Essay: Animal Farm, Harrison Bergeron, Dulce et Decorum est and 1984

‘People must stand up against authority’ is a reoccurring theme which is being used in our wider world amongst many others. The text that relate to this theme are Animal Farm by George Orwell, Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut, Dulce et Decorum est by Wilfred Owen and 1984 by George Orwell.
Within the novel of Animal Farm by George Orwell, the theme ‘people must stand up against authority’ has been portrayed by various different animals within the farm. The animals on the farm are fighting for their freedom as they believe they are being treated unfairly by the humans. An example which connects to the theme is when the animals fight against Mr Jones. “Man is the only real enemy we have. Remove Man from the scene, and the root cause of hunger and overwork is abolished forever.” This quote relates to the theme by telling us that the animals will fight against authority which is man in this context in order to abolish things that brought them down. This show’s that George Orwell is telling us that anything that is holding us back, we need to fight back in order to gain what we want.
Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut is a short story which also links to the theme ‘people must stand up against authority’. This theme was portrayed by two kids that were born much smarter than the average person. They are required to wear an earpiece which transmit a sharp noise into their ears to stop them from taking an unfair advantage of his brain. A supporting quote; “Harrison plucked the mental handicap from her ear, snapped off her physical handicaps with marvellous delicacy.”. This quote explains how Harrison was in a way, standing up against authority and removing the earpiece from a girl. When an earpiece of removed, it can make them go to jail for 2 ½ years. He knows the consequences but he wanted to stand up to authority to prove that they’re fine and aren’t too different to everyone else. This can refer to the wider world like when the blacks were slaves and the whites had power and control over them. They may stop the hard labour they’re doing and fight back to the whites, that they need their freedom since they’re being treated so unfairly just because of their skin tone.
The poem Dulce et Decorum est by Wilfred Owen shows the theme ‘people must stand up against authority’ by telling people not to believe in what they’re told. The Latin phrase ‘Dulce et Decorum est’ translated to English means it’s “sweet and right to die for your country”.
Finally, the novel 1984 by George Orwell, displays the theme clearly ‘people must stand up against authority’. Winston, as one of the main characters within this novel, has begun to write a diary which is punishable by death to stay human in inhuman circumstances. “Suddenly he began writing in sheer panic, only imperfectly aware of what he was setting down.”. This quotes shows us that Winston knows the consequences that he may have to face in this situation. He isn’t letting authority just take over him. Cameras are placed all over him, in his home, cafeteria and even cubicles to patrol around see if any of these people aren’t behaving like how they’re meant to be. This showing that Winston is standing up against authority to do this ‘illegal’ piece of work in order to note down what is happening during his year as a ‘historical note’. George Orwell tells us that no matter if they’re people watching and patrolling so were in this specific standard we can still fight back secretively like what Winston is doing to gain what we want in the future. This can be linked to the wider world as the people, cameras etc. watching us can be our teachers, watching our every movement to not catch us off guard. We do things secretively like other subjects work in another subject secretively like Winston in a way.
With the theme of ‘people must stand up against authority’ I believe that people should stand to this ‘authority’ and fight back to gain what they want. The 4 texts, Animal Farm, Harrison Bergeron, Dulce et Decorum est and 1984 have shown a character fighting back to gain what he wants and not to just follow along with what ‘authority’ says.