Preview

Animal Farm Irony

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
380 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Animal Farm Irony
Animal Farm is a classic portrayal of how power can effect the goals and hopes of a society. In this essay, I will explore the irony of Animal Farm, and how it used to satirize communism and dictatorships. The story begins with a revolution, and high hopes for the society being developed by the animals. But slowly, as the leading officials get a taste of power, things begin to change. The Commandments, a code by which all animals on Animal Farm live by, is secretly altered when the pigs (leading officials) begin to realize how great it is to live as a human being. Once they start drinking, “No animal may drink alcohol” soon becomes “No animal may drink alcohol to excess.” Like the prior reference, once the

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Animal Farm is the account of a fictional farm under the tyrannical ownership of Farmer Jones. The animals reach breaking point, and start a revolution against the tyranny of man. The revolution starts off to better the situation and the animals are happy with what they have. But over time, the pigs become most powerful animals on the farm. They turn the farm from a free democratic state into a communist state. The pigs then state that “All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others”. As the book is actually a satirical commentary, it has a direct analogy to society. In Animal Farm’s case, it is the…

    • 604 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Irony is visible in the fact that the leaders the animals though they wanted, eventually become the exact same as the leader they overthrew. Orwell uses this powerful irony to illustrate the deeper idea pervading the story--the issue was not a matter of who had complete power, but a matter of whether one leader should have absolute power at all. The animals thought that their issue was with the fact that a human was in control. The animals of Manor Farm believed that if only an animal was in control, then they would have the utopian society that Old Major had dreamt of. However, Orwell promptly shows that this is not the case, but quite the contrary. Orwell shows through the animals of Animal Farm, that it makes no difference who the leader is if they have absolute power. Power has a way of corrupting people, a fact that Orwell knew to be true, and he uses his masterful literary skills to illustrate this…

    • 337 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In George Orwell's fable Animal Farm, the animals want equality and freedom, but is not achieved due to the nature of their human oppressors. The animals rebel and send their humans oppressors off like a herd of turtles. The pigs on the farm become the dictators, turning the farm they live on into a utopia. But over time, they do practices similar to that of their former masters, bringing the situation of the farm back to where it was originally as a dystopia. A literal revolution. Animal Farm uses symbolism, allegories, personification, and dramatic irony to show…

    • 771 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The animals go from disregarding an unwritten, unspoken set of rules (the common belief that animals are lesser than humans) to disobeying a written set of rules. The pigs created the Seven Commandments as the definition of animalism, a philosophy that preached animal equality. The pigs say, “These Seven Commandments would now be inscribed on the wall; they would form an unalterable law by which all the animals on Animal Farm must live for ever after” (Orwell 9). The Seven Commandments stated that animals must never wear clothing, sleep in beds, or drink alcohol, as those things are characteristic of humans. However, as the pigs started doing all of the things that were prohibited, Squealer, the propagandist, modified the commandments to allow whatever the pigs were doing. Orwell suggests that there will always be a disruption of order. The animals disrupt the order that the humans established, while the pigs disregard the order that they themselves…

    • 1399 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    If a reader doesn’t know this then they might not have gotten the irony and chaos presented by George Orwell. For example, after Mr. Jones was over thrown from his own farm, the animals took over; more specifically the pigs took charge. The pigs, including Snowball and others, decided they where smarter and that they should run the farm. The animals as a whole had agreed, the irony, the pigs sat around and encouraged the animals to work while they reaped the benefits. These “leaders” had become dictators. Orwell was able to take some of the worst stories and people of the time and turned them into animals. By satirizing his story, people could distance themselves from the horrors of war. It was almost as if he wrote a fairy tale for adults. Animal Farm is a story full of satirizing from point A to point B and is used in what seems to be every last sentence. A simple quote from the book showing satire, “All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others.”…

    • 934 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Satire In Animal Farm

    • 707 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The novella, Animal Farm, satirizes the lifestyle of Stalinist Russia. The author, Eric Blair, known by the pseudonym George Orwell, uses a farm in which every animal and conflict is allegorical to the lifestyle of the Soviet Union. In the story, Orwell portrays how the animals are unaware of their power similar to the working class in Russia. After the rebellion, which represents the Russian Revolution, the animals anticipate an exponentially better life that consists of bigger rations, proper care, and a society with no social classes and equality among all animals, similar to communism. The pigs, who are naturally the leaders, create a list of commandments, but due to the lack of education among the farm animals, the pigs sum up the commandments…

    • 707 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “Let the ruling classes tremble at a Communist revolution. The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains. They have a world to win. Working men of all countries, unite!" Like Marx and many other prominent figures in the Russian Revolution, the animals dreamt of the “Golden Age” when their cruel, human proprietors would be vanquished. Thus the failure of the “Golden Dream” made the Russian revolution a clear target for satire, or, in other words, mocking a historical event, idea, or literary work. The dark, humorous classic Animal Farm, written by George Orwell, draws on parody and irony to mock Communist leadership in Russia and autocratic rulers in general.…

    • 883 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Animal Farm Theme Essay

    • 902 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Animal farm is an allegory on the Russian revolution written by george Orwell, Orwell ties in many important themes within this text. The story is based around the Russian revolution it's shown through a group of animals on a farm, the animals revolt against their "master" and attempt to run the farm themselves the farm slowly turns to corruption and inequality. Within the story animal farm there are A Lot of significant themes a few of these are equality, hypocrisy and violence. Thought out the novel George Orwell is depicting these themes as human nature, we are hypocrites we are violent creatures and we can never truly be equal, but he is also saying as humans we should strive for equality a nonviolent society and perform less hypocritical…

    • 902 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The animals wanted to be free so they started a rebellion against the humans, but the animals chosen to be leaders (…

    • 1086 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    George Orwell¹s story, Animal Farm, is a satire of Soviet Russia. In a more general sense, however, the story traces the rise and fall of any totalitarian regime. All of the animals on Animal Farm somehow contribute to either the creation, destruction, or temporary success of the totalitarian government. The original goal of the Animal Farm society is a socialist society, but it turns bad.…

    • 697 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Animal Farm Propaganda

    • 610 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Their unquestioning nature lead to the down fall of the farm. Throughout the entire novel the animals never question authority, they would rather be told what to think. Even when Snowball was chased off the farm and painted as the enemy the animals made not vocal objections but “ Several of [the animals] would have protested if they found the right arguments ” (Orwell 36). The animals only thought of protesting but no one made such an attempt. They accepted the lies they had been feed even though they knew something was wrong. Their lack of questioning is what let Napoleon into total control. The farm suffered because no one bothered to question authority. Moreover, the animals notice the commandments changing but do not object or retaliate. Although the animals could not read very well the noticed the change “Muriel read the commandments for her. It read ‘No animal shall kill another without cause’”(Orwell 61). The animals are aware of this change but make no attempt to question the pigs. The lack of questioning the change is what let the pigs get away with execution of innocent animals in the first place. The pigs repeatedly changed the commandments to suit their own needs and the animals sat by idly as they watched the rebellion they worked so hard for die. The animals put their lives in someone else’s hands and never for a moment believed it could end badly. Their lack of questioning can be…

    • 610 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the 1900s, there were hundreds of acts of corruption, cruelty, and unfair societies. George Orwell's novella Animal Farm, represents all the leaders and classes perfectly, along with showing what their symbols were in these dreadful societies. The leader Napoleon, a boar, and his nine dogs, demonstrate cruel single-minded acts and harsh, punishing behavior, influencing the uneducated animals in a horrible, disturbing way, which had severe consequences on the farm.…

    • 660 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Irony Animal Farm

    • 648 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The main purpose of satire is to attack, and intensely criticize the target subject. This is very well carried out in the classic piece of satire, Animal Farm. The main targets this political satire are the society that was created in Russia after the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, and the leaders involved in it. George Orwell successfully condemns these targets through satirical techniques such as irony, fable, and allegory. The immediate object of attack in Orwell's political satire is the society that was created in Russia after the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917. The events narrated in Animal Farm obviously and continuously refer to events in another story, the history of the Russian Revolution. In other words, Animal Farm is not only a charming fable (A Fairy Story, as Orwell playfully subtitles it) and a bitter political satire; it is also an allegory.…

    • 648 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Marxism Animal Farm

    • 630 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Animal Farm was an allegory for the russian revolution and a warning towards totalitarianism. So there were many Allegories hidden in Animal farm such as, Napoleon being stalin, Boxer being the working class, and Old major being Karl Marx. T8uuu7uuuuuuuuuuhis was a clever warning intertwined in a overall allegory. But it is a warning so notice, is you governemnt strriping you of indivual rights? Are you losing control? Do you really know what is happening in your government? If not you may be in for a bumpy ride with a totalitarianism…

    • 630 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Animal Farm Essay

    • 500 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The hierarchical structure of 'Animal Farm' shows how society is split into classes. The novel shows this by how the pigs who are at the top treat the other animals, often in a poor way. "All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others. pg.90" this commandment in the story shows how some animals are more "equal" or dominant than others, in this case the pigs. Throughout the book, the pigs never lifted a trotter in most occasions, "All that year the animals worked like slaves...Throughout the spring and summer they worked a sixty-hour week." (pg.40.) By the pigs propaganda and intelligence, all the animals were easily manipulated to doing all the hard work, believing that it was for their own benefit as well as happily working for the pigs. These social classes, creates a hierarchical structure within 'Animal Farm' where the pigs being at the top of the system while the other animals at the bottom.…

    • 500 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics