II. Rationale
Animal Farm is “an argument” because it dictates the contrasting ideologies of the infamous leaders Trotsky and Stalin of Russia during the Russian Revolution of 1917, as well as many other contrasting political viewpoints. In Animal Farm, one of the arguments is Orwell try to show how political leaders with seemingly noble and altruistic motives can betray the very ideals in which they ostensibly believe.
2) In George Orwell’s’ Animal Farm, the argument is presumably about Soviet communism and capitalism and why these overthrow other forms of government and why other types of society inevitably fall to communism. This argument is presented throughout Animal Farm whenever Napoleon gained power after overthrowing Snowball aka Trotsky. For example, Snowball is exiled from Animal Farm because of Napoleon’s ability to lead with a totalitarian and dictatorship role.
III. Response Log
6/5/18 Chapter 1- In chapter one of Animal Farm, George Orwell seems to be arguing that there is a revolution in progress. Old Major gives the animals a new perspective on their situation under Mr. Jones, which leads them to envision a better future free of human exploitation. The revolution in Animal Farm, like all popular revolutions, arises out of a hope for a better future. At the time of the revolution, even the pigs are excited by and committed to the idea of universal animal equality.
Animal Farm shows how the high ideals that fuel revolutions gradually give way to individual and class self-interest. Not even Napoleon planned to become a dictator before the revolution, but as his power grew, he took more and more until his power became absolute. Revolutions are corrupted in a slow process. George Orwell shows how Animal Farm portrays that process, starting in chapter one.
6/6/18 Chapter 2- In chapter two, Orwell argues that Moses the raven's talk of Sugarcandy Mountain originally annoys many of the animals, since Moses, known as a "teller of tales," seems an unreliable source. At this point, the animals are still hopeful for a better future and therefore dismiss Moses' stories of a paradise elsewhere. As their lives worsen, however, the animals begin to believe him, because "Their lives now, they reasoned, were hungry and laborious; Was it not right and just that a better world should exist somewhere else?" Here, Orwell mocks the futile dreaming of a better place that clearly does not exist.
The pigs allow Moses to stay on the farm — and even encourage his presence by rewarding him with beer — because they know that his stories of Sugarcandy Mountain will keep the animals docile: As long as there is some better world somewhere — even after death — the animals will trudge through this one. Thus Orwell implies that religious devotion — viewed by many as a noble character trait — can actually distort the ways in which one thinks of his or her life on earth.
6/7/18 Chapter 3- In Animal Farm, George Orwell is arguing how the minority in power uses vague language, propaganda, and misinformation to control the thoughts and beliefs of the majority in the lower classes. The pigs, especially Squealer, become extremely sophisticated and effective in their attempts to rewrite the rules of Animal Farm and Animalism. They even revise the farm's entire history in order to mislead the other animals into believing exactly what they say.
By the end of the novel, the animals on the farm believe Snowball fought against them at the Battle of the Cowshed even though they saw him fight with them. They believe life on the farm has improved even though they have less food than ever, and that Napoleon has their best interests at heart even though he kills those who disagree with him. As the only literate animals on the farm, the pigs maintain a monopoly on information that they use to build and hold their power. All these combined portray how propaganda and use of language often hold the most power.
6/8/18 Chapter 4- In this chapter of Animal Farm, Orwell’s seems to be portraying that different totalitarian states have different justifications for their rule. For instance, Mr. Jones ran Manor Farm based on the idea that human domination of animals is the natural order of things, while Napoleon and the pigs run Animal Farm with the claim that they are fighting for animals against evil humans.
Orwell's underlying point seems to be that the stated goals of totalitarianism don't matter because all totalitarian regimes are fundamentally the same. Every type of totalitarianism, whether communist, fascist, or capitalist, is founded on oppression of the individual and the lower class. Those who hold power in totalitarian regimes care only about one thing: maintaining their power by any means necessary. While Orwell appears to intend Animal Farm to criticize all totalitarian regimes, he has other points that underlie it.
6/9/18 Chapter 5- Orwell, does not imply that Napoleon is the only cause for Animal Farm's decline. He argues and satirizes the different kinds of people whose attitudes allow rulers like Napoleon to succeed. Mollie, whose only concerns are materialistic, is like people who are so self-centered that they lack any political sense or understanding of what is happening around them. Apolitical people like Mollie — who care nothing for justice or equality — offer no resistance to tyrants like Napoleon. Boxer is likened to the kind of blindly devoted citizen whose reliance on slogans ("Napoleon is always right") prevents him from examining in more detail his own situation: Although Boxer is a sympathetic character, his ignorance is almost infuriating, and Orwell suggests that this unquestioning ignorance allows rulers like Napoleon to grow stronger.
Even Benjamin, the donkey, contributes to Napoleon's rise, because his only stand on what is occurring is a cynical dismissal of the facts: Although he is correct in stating that "Life would go on as it had always gone on — that is, badly," he, too, does nothing to stop the pigs' ascension or even raise the other animals' awareness of what is happening. His only action is to warn Boxer of his impending death at the knacker's — but this is futile as it occurs too late to do Boxer any good.
6/10/18 Chapter 6-One of the arguments Orwell make is that all animals are equal. But quite quickly the pigs begin to refer to themselves as "mindworkers" to distinguish themselves from the other animals, who are physical laborers. Over time, this sense of separation takes hold: the pigs begin to discourage their children from playing with the children of the other animals, and then establish themselves as absolute rulers of the "lesser" menial laborers. Animal Farm shows how differences in education and occupation lead to the development of class, which leads inevitably to class warfare, in which one class seeks to dominate the other. Animal Farm suggests that the "mindworking" class will almost always prevail in this struggle.
Animal Farm doesn't just focus on the upper classes, however. In fact, it focuses more closely on the oppressed working class. The farm animals work so hard that they have no time to learn or educate themselves or think deeply about their world. Instead, they're taught that work is their contribution to society, their way to freedom. Boxer believes that "I will work harder" is the answer to every problem, though he never perceives that the pigs exploit his effort. Benjamin occupies the other extreme: he recognizes what's going on, but his cynicism stops him from taking action against the pigs. In this chapter Orwell implies that whether because of ignorance, inaction, or fear, the working class allows itself to be dominated by the "mindworkers."
6/11/18 Chapter 7- Broadly speaking, George Orwell implies that Animal Farm satirizes politicians, specifically their rhetoric, ability to manipulate others, and insatiable lust for power. Despite his seemingly altruistic motives, Napoleon is presented as the epitome of a power-hungry individual who masks all of his actions with the excuse that they are done for the betterment of the farm. His stealing the milk and apples, for example, is explained by the lie that these foods have nutrients essential to pigs, who need these nutrients to carry on their managerial work. His running Snowball off the farm is explained by the lie that Snowball was actually a traitor, working for Jones — and that the farm will fare better without him.
Each time that Napoleon and the other pigs wish to break one of the Seven Commandments, they legitimize their transgressions by changing the Commandment's original language. Whenever the farm suffers a setback, Napoleon blames Snowball's treachery — which the reader, of course, knows is untrue. Napoleon's walking on two legs, wearing a derby hat, and toasting Pilkington reflect the degree to which he (and the other pigs) completely disregard the plights of the other animals in favor of satisfying their own cravings for power.
6/12/18 Chapter 8- In chapter eight, it seems that Orwell’s is arguing that the pigs also limit the other animals’ opportunities to gain intelligence and education early on. They teach themselves to read and write from a children’s book but destroy it before the other animals can have the same chance. Indeed, most of the animals never learn more than a few letters of the alphabet. Once the pigs cement their status as the educated elite, they use their mental advantage to manipulate the other animals. For example, knowing that the other animals cannot read the Seven Commandments, they revise them whenever they like. The pigs also use their literacy to learn trades from manuals, giving them an opportunity for economic specialization and advancement. Content in the role of the intelligentsia, the pigs forgo manual labor in favor of bookkeeping and organizing.
This shows that the pigs have not only the advantage of opportunity, but also the opportunity to reject whatever opportunities they like. The pigs’ intelligence and education allow them to bring the other animals into submission through the use of propaganda and revisionism..
6/13/18 Chapter 9- What George Orwell seems to be alluding to is what is most demonically human about the pigs is their use of language not only to manipulate the immediate behavior of the animals through propaganda, emotive language, and meaningless doubletalk but also to manipulate history, and thus challenge the nature of actuality itself. This manipulation, however, is only one primary means of the pigs’ control; another, equally important, is the threat of brute force as manifested by Napoleon’s pack of vicious trained dogs. In the final image of the allegory, the realization is that humans prove to be no better than animals, and animals prove to be no better than humans.
6/14/18 Chapter 10- In this chapter the author argues, a final noteworthy (and again, satiric) theme is the way in which people proclaim their allegiance to each other, only to betray their true intentions at a later time. Directly related to the idea that the rulers of the rebellion (the pigs) eventually betray the ideals for which they presumably fought, this theme is dramatized in a number of relationships involving the novel's human characters. Pilkington and Jones; Frederick, for example, only listen to Jones in the Red Lion because they secretly hope to gain something from their neighbor's misery. Similarly, Frederick's buying the firewood from Napoleon seems to form an alliance that is shattered when the pig learns of Frederick's forged banknotes.
The novel's final scene demonstrates that, despite all the friendly talk and flattery that passes between Pilkington and Napoleon, each is still trying to cheat the other (as seen when both play the ace of spades simultaneously). Of course, only one of the two is technically cheating, but Orwell does not indicate which one because such a fact is unimportant: The "friendly" game of cards is a facade that hides each ruler's desire to destroy the other.
Vocabulary:
Ensconce- Definition: To fix firmly
“At one end of the big barn, on a sort of raised platform, Major was already ensconced on his bed of straw, under a lantern which hung from a beam.” Page 4
Chaff- Definition: Material consisting of seed coverings and pieces of stem
“They had to blow away the chaff with their breath, since the farm possessed no threshing machine— but the pigs wit.” Page 29
Gambol- Definition: to play or run boisterously
“In the ecstasy of that thought they gamboled round and round, they hurled themselves in the air.” Page 22
Maxim- Definition: a saying that is widely accepted on its own merits
“After much thought, Snowball declares that the Seven Commandments could in effect be reduced to a single maxim” Page 40
Vivacious- Definition: lively, high spirited
“Snowball was a more vivacious pig than Napoleon, quicker in speech and more inventive, but was not considered to have the same depth of character.” Page 16
Ignominious- Definition: deserving or bringing disgrace or shame
“And so within five minutes of their invasion they were in ignominious retreat by the same as they had come” Page 48
Capitulate- Definition: surrender under agreed conditions
“For five days the hens held out, then they capitulated and went back to their nesting boxes.” Page 77
Witticism- Definition: a message whose ingenuity has the power to evoke laughter
“Here it became apparent that Mr. Pilkington was about to spring some carefully prepared witticism on the company, but for a moment he was too overcome by amusement to be able to utter it.” Page 126
Taciturn- Definition: Habitually reserved and uncommunicative
“Only old Benjamin was much the same as ever except for being a little greyer about the muzzle, and, since Boxer’s death, more morose and taciturn than ever.” Page 117
Ecstasy- Definition: A state of elated bliss
“In the ecstasy of that thought they gamboled round and round, they hurled themselves into the air in great leaps of excitement.” Page 22
Machination- Definition: a crafty and involved plot to achieve your ends
“In the late summer yet another of Snowball’s machinations was laid bare.” Page 93
Morose- Definition: Showing a brooding ill humor
“Only old Benjamin was much the same as ever except for being a little greyer about the muzzle, and, since Boxer’s death, more morose and taciturn than ever.” Page 117
Castrate- Definition: to remove the testes or ovaries of
“The cruel knives with which Mr. Jones had been used to castrate the pigs and lambs.” Page 20
Capered- Definition: to leap or skip in a sprightly manner
“All the animals capered with joy when they saw the whips going up in flames.” Page 21
Scullery- Definition: a small room in pantry in which food is in before being sent to the kitchen
“Some hams hanging in the kitchen were taken out for burial, and the barrel of beer in the scullery was stove in with a kick from Boxer’s hoof” page 23