Animal Farm is a wonderful fairy tale about animals that take over their farm from their cruel master, and become self-dependent and equal. But is it really a fairy tale? No, Animal Farm is more than a fantasy. The horrible truth is that Animal Farm is an allegory for the times of Joseph Stalin and Adolf Hitler. The pigs, especially Napoleon, developed a wall made of twisted lies, promises of better life on the farm, and tales of horrible things that other farmers do to their animals. But in reality, the government in East Germany didn’t build a wall of lies around West Germany, they built an actual wall made of metal and stone, barbed wire and locked doors. Yet some manage to run away from these lies and poverty, to a better society; in both Animal Farm and reality.
Government must be in place for a country to run smoothly. But in some cases, the government is underlying, coaxing the masses to go the route that will eventually raise that body to power. In Animal Farm, Napoleon started this takeover by getting rid of the animal that would be able to direct the animals away from his reign, Snowball. Snowball; contrary to the lies spread around by Squealer, he was trying to keep the animals fair and equal. He also keep the farm simple and working well. Of course, Napoleon didn’t like that. This was the same case in reality. The conflicting governments of the war split Germany, and they slowly changed the sides into two completely different governments, Communist and Democracy.
In Animal Farm, Napoleon used his power and intimidation to keep the animals from running away. Even Mollie had to sneak away when she wanted to leave; as the novel says, “Three days later Mollie disappeared. For weeks, nothing was known of her whereabouts.” (62). There was no freedom to come and go as they chose. While Napoleon did not build a literal wall to trap his citizens, an actual wall was constructed in Berlin. The purpose of the wall was to keep East Germans from escaping into West Germany (The guardian). Ironically, the controlling powers in both Animal Farm and East Germany recognized that their countrymen were miserable, yet neither took any steps to change their situation; they only created consequences for anyone who attempted an exodus.
The farm never stayed with one type of government for long. It started as a cruel dictatorship, with evil Mr. Jones being the ruler. When they overthrew Mr. Jones, it became Communist and perfect. Every animal was equal, and got no more or no less than their fellows. But this stayed like this for only a day. The first downhill sign was when the pigs told everyone that they deserve all the apples and milk to preserve their health. Perhaps all of the pigs didn’t realize what they were doing, but Napoleon knew from the start. Then the pigs started wanting more and more for themselves. But they all thought it was for the good of the farm, so it wasn’t a surprise when they didn’t complain. This is a difference between the book and reality. In history, people didn’t want to government to change, but they had no choice. The government was completely different in East and West. Neither of them had a dictatorship, but East Berlin came close. They were smart enough to protest by getting out of there.
The next form of government that the farm tried to turn into was a democracy. The different parties being Snowball or Napoleon. The animals were going to vote on who they wanted to be their leader, and more importantly, if the construction of the windmill would take place. The democracy could’ve been a great way for the farm to go, but of course, then Napoleon wouldn’t have complete control of the farm. So he took his puppies he had taken from Jessie and Bluebell and trained them to run out Snowball and kill any animal who contradicts Napoleon. This was Napoleon’s first act as a human, though the animals couldn’t recognize it. The farm’s condition could only get worse with this leader. He changed the rules to fit his wants, and he lived in places that only humans lived in. He talked to humans, he talked like humans, and at the end he drinks, eats, dresses, and gambles like a human. In history, they are humans, but they change the rules so that people don’t want to leave East Germany because they would face a death penalty. This didn’t scare some people, for they ignored the horrible rules and escaped to heaven known as West Germany.
So was Animal Farm just the ramblings of an imaginative man, thinking of crazy farms and animals talking and running it by themselves? Of course not. Every book is written for a reason, and this book is taking you into the time in which he wrote this in a safe way, because people reading it then would think that it was a wonderful fairy tale. Only those who really want to delve deep can find the true meaning of this story.
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