Animal Farm is a dystopian text
because it portrays a world where the characters seek to have a perfect or utopian
society, but their plight results in a world that is worse than the world they
changed.
It is evident from the beginning of the text that
the animals' attempt at a new society based on the principles of Old Major would fail
because Orwell refers to their endeavors as a revolution. By definition a revolution is
one full (360 degree) turn. This implies that the animals' attempts to better their
lives will result in facing the same predicaments and problems they faced
initially.
Old Major's ideals about animals working for
the betterment of animals rather than the humans, leads to the formation of the idea of
Animalism. Unfortunately like most revolutions, the ideals that form the revolution are
often distorted to serve the purposes of the individuals leading the revolution. In this
case, Napoleon the Pig and his initial ally Snowball, seek for the betterment of the
pigs and not all the animals as a whole. Eventually, Napoleon drives Snowball from the
farm because he sees Snowball as a threat to his autocratic
rule.
The animals on the farm are easily manipulated
because of their belief and blind adherence to the principles of Animalism. What begins
as a series of commandments
THE SEVEN
COMMANDMENTS
1. Whatever goes upon two legs is an
enemy.
2. Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a
friend.
3. No animal shall wear
clothes.
4. No animal shall sleep in a
bed.
5. No animal shall drink
alcohol.
6. No animal shall kill any other
animal.
7. All animals are equal. (chapter
2)
and mantras "Two legs bad,
four legs good!", evolves into a list of rules that are modified to benefit the pigs yet
must be adhered to by all animals on the farm; this leads to the animals'
downfalls.
Ultimately, the pigs who are lead by Napoleon
betray all of the other animals on the farm. This is evidenced by the ultimate betrayal:
the slaughter of the loyal horse Boxer. By the end of the text, the commandments are all
modified with the last commandment reading, "All animals are equal, but some animals are
more equal than others." The pigs reside in the farmhouse, a symbol of the previous
human regime, wear clothes, sleep in beds, and drink alcohol. Ultimately, the animals
cannot tell the difference between the pigs and the humans who they trade with, as
Clover observes through the farmhouse window,
"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" (Chapter 10,
118).
The animals who could
remember life before the revolution know that their life was worse now than before. The
other animals did not remember a time without pigs in charge and dogs serving as police
and guards.
Ultimately, the animals in Animal
Farm seek a perfect society or a utopian society where there would be no
classes, no leaders, and supreme happiness. What they get is a world that is worse than
they could have imagined, degraded, and headed to its ruin.
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