Animal Farm Sample paper

This is a sample Animal Farm paper. Some of the formatting may have been messed up in the upload. Consult Perdue OWL online if you have questions. A. Good Student Mr. Neill 10th Grade Literature 25 April 2014 Two Possible Futures Under Snowball and Napoleon Snowball and Napoleon, the pigs who represent Trotsky and Stalin, respectively, in the novel Animal Farm, struggle for leadership of the farm after the animals revolt. Though Napoleon succeeds in taking power - with dire results - the animals could have enjoyed a better society if Snowball had ruled. Immediately after the animals revolt, Snowball and Napoleon begin to disagree on how Animal Farm will be ruled. But it is Snowball who seems determined to create the best possible society for the animals. It is he who first sets out to paint the new Seven Commandments on the side of the barn (Orwell 24). He also seems determined to make the animals successful when he tells them to go “to the hayfield! Let us make it a point of honor to get in the harvest more quickly than Jones and his men could do” (25). But readers of the novel quickly learn that Napoleon does not have the animals’ best interests at heart when he throws himself in front of the pails of milk and tells them, “Never mind the milk, comrades! That will be attended to,” and then sends them, along with Snowball, off to work (26). Later it is learned that Napoleon, along with his chosen pigs, plan to keep all of the milk and apples for themselves under the pretense of needing it for all the brain work they have to do. During the second attack on Animal Farm by the humans, the Battle of the Cowshed, it is Snowball who leads the attack by the animals to defend the farm (40). Even after being shot with pellets from a shotgun, Snowball demonstrated his bravery by continuing to run at the farmer, Mr. Jones, and knocking him down with all of his weight (42). Later in the novel, however, these efforts by Snowball are erased by the lies and propaganda of Napoleon and his chief propaganda officer, the pig Squealer. Snowball’s greatest gift to the animals is his plan to build a windmill. He promises the animals that the windmill will create a better environment for the animals by providing heat for the stalls and electricity to run various tools and implements on the farm. Napoleon, on the other hand, showed self-centeredness and did virtually nothing to plan for the future success of the animals. Instead, he was planning his overthrow of Snowball and takeover of the farm to benefit himself. As the novel states, “Napoleon produced no schemes of his own, but said quietly that Snowball’s would come to nothing, and seemed to be biding his time” (Orwell 48). The power struggle between Snowball and Napoleon comes to a head when the issue of whether to build a windmill, according to Snowball’s plans, goes to a vote. When the sheep’s repetitive bleating of “four legs good, two legs bad” isn’t enough to distract the animals from hearing Snowball’s speech supporting the windmill, Napoleon sends his attack dogs – his own KGB essentially – to run Snowball off from the farm (53). Then the lies begin. Squealer, the pig that serves as Napoleon’s propaganda machine, tells the animals that Snowball had stolen the plans for the windmill from Napoleon. The sly pig tells the animal that Napoleon had wanted to build the windmill all along, but just needed Snowball out of the way so he could carry out his plan. Although the animals seem skeptical, they are forced to accept the lie through the cunning and brute force used by those loyal to Napoleon. Squealer tells the animals that Snowball’s expulsion from Animal Farm was simply a matter of “tactics,” as a way of duping the animals into believing that Snowball was a bad influence on the farm. “The animals were not certain what the word meant, but Squealer spoke so persuasively, and the three dogs who happened to be with him growled so threateningly, that they accepted his explanation without further questions” (Orwell 58). What ensues after Snowball is kicked off the farm is a series of harsh rule changes and a life that gets progressively worse for the animals, who are forced to work longer hours for less food, and are told that they will have to sell their eggs and the various commodities grown on the farm to the humans in order to build “Napoleon’s” windmill. All of these things completely contradict the principles on which the animal rebellion was founded. The whole idea of a new society on Animal Farm has its roots in Animalism, an idea that came to the pig Old Major in a dream. Animalism is an allegorical representation of the system of government founded by Karl Marx called Communism. The idea of communism was that all people would be equal in society and equally share in the fruits of their labors. Old Major, who represents Marx in the novel, sees an Animal Farm that would mirror such a system. He tells the animals, “No argument must lead you astray. Never listen when they tell you that Man and the animals have a common interest, that the prosperity of the one is the prosperity of the others. It is a lie. Man serves the interests of no creature except himself” (Orwell 10). Old Major tells the animals that they are all equal and none should consider themselves more important than the other. “And above all,” Old Major says, “no animal must ever tyrannise over his own kind. Weak or strong, clever or simple, we are all brothers” (11). Unfortunately, Old Major dies early in the novel, and is not able to guide his idea to fruition. But Snowball seems the most interested in making sure the ideas of Animalism survive and the animals have a better future. One of the most important things Snowball does for the animals is teach them to read. “By the autumn almost every animal on the farm was literate to some degree” (32). This is important, since many of the animals are fooled or tricked when rules and commandments that are painted on the side of the barn are constantly revised and repainted. But Snowball’s efforts are not enough to prevent the ruthless Napoleon from using his propaganda and brute force to take over the Animal Farm for his own benefit. Animals are put to death, the riches go to the ruling class, and ordinary “comrades” of Animal Farm are trampled under Napoleon’s trotter. Looking back in the novel, it is a shame that the struggle between Napoleon and Snowball didn’t come out a different way. It is too bad for the animals that Snowball couldn’t have stepped into the shoes of Old Major and carried on his wonderful vision for the future of Animal Farm. Then again, maybe it is appropriate that Napoleon came to power and oppressed the other animals. It’s closer to the truth in a world that is frequented by power struggles and inequality. Works Cited Orwell, George. Animal Farm. New York: New American Library, 1996. Print.