ANIMAL
FARM By
George Orwell
George Orwell once said, “Animal Farm was the first book in which I had tried, with full
consciousness of what I was doing, to fuse political purpose and artistic
purpose into one whole.” Animal
Farm is an allegorical and dystopian novel, in
which Orwell skillfully mingles the idea of communism with a tale about
animals. At the beginning, all the animals brought up the idea that they
shouldn’t have been controlled by human beings; they had the aspiration for
independency and self-direction.
Nevertheless, Napoleon was a power-hungry
leader and became a totalitarian dictator as his lust for power increased to
the point of no return. Pigs themselves violated the Seven Commandments of
Animalism, yet Squealer always excused those behaviors with his brand of
twisted logic. The story climaxed when Boxer, an incredibly industrious horse,
who offered all his strengths to help build the windmill, was sold to a knacker
by Napoleon when he exhaustedly collapsed. The Seven Commandments were
eventually reduced to a single law: “All Animals Are Equal / But Some Are More
Equal Than Others.” At the end of the story, as other animals watched the scene
from outside the window, they could not tell the pigs from the humans.
After reading the novel, I was profoundly
horrified by the unsightly selfishness and disgrace of authoritarians.
However, Animal Farm was in fact the epitome of the cruel and brutal reality,
with some being egoistic and self-centered, caring nothing about others. What
was worse was the ugliness of humanity could be
seen everywhere, from conspiracies against each other, to schemes with evil
intentions between countries. Cupidity and avarice have existed ever since
antiquity; those
who suffer from greed seem deprived of morality and commit criminal acts or
conducts even worse.
Similar to
the saying, “Absolute power corrupts absolutely.” In
the story, the intelligence of pigs made them feel a sense of superiority and
at a higher status than the other animals. Napoleon was just the example of
corruption with centralization of authority. I could not help asking myself,
“What if I were the ruler? How would I treat my people?” I can’t bare to imagine what the world
would be like if politicians were not concerned about people’s welfare but paid
attention to their own instead. If I were the leader, I would admonish myself
not to lose my way in fame and gain. I would learn to bring leadership skills
into full play and lead my people better lives. I would remind myself what I
had expected from the ruler and always stick to ethics and justice. Only when I
was devoted to public well-beings would people’s happiness be truly realized.
However,
the situation could be even more tormenting when we were doing what we believed
shouldn’t have been done. In
Burmese days, Orwell witnessed the tyranny of British Imperialism, doubting
himself as he was one of the pioneers that quelled the colonials. He feared for
himself, abominated oppressions, and tortured himself from the bottom of his
heart. The struggle between his position and belief was stiff penalty to him. “Political
language…is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to
give an appearance of solidity to pure wind,” said Orwell. The eager for power
therefore became the main idea of Animal
Farm and made the story a successful satire.
The
form of government has evolved for a long time; people all over the world found
the political system that they believe to be better. Democracy is generally
thought highly of nowadays; people focus more on their rights and manage to
protect themselves than before. The protest either “for” or “against” signing
Cross-Strait Agreement on Trade in Services with China leads us to think back
over democracy. Democracy doesn’t come easy; everyone should cherish the
freedom of speech and not abolish the
rights. I am fortunate to be born in a more
robust and sound society. I encourage myself to always keep an open mind and
commit myself to learning and listening to the thoughts from others.
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