In chapter one, Old Major (the Karl Marx figure) tells the
animals that he has a dream for the future of Manor Farm. His dream is that one day the
animals would be free from the oppression of man. He saw a future where animals would no
longer be whipped or led around by the nose by a dictatorial figure who didn't have
their best in mind (like Farmer Jones (the Czar Nicholas figure)). He hoped one day the
animals would rule themselves and that "All animals would be equal." (Communism in it's
ideal state).
Considering the fact that this was what
inspired the animals to revolt and take over their own farm, it is extremely ironic that
they allowed the pigs (more specifically Napoleon) to become exactly what they rebelled
against. In the end, Napoleon became drunk with power (one of the themes of the novel is
that power corrupts) and put himself and the other pigs above the other animals. He
saved the best for himself, and allowed the lower animals to work harder and have
less.
In fact, in the end, the humans praised Napoleon for
treating his animals worse than they treated theirs. So the irony is...the animals
created a society that was the same as the one they were trying to get away
from.
No comments:
Post a Comment