Rough Draft

Brian Hensley
Period 1
Mr. Saxon
English Final Assessment
Animal Farm

Though we cover much information on books we read in class, we never really seem to have enough time to cover everything. In Animal farm by George Orwell there are many topics they we were not able to cover. Animal farm Is a book about a group of animals that revolt against their owners too try and make a better life for themselves on the farm. Eventually they realize that grass is not always greener on the other side. There are many morals and symbolisms in the book. Though we as a class took a great amount of information from animal farm, there is still much more that can be learned within its pages.

The first Moral that our class did not cover is probably the most noticeable of every point Orwell tries to make. This is that Power corrupts those who do not know how to use it. In my first source, there is a writer named Ji Seon who said, ““George Orwell also wants to convey that the person who misuses the power given to him cannot stay in power long.”( Ji Seon, question 6) This writer is simply saying that people who are given power, but are uneducated as to how they are supposed to use it, will not have that power for very long. This is because they will misuse it, and will eventually we have to face the what ever it is they have power over. A leader who misleads his/her people cannot stay on top if they don’t know how. Napoleon is a perfect example. When he took power he did not know how to use it. He let tried to help the animals with things like animalism and they windmill, but he did not realize that he was just making things worse. Eventually he took on too much power and became corrupted. His actions enraged the animals on the farm and the other farms as well, leading too his downfall. All this controversy emerged simply because Napoleon did not know how to control the power given to him. This proves Orwell wanted his readers to learn that power will corrupt, and eventually lead to the downfall of those who do not know how to use it.

The second moral that was not a big discussion in class was also very noticeable. This is the fact that it is impossible to have a perfectly fair system for people to live by. In the same blog that Ji Seon writes, there is another writer who said, “I think George Orwell’s message to us all is that it’s impossible to have a total equal, fair system.” (Maahika Srinivasan, question 6) This writer is clearly stating how people cannot live together when they all have the same things. This is because of greed. Greed lives inside everyone. Greed lives comfortably inside the pigs on animal farm. The pigs had more power than the other animals, and so it was easy to quench their thirst for more. One specific example would be the milk and the apples. The pigs said the milk and apples would be for everyone, but then they became greedy and took it for themselves. It was not long before the pigs were not equals with the other animals on the farm, simply because they did not want to be. Greed leads to inequality, inequality leads to controversy, and controversy leads to downfall.

There is obviously a vast amount of symbolism within Animal Farm; however I learned, in my research, that the biggest symbol of all is the book itself. The entire story symbolizes the Russian revolution. Just about every single character and event symbolizes a character or event the contributed to the Russian revolution. One specific example is Animalism. Animalism symbolizes communism. They are both a system of government in which everyone receives the same things in life. Another example is How Napoleon symbolizes Joseph Stalin. Napoleon followed the idea of animalism and was not good at connecting with the animals. Stalin followed communism and could not connect with the people of Russia. Napoleon had to use squealer, who is incredibly good at public speaking, to manipulate the minds of the other animals. Stalin had to use Russian propaganda to “convince” the people that he was doing well for Russia. These examples, along with many more, show that Orwell wrote his book to symbolize the Russian revolution.

In my first source there were many great examples symbolism and morals in animal farm that people pointed out. However, one person believed that “the moral of the story is to stick together, and work together as a team.” (Genna Snider, question 6), but I disagree. There is no way George Orwell wanted people to take the power of teamwork out of his story. Sure the animals worked together as a team, and the team effort worked well for a while; however, in the end the team crumbled. Greed took over and led the farm to disaster. Anything in the book that was accomplished by a team effort either backfired or was crushed by corrupted leaders.( not literally) One specific example would be the team of napoleon and snowball. The two of them formed a great team, but the team did not last, Eventually napoleon became corrupted and drove snowball off the farm. Though there were many Morals Orwell tried to project in Animal farm, the power of teamwork was not one of them.
There were many things George Orwell wanted us readers to take from Animal Farm that we simply did not have enough time in class to discuss. Whether It was a moral like power corrupts those don’t know how to use it, or symbolic reference to the Russian Revolution. By now it should be clear that there is still much more to be learned from Animal farm. The topics in this paper are just a fraction of what can be taken from this book. When given the opportunity to learn, be sure to learn as much as you can.