“It was a pig walking on its hind legs”

This sentence might be totally memorable or completely irrelevant for people who have and haven’t read Animal Farm. It is the climax of the book, which shows the true corruption of the pigs and complete perversion of the original ideals of Animalism. It was the most shocking moment in the story for me, one that made me put the book down and think. I know I have found a great book whenever this happens. Here are some notes-

Summary

Animal Farm was written by George Orwell to satirize the Russian Revolution and the Soviet regime under Stalin. Animals of Manor Farm are given the philosophy of Animalism by Old Major, a dying old pig (Marx). Under the influence of this philosophy, the animals overthrow their human ruler, Mr. Jones (the Czar), aiming to establish a new regime that is more equal and ensures good lives for all animals on the farm. This revolution is led by the pigs (Lenin, Stalin and Trotsky). Eventually, a dictatorial rule of the pig Napoleon(Stalin) emerges, where the animals are left nearly the same, if not worse than they were before.

Perversion of ideals

The central theme of Animal Farm is the perversion and eventual destruction of ideals by greed and corruption. This makes it an interesting book to read backwards. The ideals of Animal Farm are presented in the form of the Seven Commandments, derived from the Old Major’s philosophy. When you finish the book and flip back the pages, you will find that each of the seven commandments has been perverted by the pigs to their benefit.

For example, the first commandment is “Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy” Initially, humans (monarchy) are declared as evil. Towards the end of the book, we see the pigs walking on their two hind legs, wearing clothes and carrying whips. The shocking sight is symbolic of how the pigs are no worse than the humans whom they replaced, as they inherit the unique human quality of walking on two legs. In the end, the pigs embrace humans as friends and become nearly indistinguishable from them. One form of totalitarianism has simply been replaced by another. The final line of the book drives the point home-

“Twelve voices were shouting in anger, they were all alike. No question, now, what had happened to the faces of the pigs. The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which”.

Dictators become indistinguishable from monarchs.

Other commandments are modified subtly enough to suit the greed of the pigs and elude the short memory of the animals. The commandment “No animal shall drink alcohol” is modified to “No animal shall drink alcohol to excess” when the pigs discover Mr. Jones’ alcohol.

Finally, of course, all commandments are erased to make way for a single one, the most famous line from the book- “All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others”

Squealer and the Sheep

Even if you don’t know about the Russian Revolution or Stalin, you will recognize what Squealer represents instantly- the propaganda machine, a mouthpiece for the people in power. Squealer, a pig himself, is a boot-licker who obscures facts, twists ideas and manipulates opinions through coercion, all with the aim to justify the Napoleon’s actions and keep them in power at all costs. He often scares them using a collective enemy, Mr. Jones and spreads hate against Napoleon’s exiled political opponent, Snowball. Any corrupt action is justified as a step to keep them away.

The second most obvious metaphor is that of the sheep- the stupid masses that move in a herd. The sheep are credulous, gullible and easily indoctrinated by Squealer. When it is observed that some animals are finding the Seven Commandments hard to understand, they are reduced to a single, oversimplified maxim- “Four legs good, two legs bad”. The sheep, in particular, memorize this easily and repeat it loudly whenever Napoleon is opposed in public. Their stupidity combined with their loud, collective voice turns them into a mob, an important tool for the pigs to silence dissident voices. Soon, when the pigs finally walk on two legs, Squealer teaches the sheep a new slogan “Four legs good, two legs better”. I thought that this was a brilliant instance of satire- only one word has been changed, but the sheep are so habituated to say the same thing and support the same person, that they do not notice the difference and say the new slogan mindlessly. It goes to show how public opinion is malleable through propaganda and dangerous when it is not met with critical thinking and reason.

Moses

The role of religion is stated subtly in the book. Moses, who represents the Russian Orthodox Church, promises the animals of having seen a wonderful place that they go to after death- Sugarcandy Mountain. He is shown to be Mr. Jones’ pet, symbolic of the close relation between the church and the monarchy. The pigs have to fight hard to get the animals to stop listening to Moses. After all, who would dedicatedly fight for a revolution in this world if they knew that there was another, better world after death? Initially, Moses is believed only by a few. Later, when the animals are still in misery under the rule of pigs, he is believed by many.

“Their lives now, they reasoned, were hungry and laborious; was it not right and just that a better world should exist somewhere else?”

They accept Moses’ fairy tales merely because they cannot find any other explanation for their endless, meaningless suffering. If this life was all they had, it would be an unimaginable injustice.

Some final thoughts

I put off reading Animal Farm for a long time. Judging by its short length, I thought I could read it comfortably over a weekend. But that didn’t come for a long time, until it did recently and I am very grateful for it. I wouldn’t like to live in a world where Orwell’s novels are in the least bit relatable. Unfortunately, all around the world today, they are proving to be so. It would be unfair to restrict Animal Farm only to be a satire of Communism- I believe we could, without sweating too much, extend it to any kind of absolute, authoritarian power, its roots in idealism and its inevitably corrupting nature. While 1984’s gloomy dystopia might seem inconceivable, Animal Farm (or at least some parts of it) would probably always stay relevant.

Thanks for reading!

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