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The second article in a series concerning various dystopian novels.   

Introduction 

Food for Thought here with key points in regard to the dystopian novel Animal Farm, by George Orwell, which was published in 1945. This is not a book review, nor a book report but a presentation of important key points for you as a guideline for thought processes.   

First two paragraphs 

“Mr. Jones, of the Manor Farm, had locked the hen-houses for the night, but was too drunk to remember to shut the pop-holes. With the ring of light from his lantern dancing from side to side, he lurched across the yard, kicked off his boots at the back door, drew himself a last glass of beer from the barrel in the scullery, and made his way up to bed, where Mrs. Jones was already snoring.”   

“As soon as the light in the bedroom went out there was a stirring and a fluttering all through the farm buildings. Word had gone round during the day that old Major, the prize Middle White boar, had had a strange dream on the previous night and wished to communicate it to the other animals. It had been agreed that they should all meet in the big barn as soon as Mr. Jones was safely out of the way. Old Major (so he was always called, though the name under which he had been exhibited was Willingdon Beauty) was so highly regarded on the farm that everyone was quite ready to lose an hour’s sleep in order to hear what he had to say.”   

The issues the book is addressing 

1. An open society becomes a closed society through well-crafted stages.  One of the first moments of change is old Majors’ speech and the changing of the farm name from “Manor Farm” into “Animal Farm”. Names are more powerful than most people realize. Names are given to people but they also stand for a paradigm, a consciousness, a statement, power and authority and energy or ‘vibes’ if you will. 
2. Destruction of democracy 
3. New (self) proclaimed government invokes a common external enemy (the humans with Mr. Jones as arch enemy number one). 
4. Minimal social mobilization  
5. Limited political pluralism 
6. Martial law through a paramilitary group of young dogs (Mollies’ puppies taken away from her by the new government)  
7. With martial law comes a system of law and order outside the rule of law according to an open society. The government can arrest people and judge them immediately, often through executions without due process. 
8. Internal surveillance system through spies 
9. Control of the press 
10. Class divisions, the very rich pigs and the naïve working class. In different words, the very rich and the very poor are the two classes in this closed society. The middle-class is non-existent! Yes, it is very hard not to see various synchronicities with several societies in the world we live in. A growing number of American citizens for example are afraid that one day their nation will become a closed society with all its ramifications. 
11. Not just economic poverty but also moral-ethical poverty. The animals become slaves to the labyrinth system the leader has placed them in. 
12.  Illusion of a new era of independence but in reality the start of an epoch of oppression  
13. Opposition of the leadership and the status quo are considered ‘enemy of the state’ 
14. Power to the people! Uhhmm I mean the animals 😉 through a revolution. But perhaps not every revolution is necessarily a good one!? 

Symbols 

• The farm itself; representing a society that transforms into a closed society.  
• Pigs; the rich class, the oligarchs 
• Other animals besides the children of Mollie; the naïve working class (the intellectual inferiors as the oligarchs treat them)
• Songs to cause the new paradigm shift to be embedded in the minds and hearts of the animals. The songs make them ‘one in spirit’ and is a clever psychological manipulative tool to keep the animals into the new authoritarian ‘fold’. 
• Changing the vernacular of the citizens (animals) through songs, press and creating fear. Also through the moral-ethical standard, the Commandments (their Constitution) which are subject to layers of subversions throughout the story.
• Power changing hands several times 
• Windmill; a representation of public works, government projects in which people are forced to participate in under the guise of faulty promises. 
• Children of Mollie; her puppies are taken away by the new established leader. They are being well trained from childhood and become the government militia necessary in every martial law type of event against the citizens. This is a two-fold strand. We’ve got the government taken away children from their parent and therefore annul parental authority or rights. Next to this we have forced government education program to create a paramilitary force that will do its bidding at all times. 
• The House; house of the former farm owners Mr. and Mrs. Jones.  The place the pigs choose to turn into their new mansion and headquarter.  
• Resemblance with the former so-called oppressive power. The animals claim to be independent from the humans yet the pigs, the oligarchs of the story, resemble negative human traits in an increasing manner. Eventually they practically reunite with the humans. 
• The Rebellion; mirrors the Russian Revolution   

Aphorisms 

“Four legs good, two legs bad”  

 “THE SEVEN COMMANDMENTS (The Animal Farm Constitution)” 

“Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy. 

Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend. 

No animal shall wear clothes.

No animal shall sleep in a bed. 

No animal shall drink alcohol. 

No animal shall kill any other animal. 

All animals are equal.”   

The corrupted version of the last Commandment; “All animals are created equal, but some animals are more equal than others”.     

Interesting quotes 

“Bravery is not enough,” said Squealer. “Loyalty and obedience are more important."   

“These three (Snowball, Napoleon and Squealer) had elaborated old Major’s teachings into a complete system of thought, to which they gave the name of Animalism.”   

Old Major speaking (a segment of his speech): “There, comrades, is the answer to all our problems. It is summed up in a single word — Man. Man is the only real enemy we have. Remove Man from the scene, and the root cause of hunger and overwork is abolished for ever.” (…) “Man is the only creature that consumes without producing. He does not give milk, he does not lay eggs, he is too weak to pull the plough, he cannot run fast enough to catch rabbits. Yet he is lord of all the animals. (…)“ Is it not crystal clear, then, comrades, that all the evils of this life of ours spring from the tyranny of human beings? Only get rid of Man, and the produce of our labour would be our own. Almost overnight we could become rich and free. What then must we do? Why, work night and day, body and soul, for the overthrow of the human race! That is my message to you, comrades: Rebellion!”   

“All that year the animals worked like slaves. But they were happy in their work; they grudged no effort or sacrifice, well aware that everything that they did was for the benefit of themselves and those of their kind who would come after them, and not for a pack of idle, thieving human beings.”   

“Boxer, who had now had time to think things over, voiced the general feeling by saying: “If Comrade Napoleon says it, it must be right.” And from then on he adopted the maxim, “Napoleon is always right,” in addition to his private motto of “I will work harder.”   

“A few days later, when the terror caused by the executions had died down, some of the animals remembered — or thought they remembered — that the Sixth Commandment decreed “No animal shall kill any other animal.” Muriel read the Commandment for her. It ran: “No animal shall kill any other animal WITHOUT CAUSE.” Somehow or other, the last two words had slipped out of the animals’ memory. But they saw now that the Commandment had not been violated; for clearly there was good reason for killing the traitors who had leagued themselves with Snowball.”     

Critique  

1. Against socialism and communism. Officially the story is allegorically presenting the historical narrative of the Russian Revolution (1917). 
2. Authoritarianism 
3. Oligarchy (power resting in a relative small number of people, usually nobility or very economically rich people) 
4. Against economic manipulation against the citizens (creating and multiplying various levels of increased poverty and dependence to the state or government) 
5. The use of poverty to break people's will and enslave them. I articulate it this way because within every human there is a desire to be free. Ever form of enslavement is in essence a breaking of this desire, of the human will, our spirit, our energy, our full potential. Our free will accompanied with freedom of speech are the most precious assets we possess!  

PS: More on the Russian Revolution which inspired Orwell to write this interesting narrative on this Wiki page.

Last paragraph 

"Twelve voices were shouting in anger, and they were all alike. No question, now, what had happened to the faces of the pigs. 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.“  

 //END OF KEY POINTS// 

Also read  

Key Points Dystopian Novel | Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut 

Coming soon 

1. Key Points Dystopian Novel | The Time Machine by H.G. Wells 
2. Key Points Dystopian Novel | A Brave New World by Aldous Huxley  
3. Key Points Dystopian Novel | Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury 
4. Key Points Dystopian Novel | Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand 
5. Key Points Dystopian Novel | 1984 by George Orwell 
6. Key Points Dystopian Novel | The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins 
7. Key Points Dystopian Novel | Logan's Run by William F. Nolan & George Clayton Johnson 
8. Key Points Dystopian Novel | The Fixed Period by Anthony Trollope  

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