Free sample essay on Animal Farm
The seven commandments in Animal Farm are as follows:
- 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
If we first just take a moment to look at these commandments. It is obvious that the animals are determined to abolish humans, since they say that anything upon two legs is an enemy. But some animals go upon two legs, which brings us to the second commandment, everything with four legs, or has wings, is a friend. With these two commandments the animals have completely isolated themselves from humans. The next three commandments abolish the things that are, according to the animals, most affiliated with humans. The animals, in their struggle to separate themselves from the humans, simply do not do them. Regarding the next commandment, it is pretty obvious why it should be followed. It doesn’t need further explaining. The next commandment deals with democracy, and is also obvious in why it should be followed.
If we now take a look at the animals, and in what way they relate to, and follow, these commandments.
The first year or so I would like to say that things are going fine. It’s around the time after that first year that I find that some of the animals are getting a little power-hungry. For example, the pigs, or should I say Napoleon, says that since the pigs are the brainworkers, they should get more food than the other animals. More specifically, they should get all of the milk, all of the windfall apples, as well as most of the picked apples. A sly pig named Squealer says that it is for the other animals’ sake that they take most of the apples and all of the milk. He continues to say that if the pigs did not receive the most food, then Mr. Jones would come back. And this is an argument that cannot be disputed by any animal on Animal Farm. So, when the pigs did this, they broke the seventh commandment, which is possibly the most important one to follow, for if you should break it, then surely the animals, and you, would agree that they are becoming more like humans.
The other thing that comes to mind is the switching of sides for Mollie. She is in flagrant violation of the first commandment, since she does not consider the humans as enemies, but enjoys their company and superficial pleasures.
To sort of relate back to my first observation, Napoleon had secretly trained nine puppies into his own personal bodyguards. He sent these dogs after his main opposition on the farm, Snowball. With this act he violates the second and the sixth commandment. Of course he doesn’t straight out violate the sixth commandment, but by sending the nine dogs after Snowball, and the fact that should they have caught up to him, they surely would have killed him, I believe that he violated that commandment. After all, there is a saying that goes: “It’s the thought that countsâ€Â.
Enlightened by these events, I believe that Napoleon is trying to gain authority over the other animals with the help of two things. For one, he has these nine huge dogs at his command, which only the bigger animals such as the cows or the horses could stand up to, and even they would have trouble doing so. For two he has the threat of Mr. Jones coming back as an undisputable argument for doing something. No animal could stand up and say “So what?†Then they would surely be excluded from Animal Farm.
Furthermore, Napoleon uses evil propaganda against Snowball, after he has been forced off Animal Farm, to further his power over the other animals. The other animals have no suspicions what so ever towards Napoleon’s attempt to seize control over Animal Farm. They believe that he is acting in the Farm’s best interest. In my own mind I believe that somewhere along the line, Napoleon lost sight of the true meaning of their revolution, which I believe is to break free from their chains and prove to the humans that they are not prisoners, they are, and deserve to be, free living, free thinking individuals, just like humans, and that they will tolerate their present treatment no longer. Napoleon saw their revolution as an opportunity to gain some authority, some control over other living beings, which, in my mind, makes him just as bad as we humans.