Animal Farm in depth analysis | Teen Ink

Animal Farm in depth analysis

September 24, 2022
By JoannaZhang GOLD, Shanghai, Other
JoannaZhang GOLD, Shanghai, Other
10 articles 0 photos 1 comment

Favorite Quote:
Do not go gentle into that good night.


This is my analysis of some details in “Animal Farm” from chapter 1 to 10.

 

In chapter 1, the disappearance of the cow’s milk is suspicious because this means that someone has secretly taken it and occupied it by themselves. This is significant because the ones who took the milk are not sharing it with the other animals, which might be a sign of the breakdown of their rules-- “all animals are equal”.  

 

Snowball’s attitude toward killing a human in the battle of cowshed is that: “War is war. The only good human being is a dead one”. This tells us his absolute and extreme hate toward all humans. On the other hand, Boxer’s reaction toward this is that: “I have no wish to take life, not even human life”, and he cried, which shows a bit of remorse toward killing a life.  The difference between their attitudes could show the difference between their natures. That is to say, Snowball is now an acknowledged leader in the farm, and he is working really hard toward communism. He loathes Mr. Jones’ manipulation and the totalitarian world created by him in the past farm. Therefore, I infer that Snowball believes that every single human being acts as Mr. Jones, and if any of them come back to the farm and act as the controller, his position that is fighting toward a communist society will be threatened. As a result, he hates and “fears” all human beings, and only humans with no life could eliminate his concerns. Moreover, Boxer is not a leader in the farm, he is only a strong follower. And there might not be such a big difference for him when his leader changed from human to animal since his aim is to work hard, and I don’t think he thinks that Mr. Jones treats him that badly. So, his attitude toward humans would be more neutral than Snowball. Therefore, he would feel pitiful toward all lives.  

 

Napoleon, on the other hand, was totally not mentioned during the battle, and we could infer that he is probably hiding somewhere in order to make himself safe. We could tell from this that, unlike snowball, Napoleon is a selfish figure. His acts toward leading the farm are only ways that cement his position, which are totally the opposite of what the animals are fighting for--” communism”. The dictatorship he presents is moving toward the previous actions of Mr. Jones.  

 

Mollie, according to chapter 5, is probably secretly owned by a human being, and the sugar and ribbons are things that she gained from them. Mollie is a lazy figure since she owns privileges in a quite cheating way. Her beauty and docile earned the support from human being without working hard.   From Mollie’s perspective, I think she is justified to leave the farm. That is to say, she never adapts to the new way the farm runs—Animalism. On the other hand, she prefers the life when human beings were the owners of the farm since she could gain more benefits from them. Consequently, she secretly meets up with Mr. Pilkington’s men from the other side of the hedge, and gain benefits from then. And when Clover ultimately found out about this betrayal, she left. She left not only because Clover exposed her, but she also wanted to go to another farm that owns by human being so that she could earn benefits in an easier way.  

 

In chapter 5, we also notice that Napoleon had expulse Snowball. Snowball as a leader uses his inspiring speeches and arguments to persuade the animals to stand on his side. However, I Napoleon isn’t capable of verbally winning Snowball, and he knows that. Consequently, he chose to use his cunning by violently forcing Snowball to leave in order to oppress things around him. When Snowball is gone, he could be the one and only leader in the farm without any opponent. Moreover, oppressing Snowball to leave could also result in a mental clampdown for other animals in the farm in the future since no one wants to be killed. This action clearly resembles what a brutal dictator is like. 

 

Squealer plays the role of a strong supporter and communicator. He is Napoleon’s spokesperson who helps deliver and explain his orders and tells lies to persuade the animals to support Napoleon. Take the example of the windmill idea, which first came up by Snowball. He is the propaganda speaker who spread the lies that it was actually Napoleon who started this idea. The manipulation of his language among the animals soon makes animals believe in his lies.  

 

“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".

This tells readers that Boxer wasn’t educated so he doesn’t have his own critical and independent thinking. As a result, he is always following the “mainstream” without thinking whether the leader is right or wrong. This could be shown by how he is always physically working so hard no matter who the leader is. Additionally, he felt pitiful when killing a human life during the battle, which could show that he doesn’t actually hate humans (or we can say Mr. Jones) that much. Saying that he can't feel and decide who and what is right. Boxer tells readers the impact of education, which could help us establish our own ideas against the in powers.  

 

In chapter 7, Squealer announced that Beast of England is now abolished. Napoleon banned this song so that he could gain absolute control and manipulation toward the animals since this song was not created by him. Moreover, most importantly, this song is about rebellion and that he now is the leader of the farm so that he doesn’t want animals to rebel and oppose him. The song is about freedom and equality but napoleon no longer wants them, and the only thing he cares about is absolute power. 

 

In chapter 9, we read about the death of Boxer, which is super depressing and ironic. Boxer worked super hard on rebuilding the windmill but he, unfortunately, collapsed one day due to his lung ailment and the fact that he is too old. Squealer told the animals that Napoleon is sending him to the veterinarians. However, when the van came to pick up Boxer to the hospital, Benjamin noticed that Boxer is actually being taken to a knacker. Boxer tried to kick and escape but soon ran out of energy. Afterwards, the animals were told that Boxer had died and Squealer placated the animals by telling them that Boxer died peacefully without pain under the care of the veterinarian. 

His death is super ironic because when I was reading the death of Boxer, I feel super depressed, and as we know, Squealer is always twisting the truth to fake propaganda so that I believe Boxer died in the knacker, opposing to what Squealer told the animals and what the animals believed ultimately. As evidence of the sign of the cruelty Boxer is facing: “Sure enough, there in the yard was a large closed van, drawn by two horses, with lettering on its side and a sly-looking man in a low-crowned bowler hat sitting on the driver's seat.” Orwell depicts the driver in this sentence as a man wearing a bowler hat, and this hat is a symbol of a dictator human. So, it is easy to acknowledge what a bad ending is the most loyal and hard-working figure on the farm facing.  However, the pigs use the death of Boxer as a chance to buy whiskeys and celebrate, which is extremely ironic and sarcastic.  

Moreover, I have a feeling that Boxer is gradually becoming aware of what is truly going on due to his “rebel” on the van in the end where he was trying to kick out. However, his robust body had reduced to zero strength because of his mindless hard work previously. This betrayal of the main force of work is also super ironic because it shows us how selfish Napoleon could be at this point that he gives up and doesn’t care about any figure who has no more benefit on the farm and him. And especially, Boxer, who never complains about being the slave, and who always say “I will work harder” and “Napoleon is always right” as his maxim. 

 

Here depicts how Napoleon and his pigs continuously abuse their power on the farm: “Then there were lamp oil and candles for the house, sugar for Napoleon's own table (he forbade this to the other pigs, on the ground that it made them fat), and all the usual replacements such as tools, nails, string, coal, wire, scrap-iron, and dog biscuits. A stump of hay and part of the potato crop were sold off, and the contract for eggs was increased to six hundred a week, so that that year the hens barely hatched enough chicks to keep their numbers at the same level. Rations, reduced in December, were reduced again in February, and lanterns in the stalls were forbidden to save Oil. But the pigs seemed comfortable enough, and in fact were putting on weight if anything.” This evidence depicts the scene when all animals are starving and having bad times, the pigs use their power as the privilege to gather food, tools, and other benefits, which is the straight contrary to the equal utopia world that the animals are looking forward to. I think this is a new level of betrayal and that the actions of the pigs are getting worse and worse moving on. This is because, in the previous chapters, the pigs were only trying to hide a little bit of food, and secretly do things against the norms. For example, the animals found the missing apples and milk in the pigs nest, and that the pigs tried to explain this by saying how they need more food since they are the brain workers. However, right now, they started to make this treachery action as a habit that they think they just automatically owns the food and their privileges with no reason to be against of since they just frankly enjoy their meals happily in their cozy house and the other animals starving in the cold and harsh environment outside. 


The author's comments:

Wish my analysis could help you form a better understanding of "Animal Farm";;)


Similar Articles

JOIN THE DISCUSSION

This article has 0 comments.