Written Task 2 Animal Farm Option b

Different social classes in totalitarian communism Animal farm, the dystopian allegoric novell which depics the harshness suffered by the working class during the Russian Revolution, in 1917, when the tsars were fled and the totalitarian states with communist leaders such as Trotsky were established. When Tsar Nicholas II abdicated (Mr. Jones) he hoped to avoid Civil War which anyway arrived. During his reign, thousands of people’s lives got worse, so Russians saw in communism and its leaders a chance to end up with status differences and to live in a more fair society. What´s interesting is how George Orwell achieves to show how the rebellion starts like a huge success, as the Russian Revolution did but also how soon communism´s idea of ´´being all equal´´ transforms by means of leaders corruption, into what I would call: ´´being all equal EXCEPT us (leaders) ´´. George Orwell adapts the historic background to a farm with animals which plan to rebel against their human master, Mr. Jones lost in luxury ends up being an alcoholic and not taking care of his farm . Orwell also criticizes the communist leaders through the pig’s attitudes and their manipulation of the less intelligent animals, representing the proletariat group. Yet, in a society were ´´all should be equal´´ Orwell shows us how there are animals which work harder than others but who enjoy less benefits. For example Boxer; he woke up earlier than anyone, worked harder and better than anyone and was paid off with little food while the pigs( who represent the Communist Party Leaders; Trotsky and Lenin) enjoyed luxurious lives drinking alcohol or sleeping inside Mr. Jones old house. The first scene gives us the idea that the Marxist idea of communism will work perfectly for the farm since their master is giving them little food, and life isn’t being enjoyed. Old Major, the pig which represents Karl Marx carefully explains what animals in the farm felt: ´´our life are miserable, laborious and short´´ (page 8) they did not live freely but were slaves of work, of men, they believed they had no choice. ´´Man is the only creature that consumes without producing […] yet he is lord of all animals´´ (page 9). Animals were tired of working for someone who lived on expenses of their production, they felt used and fooled. Mr. Jones enclosures then, the first group: the tsars. He owns the animals, they ´´work´´ for him and he doesn’t take care nor feeds them well but spends the incomes in alcohol or any kind of goods. In Russia, the tsars lived this way, part of what people earned went for them and they would not reinvest it in economy or repairs but spend it in alcohol. Orwell perfectly represents the Communist Party Leader´s ideals and dreams. How? He keeps it simple, he from the beginning shows how Napoleon, Snowball, and Squealer want to take profit from the rest of the animals. The fact that animals won´t be educated, shows how perverse communist leaders were. If only pigs knew how to read and write, then the rest of the animals would be tied to trust what they were told, they became non-thinkers. The same happened in Russia, having such powerful leaders, education as put

behind and work was prioritized, the proletariat groups would not realize that behind these, personal interests were The proletariats are represented by the stupidest animals of the farm; hens, sheep, donkey, horses. Orwell does not show them uneducated for no reason but to let us see the importance of reading and writing in life. Why? Because pigs were able to manipulate them, tricking them with games of words in the Seven Commandments. ´´No animal shall sleep in beds’’ was changed for ´´No animal shall sleep in a bed WITH SHEETS´´, as animals did not have good memory nor knew how to read nor write, they just believed what Napoleon told them. Squealer, representing the media brainwashed the animals, confusing them and making them believe what he wanted. In Russia propaganda was really strong and for the illiterate the drawings, cartoons would mean more than a hundred words and they would end up trusting the leaders. Orwell shows us that the utopian society is not reached, far from that the pighumans, (since we can no longer tell one from each other) have put their personal aims on top of those important for which society must fight for. He wisely describes throughout the allegory how the working class is silently suffering, without complaining and the perverse end of Boxer has a deep meaning, once the worker is no longer useful it’s thrown away like trash. ´´You, Boxer, the very day that those great muscles of yours lose their power, Jones will sell you to the knacker´´ (p. 10) Old Major was not wrong, its Marx´s voice speaking and Boxer did end up that way. We can understand then, why Orwell represents the working class so insistently, tired of ruling classes hypocrisy he wants to give a voice for lower class people to speak up their silent thoughts. Communist leaders had no shame in using violent methods in order to have everyone under their control, going no further the disuse of ´Beasts of England ´ and disintegration of The Seven Commandments lets us see how the true cause of the Rebellion has been forgotten. ´´No animal shall kill any other animal, without a cause´´. The sudden change in this commandment was due to the killing of the hens, to calm down the horrified animals and make them believe that what was done was not against the commandments. Orwell fights for the lower classes which at first not knew their submission to the rich classes, as well as the animals not knew they were being Napoleon slaves. Representing them and getting to show them their strength he is able to give them a chance for change.