Kevin Lumowa

Dr. Katz

ENGL 101-06

10/26/15

Title here

In George Orwell’s Animal Farm, the animals of Manor farm are struggling under the

control of their farmer, Mr. Jones. During this time of sadness, the prize-winning boar, Old

Major, serves as the leader of the animals. As the leader, he tells the animals his dream of

where all animals live together with no humans to control or harass them. This dream was the

driving force of the rebellion that the animals were starting to form against the farmer. Sadly,

Old Major dies shortly after he tells the animals of his dream. Immediately right after, three

smaller and younger pigs- Snowball, Napoleon, and Squealer- take the main principles and ideas

of Old Major and form them into a philosophy called Animalism. With the creation of this new

philosophy by the pigs, they assume leadership of the animals. One of the things the pigs do to

maintain their leadership is they learn how to read, speak, and write; they educate themselves

and become intelligent. The pigs use language and knowledge as an instrument of social

control and manipulation to gain power over the other farm animals.

Going back to the start of the rebellion after Old Major died, Snowball and Napoleon

“step forward” and show themselves to be important figures for the planning of the rebellion

against Mr. Jones. When the time came to strike, the animals struck back against Mr. Jones and

the other farmers. After the revolution, the farm animals are victorious and Mr. Jones and the

farms are chased off the farm. As part of the celebration of this victory, Manor Farm is

renamed to Animal Farm, and the seven main commandments of Animalism are painted up on

the wall of the barn. Following the celebration, the animals get to work. Snowball works to

educate the animals on how to read, but Napoleon instead works to educate a group of nine

puppies about the principles of Animalism. At first the animals seemed to be totally fine with

Snowball and Napoleon being the leaders, but Napoleon starts to appear as a power-hungry

and maybe self-driven leader. Napoleon starts to steal the cows’ milk and quite a bit of apples

to feed himself and the other pigs. After a while, this started to make the farm animals upset.

In response, Napoleon enlists Squealer to help him with this problem. Squealer uses his ability

of persuasion to tell the farm animals that what Napoleon and the other pigs are doing is

always morally correct and their decisions are right. This becomes the start of the start of some

tension between the pigs and the other farm animals.

Later on, Mr. Jones and the other farms reappear in an attempt to take back their farm.

The animals fight against the farmers again in what is known as The Battle of Cowshed.

Ultimately in the end, the animals triumph again over the humans. With another victory under

the belt of the animals, they’re feeling pretty confident in themselves. As time passes on,

Napoleon and Snowball increasingly fight and butt heads with each over about what the future

of Animal Farm will be. They also fight over power and control over the other farm animals.

Snowball wants to build an electricity-generated windmill for the farm, but Napoleon fully

opposes the plan. As a result of this conflict, a vote is held during a meeting on whether to do

the project or not. Snowball gives a powerful and passionate speech. Snowball wants to

construct the windmill in order to provide electricity and automate farm tasks to make lives for

the animals easier overall. Although Napoleon’s speech was very short and brief, he ultimately

ends up chasing Snowball off the farm with the nine dogs that he raised since they were

puppies. Now with Snowball gone, Napoleon calls an end to the meeting and says there won’t

be any more discussion or further debates about the windmill. After seeing this, many of the

animals are scared and confused. But then Squealer comes and explains to the animals that

Napoleon is making a great sacrifice in taking leadership responsibilities upon himself and that

he ultimately serves the best interests of everyone. Once again, the animals are ok with this,

but in the back of their heads they still question about how Snowball was dealt with. A few

weeks after, Napoleon announces that the windmill will be built and that it was originally his

idea and it was stolen by Snowball. With the help of Squealer and his use of language for

manipulation, Napoleon continues to blame all the hardships of the animals on Snowball,

saying he’s a traitor and criminal. Squealer also tells the animals that Napoleon never really

opposed the idea of the windmill, and that he actually used his opposition to Snowball as a

maneuver to expel out Snowball.

Much of the next year is spent building the windmill. The pace at which the animals are

working is back-breaking and tough. The leadership, Napoleon and the pigs, cuts the rations of

the animals. The animals are outraged at this. Yet again, Squealer explains to them that all the

pigs have done is simply “readjust” the rations and that the animals won’t receive food unless

they work on Sunday afternoons. Unfortunately, one day, a storm topples and destroys their

half-finished windmill. And of course, although the animals thought it was the storm or a

neighboring farm, Napoleon predictably blames Snowball for the destruction and immediately

orders the animals to begin rebuilding it. At this point, Napoleon’s lust for power is becoming

overwhelming and dangerous. Napoleon would even kill other animals who would dare to

stand up to his authority. Along with this new cruelty and reign of fear, Napoleon and the pigs

actually move into Mr. Jones house and begin sleeping in beds. Although all the farm animals,

including the pigs, know that the actions of the pigs are breaking the seven commandments of

Animalism that the pigs originally wrote themselves, Squealer still finds a way to excuse this

with his use of language.

The pigs continue to break even more of the original seven commandments of

Animalism. But as the pigs are breaking more commandments, the language of them are

revised. One example of this is that the commandment, “No animals shall drink alcohol” is

changed to, “No animal shall drink alcohol to excess.” Since the pigs were the smartest animals

on the farm, it was easy for them to just use language to manipulate the other farm animals,

make things go their way, and get what they want.

Throughout Animal Farm, the pigs constantly use their intelligence and language to

manipulate and control the farm animals. At first it seemed exciting to see the pigs getting

educated and educating the other farm animals. But later on, the pigs take advantage of their

knowledge and use against the farm animals to get what they want and make things go their

way. Can knowledge and intelligence make people this strong?