Animal Farm-Iop

ANIMAL FARM-IOP
Call it a satire,a beast fable or an anthropomorphic,allegorical tale,animal farm is the story of a revolution gone sour.Written in the twentieth century by George Orwell,it mirrors the drawbacks of a totalitarian regime.Old major and the animals dream of an idealistic society built on the foundations of a utopian vision however; ironically, their dream begins to disintegrate because the ruling oligarchy of pigs become avaricious and power hungry,when appointed the responsibility of the farm.In fact,the complete novel is a great literary masterpiece of heavy irony,and George Orwell implicitly puts forth the flaws in the standards of humanity.It is true that,power corrupts but absolute power corrupts absolutely.By the fine use of Dramatic Irony,George Orwell exemplifies the kind of society where the citizens are incessantly deprived of their rights,live in false optimism and are encircled by a cloud of lies and a web of deceit.

George Orwell draws attention to the theme of the novel which is allegorical to the period in Soviet Union under the dictatorship of Josef Stalin.Stalin conformed laws of despotism. Violence reigned over the masses to brainwash any and every notion.The people of Russia suffered miserably under his rule.Parallel to this,the plot of the narrative more or less,revolves around the aftermath of establishing a full fledged communist regime,which the author personally believes can never work smoothly in a society.Evidence from history reflects so.George Orwell reflects the nature of any human being and his perpetual greed for power. He frames gluttony.The novel is also the revelation of the passivity and the apathetic nature of just a segment of the masses.The animals had collectively vowed to stick to the seven commandments but under the authority of the pigs,the readers know that the principles were falsified conspiratorially .No one from the masses protested or rebelled.None of the animals knew that the pigs were secretly doing so to feed their desires at the expense of their liberty except the audiences.And,this is where dramatic irony sets in.What is dramatic irony? Dramatic Irony is linked to a situation in which the actions of a character have unrelated meanings to the rest of the characters in the plot and the audiences respectively.The audiences are aware of the secret agendas of the protagonists but the minor characters in the story aren't.The rise of the pig's and the strategies they make after their control over the farm gradually unveil their hidden agendas.Other characters in George Orwell's novel do not know the nature of the pigs but the audiences do.They know that the pigs are untrustworthy and betray their principles.According to one's perspective,other characters are unaware because of their ignorance,passivity or perhaps their willingness to live in false optimism.By the fine use of dramatic irony,George Orwell puts the reader at a supreme stage where he knows the underlying story.The aim and impact is: the readers derive their own conclusions and frame their points of view on the subject,but the writer is not giving an in depth insight into any character's mind.The morals of the novel heavily rely on the irony created by him.By what the author writes and conveys,and by what the readers can gather.
From the reader's point of view: George orwell sympathizes with the state of the masses,the reader also believes that the author reprimands them for their own misery. Had the animals eliminated fear from their minds and questioned the pigs courageously,the scenario, perhaps, could have been different.

In Animal Farm, Napoleon and Snowball impact the readers to the uttermost.Both the characters want to lead the farm however have antithetical approaches towards exercising power.Snowball instinctively wishes to lead because he wants it to grow but quite naturally,has selfish motives. He strives to win support from the masses but the subversive Napoleon seeks every opportunity to destroy his possibility of rising above himself.At one instance in the novel,he even urinates on the windmill plans set by Snowball.Napoleon in fact stands for the villainous and cruel dictator 'Josef Stalin'

The readers figure Napoleon's growing discontentment and envy for Snowball. Napoleon was furious with the idea of sharing power with Snowball.Ironically,once he rises to power ;with the course of time,he propagandizes that it was he himself who had advocated the idea of setting up the windmill thus putting Snowball in the bad light.

In the reader's mind, it is very clear-cut that Napoleon wanted recognition amongst the masses but does so by inappropriate methods,another instance of dramatic irony.And, George Orwell aims at telling that leaders can play such tactics and propose false claims to be in the limelight.The use of Dramatic irony has much more significance than only being used to keep the readers on their toes.It is far more stretched than creating a contrast between the actions of the characters to whatever they had committed to in the past.It is about how much the characters in the novel see and know and how much, we, as readers,try to know,and extract.

The seven commandments were defied in a row.Where one of the commandments restricted the animals to sleep in the beds,the ruling party of pigs, paradoxically, not only slept in the beds but also took their meals in the kitchen! :(
Squealer,Napoleon's sidekick and his so - called 'propaganda machine' distorts facts,cultivates lies and misleads the masses.Due to the animals' own ignorance, gullibility and unawareness, the animals sway with all that he utters.For instance, we, as readers know that the pigs were becoming more and more corrupt with every passing day and spin yarns to meet their perks and desires.Squealer, however warps a false story, persuades the animals by saying that the pigs were the 'brainworkers' of the farm and required sufficient amount of rest and comfort to work efficiently.

Napoleon drops down to such an extent so as to solidify his rule over the farm that he accuses his mate, Snowball for being the root cause behind the collapse of the windmill.Ironically,yet again,the animals quietly and unquestioningly believe everything but we as readers immediately know that Napoleon does so to 'safeguard' his rule over the farm.Readers know that he dreaded the return of Snowball and felt the urgent need of a strategy ,without being guilty in the public eyes.Then, (A chain of executions is held at the farm-TO BE EDITED) and most of the animals are murdered brutally.Napoleon justifies this act by proclaiming that those animals were punished because they had secretly conspired against him and his farm.Who knows that Napoleon had stealthily forced those animals to spin a yarn in public eyes?

But no,they kill the animals because the pigs apparently believed that they were a major threat to their rule. Beasts Of England is no longer sung because the pigs ban it.Napoleon's orders, obviously,couldn't be defied.Squealer tells the animals that the song was that of the 'original revolution' and was no longer needed.But from inside, the readers know that this is a transparent lie..The pigs feared that the song may become a stepping stone to another revolution and that revolution would be against them.

The death of comrade Boxer! Squealer convinces the masses that the pigs had sent Boxer to the veterinarian but the readers know that he had been sent to the knackers to be slaughtered.Dramatic Irony.
Benjamin,the 'sensible' one cries out that the pigs were sending him to the knackers but the animals choose to follow the propagandist,Squealer's announcement.George Orwell implicitly conveys how Boxer had been feeding the pigs and dogs with the fruit of his labour until then but after going to the knackers and being turned into dog food,it is ironic how he was literally feeding the dogs and the money was being used to buy whiskey for the pigs.'Animal Farm is a searing portrayal of all the ways absolute power can corrupt souls.The pigs were over-drunk with power and it is (……)