I sit in this train, on my way to Siberia, crammed with other people that spoke their minds. I’ll be fortunate to survive this place. There is a sudden halt, as the train comes to a stop. I take a step out, feeling a rush of coldness down my scrawny back, and hope for the best. Is this really what Communism was about? Is this how Karl Marx pictured it when he came up with the idea? George Orwell did a fantastic job of writing a satire to the Russian Revolution in the book Animal Farm. He shows how the leaders abused their power and did the exact opposite of what they had planned.
The animals in Animal Farm are hopeless, and in my eyes, pathetic. Watching Napoleon, their leader, control their every movement is painful. What is even more excruciating is knowing that half of these animals could stand up to these pigs, and tell them that this farm has changed from what it used to be. Animalism, which is what we would call communism, was supposed to make the animal world much easier, without humans, who represented the kings, or Czars. In the end, their world was the exact same as when the humans were there. It’s almost worse – especially because the people they adored and cherished were the new humans.
The three pigs represented three men that took the role of “leaders” during the revolution. Snowball, or Trotsky, and Napoleon, Stalin, disagreed in many different situations. Squealer, who was supposed to be Lenin, took Napoleon’s side, and kicked Snowball out of the farm. That’s when everything went wrong. Snowball was a intellectual pig, and helped the farm tremendously. When Napoleon took his ideas, saying they were his and the animals believed him, that was the first sign of abusive power. After that, nothing would ever be the same, and there would be no more Animalism. Orwell choose a pig to represent these three men because in his mind, and in many others, this is what these men were: pigs.
Communism was a type of government in which everyone was equal; doctors and farmers had the same pay because they were both as important, but in different ways. Animalism was just the same. The sheep may not be as smart or strong as horses, but they were both needed at the farm and got the same amount of food. But, with both Animalism and Communism, this didn’t really work out. The leaders took their power and used it to trick their minors, almost as if a teacher asked you a question and either way you answered it you would get a detention. The sheep were gullible and reliable. The pigs used that to their advantage, and the saying turned from, “Four legs good, two legs bad,” to, “Four legs good, two legs better.” Communism and Animalism sounded like what would be an almost perfect world, to a complete disaster.
He looks out the only window in the van, seeing his friends become smaller and smaller, until they vanish completely. He finally faces defeat, knowing that these are his last moments. With a feeling of sorrow, he remembers his idol, but now all he sees is a face of betrayal, of evil. Did Napoleon ever think about what he was putting Boxer through? Did he not realize that Boxer adored him? Boxer reminds me of the people sent out into Siberia, but he didn’t do anything to deserve it. Napoleon abused his power, and did what Old Major told them not to do; kill animals. That shows that no one should have absolute power, because, “Absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
