Sunday, October 19, 2014

Is the society of "Animal Farm" a classless one?

The animal farm as originally conceived was meant to be a classless society. One of the seven commandments was "All animals are equal." However,in practice this was never the case. The pigs assumed a leading role and continued to grab power until the commandment read: Some animals are equal, but some are more equal that others. You can trace the loss of equality by watching the different commandments as they are broken and then re-written. The first commandment is "Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy." However, at the end of the novel, the pigs are walking on their hind legs. As an allegory, Orwell is commenting on the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917. It was supposed to be a classless society, too. From the beginning, the revolution needed leaders. Lenin was the first to lead but died ( as Old Major) before many of the reforms he backed could be initiated. Sadly, the end result was the rule of Stalin (Napoleon) who killed millions in his surge to power.

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