Prose Essay "Animal Farm"

Prose Essay #2: George Orwell’s Animal Farm Throughout George Orwell’s Animal Farm, the employment of allegory and satire criticize promoted socialist principles under an oppressive government, which consequently, results in dystopia. The animals’ envisioned future of “a society of animals set free from hunger and the whip” became “a time where no one dared speak his mind, when fierce, growling dogs roamed everywhere, and when you had to watch your comrades torn to pieces after confessing to shocking crimes” (Orwell 64). Suppressing the opinion of the public domain, the pigs validate their prominence through intimidation. So, the animals remain tentative to speak out against the government, which invited more corruption in the process. When these atrocities become habitual, all hope for change is lost. It is concealed beneath an obstruction of language, undermining the pursuit of perseverance. Providing historical context to Animal Farm, Orwell employs an allegory in order to satirize Joseph Stalin’s management of the Soviet Union. Napoleon, the unquestioned ruler of Animal Farm, suppresses revolutions once the animals learn to experience “terror of the dogs, and of the habit, developed through long years, of never complaining, never criticizing, no matter what happened” (Orwell 97). Of course, the explored methods of secret police, interrogations, public executions, and body guards were used by Stalin when changing the infrastructure of Russia. And, yes, this change promised the Soviet Union’s economic development. This change even promised an improved standard of living. Because no one is truly immune against temptation. When given the opportunity, man and animals will descend into darkness, an inescapable chasm. And although the pigs “declared contemptuously that [the] stories about Sugarcandy Mountain were lies,” the animals held the expectation that an improved world existed outside Animal Farm (Orwell 85). Yes, they were correct. While living on Animal Farm, however, the animals were concealed in darkness, believing the lies fabricated by the malevolent pigs. Church, an unrelenting faith in a heaven and a life beyond perception, excuses the pigs, allowing them to continue ruling over the animals. Through using an allegory to compare the explored actions of Stalin and the pigs, Orwell crafts Animal Farm as a censure of the Soviet Union, and, by extension, any totalitarian dictatorship that impedes natural rights. Of course, through ruling over the animals, the imagined golden future is impossible, a fabricated story designed to conceal the pigs’ ascension to power. Employing propaganda to emphasize their successes, the manipulation of the truth remains obscured beneath ignorance. The unquestioned leaders of Animal Farm, the pigs convince the animals that “the Commandment had not been violated; for clearly there was good reason for killing the traitors who had leagued themselves with Snowball” (Orwell 66). This observation, however, is an expression of denial. For so long, the animals believed in Animal Farm and the preconceived notion that individuals should be equal under the commandments. Unfortunately, the animals have inadvertently recreated Manor Farm. What was the difference between Manor Farm and Animal Farm? The government that represented the public domain. Of course, the hardships endured under the management of Mr. Jones were only perceived to be worse because of the slogan “Four legs good, two legs better!” (Orwell 133). Time and time again, an objective truth is concealed beneath ignorance. Under the false pretense that the standard of living would improve, the animals supported an oppressive government under the leadership of the pigs. While animals considered themselves to be immunized against “man’s vices,” the pigs eventually become indistinguishable from man (Orwell 4). What could have happened that allowed the pigs to implement such an oppressive government? An unrelenting faith in the future and a willingness to accept the consequences of changing the future. Unfortunately, this conception of a utopian society is undermined by the vice of power. The pigs that once represented Animal Farm are gone. Now, Manor Farm exists under the pseudonym Animal Farm. That is, the guaranteed freedoms of utopian societies are concealed beneath the manipulative government, which creates dystopic societies.