Lack Of Education In Animal Farm

‘All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others’. George Orwell writes this toward the end of his highly acclaimed allegory, Animal Farm. From this single statement we can tell quite a bit about Orwell’s views on education which he puts across strongly throughout the novel. A message I see that this statement portrays is that everyone has the right to an education but some people were getting a better education than others at the time. During this essay I will be arguing that George Orwell was critical of the education system in 1945 (the year the book was written) and that he aired his views, hidden as they were, in many places through the book.

One of the techniques used by Napoleon is, brainwashing the animals. The 7 commandments were expected to be followed by the animals including, Napoleon. Whenever Napoleon broke the rules, instead of feeling guilty, he had Squealer change the commandment to suit his wrongdoings. "Some of the animals remembered - or thought they

The saying "ignorance is bliss" is not always very accurate. The book Animal Farm by George Orwell is an allegory for a real historical event – the Russian Revolution. It demonstrates how people's ignorance can be the cause of their social and political oppression and how the knowledge of others' ignorance can lead to power, which ultimately corrupts those who possess it. These themes are portrayed through the characters and in real life.

Napoleon exploit's the animals inferiority complex. When he changes the seven commandments to justify his actions, the animals are doubtful as their memories tell them that the seven commandments were different. However Squealer tells them that they are wrong and it is just a figment of their imagination. The animals think that if napoleon says so then he must be right and so let him get away with it.

An author often writes a novel as a warning to mankind. In Animal Farm, George Orwell creates a world of animals that allegorically represent man. The intelligent pigs take advantage of the uneducated lower animals and take control of the farm. By showing the steady increase of the pigs' intellectual exploitation of the lower animals, Orwell warns the reader of the importance of an education.

The first few changes went against the commandments, such as he canceled Sundays morning meetings, he and the other pigs decided that they were going to move into Mr.Jones home and he also started engaging in trade with neighboring farms, an example of this, “Napoleon announced that there would be work on Saturday afternoons as well. This work was strictly voluntary, but any animal who absented himself from it would have his rations reduced by half” ( 92). Napoleon started slowly changing things for the worse. Some of the commandments he started breaking was things such as pigs sleeping in beds, drinking beer, and using money and he even made the song beast of England illegal. The pigs started lying to the animals and giving themselves special privileges, even though equality between the animals was incredibly important and was the causes of the

First he tricks the other animals into thinking that it is alright to engage in trade, “Once again the animals were conscious of a vague uneasiness. Never to have any dealings, never to engage in trade, never to make use of money - had not these been among the earliest resolutions… All the animals remembered passing such resolutions; or at least they thought they remembered it. (Orwell, 63)”. Napoleon plays with and manipulates the minds of the animals so they they forget what they should remember. Orwell repeats the word “remember” twice to add emphasis on the fact that the animals try to remember certain things but can not and so they move on and accept whatever they are told. Napoleon does this yet again but on a much larger scale when the pigs move into the big house and begin the sleep in beds, “...some of the animals were disturbed when they heard that the pigs… also slept in beds. Clover, who thought she remembered a definite ruling against beds, went to the end of the barn and tried to puzzle out the Seven Commandments… ‘It says ‘no animal shall sleep in a bed with sheets’’... Clover had not remembered the Fourth Commandment mentioned sheets; (Orwell,

The novel ‘Animal Farm’ created by George Orwell heavily expresses the ideals of a prolonged cruel or unjust treatment and the exercise of authority. The exponential ignorance of the farm animals towards the actions and ideas of the pigs (Napoleon, Squealer and Snowball) prove the incentive that it is easier to conform to the ideals/ways of the ‘New England’, than to rebel, as well as through the exposure to propaganda and the distortion of reality. This therefore leaving them docile, numb, and oppressed.

Animal Farm is a novel written by George Orwell. Orwell wrote it as an allegory from the beginning of the Russian revolution to the end of World War II. George Orwell put several little warnings in the book that can teach children of today not do these things. Some of these warnings are things that your parents would say to you like, “Stay in school.”

In a society where an elite class has access to tools that the masses do not, this elite group of people often use these tools to dominate and oppress society. In George Orwell’s story, Animal Farm, Orwell demonstrates that education is a powerful weapon and is a tool that can be used to one’s advantage. Living in a world where power is easy to gain, the pigs quickly use education (or lack thereof) to manipulate the rest of the animals on the farm to serve themselves. This story ultimately reveals the underlying message that  first, education is important to all levels of society, next, for when it is not, society is stratified, resulting in the masses suffering.

Orwell uses the theme of education and literacy as a way of emphasising the importance of language and rhetoric as an instrument of social control. In Animal Farm, reading, writing and rhetoric is used as a means of social control by the pigs. The pigs on Animal Farm have the ability to read and write which allows them to persuade animals with their rhetoric for social control as well as

Comrades of Animal Farm! We are going to elect a leader to guide our beautiful country. The candidates on the official ballot are Snowball and Napoleon, both pigs and members of our utopian community. On the other hand, we also have Boxer, a horse but a friend nevertheless. To learn more about our candidates and our possible future leader, lets analyses the strengths and weakness of Snowball, Napoleon, and Boxer.

In today’s society, influences from the western world depict education as a prerequisite for adulthood, required to be undertaken as a child. We as students in a western world must learn the ways of the western world and how we can alter and instil it into the societies of the honourable eastern world. In ‘Animal Farm’, the pigs first tried to teach the other animals to read; some animals learnt the alphabet, but most did not. Seeing this, the pigs realized that they could tell the animals anything and they would have to be believed. Gradually, the pigs began to control education and began to indoctrinate the animals. For example, the sheep were taught to say ‘Four legs good, two legs bad’ at certain times so that the animals had to listen to the pigs’ propaganda, which was accepted and remained unquestioned.

An education, or lack thereof, could be the difference between a utopia or tyranny. In Animal Farm, George Orwell, in the form of allegory, compares the novel to the Russian Revolution, and warns the readers about the power corruption due to lack of education that he had seen in his lifetime, using a farm filled with animals. Orwell ridicules the abuse of power and, in turn, teaches the readers that an education is essential for a totalitarian rule to be avoided. In Animal Farm, the unopposed corrupted leader, Napoleon, uses his subjects’ lack of education and ignorance to turn their dream of a paradise into a state of tyranny by utilizing manipulation, propaganda, and blind conformity.

On pages 24 and 25 they stated the 7 commandments that are supposed to be rules for all the animals. They started out with good intentions, but throughout the book, Napoleon has been changing the commandments. Napoleon began to use the fact that most of the animals could not read and he added to to the seven commandments. A couple of the 7 commandments that were changed were originally; 4. No animal shall sleep in a bed. 5. No animals shall drink alcohol. 6. No animals shall kill any other animal. 7. All animals are equal. But Napoleon began to change them to fit his own needs. On page 67 Napoleon changed the 4th commandment to no animals shall sleep in a bed with sheets, he said that the sheets were an invention made by humans be he really just wanted to sleep in a comfortable bed. On page 91 he changed