many purposes in various cultures. Pigs have been used for food, domestic pets, farming and even the odd Hollywood blockbuster; the list goes on and on. In some cultures pigs are worshiped like humans and others slaughtered for meat, all of which with a distinctive purpose. In Orwell’s Animal Farm this theory is shown to an extreme. Orwell exposes pigs in a way never seen before, to a point where they have the ability to out will humans. He takes what is normally a friendly useful and popular animal into deceiving power hungry beasts, which presents major themes in the novel. In the novel Animal Farm, Orwell evolves the plot by displaying themes through pigs such as knowledge, power and betrayal. One of the main themes displayed through pigs in Orwell’s Animal Farm is knowledge. First off, in the novel it is explained right from the beginning that the pigs IQ are much superior compared to the other animals. For example, the pigs are able to take books and learn the entire alphabet on their own, opposed to the others only being capable of retaining a few letters (Orwell 30). Orwell explains, “As for the pigs, they could already read and write perfectly…Boxer could not get beyond the letter D.” (29-30). That being said, the alphabet itself represents intelligence so it’s obvious to the reader that even within a simple 26-letter alphabet the pigs are on a whole other academic level. Furthermore, the pigs in the novel have a very high sense of initiative. As an illustration, to build the famous windmill the pigs take initiative by reading manuals on the subject to be able to build it properly (44). By doing so, it’s obvious that the pigs are very intelligent from even thinking of the idea of a windmill, but the fact that they did their research before hand displays knowledge to another extent. Moreover, pig’s knowledge is
For centuries now pigs have been defined as very important animals with many purposes in various cultures. Pigs have been used for food, domestic pets, farming and even the odd Hollywood blockbuster; the list goes on and on. In some cultures pigs are worshiped like humans and others slaughtered for meat, all of which with a distinctive purpose. In Orwell’s Animal Farm this theory is shown to an extreme. Orwell exposes pigs in a way never seen before, to a point where they have the ability to out will humans. He takes what is normally a friendly useful and popular animal into deceiving power hungry beasts, which presents major themes in the novel. In the novel Animal Farm, Orwell evolves the plot by displaying themes through pigs such as knowledge, power and betrayal. One of the main themes displayed through pigs in Orwell’s Animal Farm is knowledge. First off, in the novel it is explained right from the beginning that the pigs IQ are much superior compared to the other animals. For example, the pigs are able to take books and learn the entire alphabet on their own, opposed to the others only being capable of retaining a few letters (Orwell 30). Orwell explains, “As for the pigs, they could already read and write perfectly…Boxer could not get beyond the letter D.” (29-30). That being said, the alphabet itself represents intelligence so it’s obvious to the reader that even within a simple 26-letter alphabet the pigs are on a whole other academic level. Furthermore, the pigs in the novel have a very high sense of initiative. As an illustration, to build the famous windmill the pigs take initiative by reading manuals on the subject to be able to build it properly (44). By doing so, it’s obvious that the pigs are very intelligent from even thinking of the idea of a windmill, but the fact that they did their research before hand displays knowledge to another extent. Moreover, pig’s knowledge is