Animal Farm Critical Lens Essay

Michelle Veliz
Period 7
4/27/12
Critical Lens Essay A famous author named Richard Wright once said, “All literature is a protest”. In simpler terms, books have been written to raise awareness about problems in order for humans to find solutions for them. This quote is true because in most works of literature the author makes their characters go through difficult obstacles to overcome that not everyday people go through. The book Night was written to protest against anti-Semitism, which means hatred towards Jews. This book took place during the Holocaust where times were hard and unforgettable for the Jews. The main character Elie takes the reader on a grieving journey where he describes his accounts from the Holocaust where he was mistreated and was seen as an outsider. On the other hand, the book Animal Farm by George Orwell was written to alert the world about totalitarian leaders and perplexed people. Totalitarian leaders had control over society, which gave them the right to mistreat their people and abuse their power. Napoleon who was the main villain of
Similarly, Orwell shows this when the animals caught Squealer changing the Ten Commandments. They saw that he fell from a ladder, and that there were buckets of paint surrounding him. When the animals read the commandments they realized that there was an alteration, but they believed that they misread it the first time. Orwell was protesting totalitarian leaders because Napoleon had all the central power. He had all the authority to change the commandments to his own convenience even if it was inconvenient for the other animals. His influence towards the animals was so great that they were ignorant. The animals were ignorant because they caught Squealer right at the scene, yet they would never doubt his actions. Instead they were blaming themselves for not reading carefully. The animals thought that they misinterpreted things. Overall, Orwell’s novel was challenging totalitarians and