Use Of Pessimism In George Orwell's Animal Farm

“Windmill or no windmill, he said, life would go on as it always gone- that is, badly” (Orwell 56). Benjamin never showed any real interest in the windmill or how it could potentially lighten the workload for the entire farm. Which brings me to my second point, Benjamin was unlike the other animals. He refused to get his hopes up about the windmill or leadership change which resulted in him never being surprised when the pigs let the farm down. “Only old Benjamin refused to grow enthusiastic about the windmill” (Orwell 71). Unlike Mollie, Benjamin doesn’t slack off; he also doesn’t purposely work more diligently like Boxer. He is being selfish by not putting in more effort since he has the strength to work much harder than the smaller animals on the Animal Farm. After all, he would benefit from the windmill being built just as much, if not more, than the other animals.

When he was working for his brother, Benjamin was the apprentice of booksellers. While working for his brother all he really was giving to eat and drink was often only had a glass of water, handful of raisin and a slice of bread to eat.

His silence in the face of the pig's corruption is broken only at the novel's climax as his friend Boxer is driven off to the "knackers" in a truck the other animals believe to be transporting him to the vet. "Fools! Fools!" he shouts furiously, "Fools! Do you not see what is written on the side of that van?" The animals can't read the writing of course, but Benjamin could all along, as he could read Animal Farm's constitution being changed overnight. Benjamin saw the dark path that the revolution was taking and in its early phases had the ability to turn it around. But the apathy he showed landed all of animal farm manipulated and trapped in a position where resistance was futile and the pigs could rule with an iron fist. Benjamin was cynical with his belief that "Life would go on as it had always gone on - that is, badly" but in the same way he was a realist, as in the end of animal farm things did continue as they always had - badly. It is questionable whether Animal Farm's revolution, and the revolution of its allegory counterpart would have reached a different outcome in Benjamin, and those smart enough to sense the corruption had discarded their apathy and made their awareness known.

(Transition) Benjamin and Eliezer each have an important role in their corresponding novels, Animal Farm and Night. In Animal Farm, Benjamin is not a major character in the story. However this donkey makes a large impact on the characters surrounding him. Throughout the story, Benjamin is an unbelieving, pessimistic

He was the youngest of his siblings. He was teased as a spend-thrift after spending too much for a whistle; that was the the last time little Benjamin ever spent a penny unwisely. He was normally leader among his play-mates for his immense wit among his peers. Once he built a fishing wharf of cobble stone which they got from a nearby construction site; when the workers got back

Benjamin was compassion. He thought about other people before him one example that Benjamin stated was “I gave the other two rolls to a woman and her child that came down the river in the boat.” While he could've ate all of the rolls he had he was kind to give his rolls away to a family,because he knew that the mom couldn’t afford to buy any food so he was nice to help them out.

Napoleon, who is dictator by now, proceeds to manipulate the farm animals with his deceitful propaganda. However, his scheming acts become noticeably repetitive. Making some of the animals question his authority. The majority of the animals were blindly following Napoleon’s regime, only a few who realized that it was not what he was claiming it to be. Benjamin, an old, wise, and stubborn donkey was not affected by the rebellion. He is also intelligent, being the only animal other than the pigs that can fluently read. Benjamin represent the humans that hold the idea that life is hard, and that efforts for change are useless. Benjamin can too represent Orwell himself. Both Orwell and Benjamin saw the negatives of a government when the rest were

Imagine you had all of the answers but you didn't share them or use them to your own advantage. Benjamin is the animal in the story that does this. It seems like he always knows what is going on but never wants to speak up about it. In the story when the pigs are try to teach all of the other animals about the alphabet and to teach them to read, benjamin does not want to be involved and learn because he already knows how to read but doesn't tell anyone that he can. He notices things that the other animals don’t throughout the story.

In return, all James did was slander Benjamin’s name throughout the community so he wouldn’t be able to find work anywhere else. This was a big challenge for Benjamin because not only did he have a bad name that lasted quite a long time but he also had to force himself to move to distant places like New York and Pennsylvania. He had to travel under dangerous conditions across seas to find another job. Also another challenge Benjamin faced after leaving his fathers job, was that he couldn’t find a long stable and suitable job for himself. He always faced problems at every new job he joined. On his way to New York, Benjamin meets Bradford, who was not able to offer him any jobs. But he refers Benjamin to his son Andrew who was a printer in Pennsylvania. When Benjamin gets to Pennsylvania, Andrew did not have a job to offer him. Then Andrew refers him to go work for Keimer, who is also another printer. Although Keimer gave Benjamin work, but it doesn’t last long. He later stops living with Keimer and ends up leaving the job. From these events in his life we are able to see the cycle and pattern, and he might face similar challenges in the future. Benjamin gets pushed around from places to places to find a jobs with very few people recognizing his ability and passion to write, and how much of an intellectual, he was. He wasn’t able to save up his money due

Benjamin and the sheep were bystanders who caused the ruination of the farm. Benjamin is a hard working horse who is determined to finish the building of the windmill. He always supported Napoleon in everything and is always positive about Napoleon's ideas. " His two slogans, "I will work harder" and "Napoleon is always right," seemed to his a sufficient answer to all problems."

There is no one at the party or else where who understands the tension Benjamin is feeling. He docent quite understand at this point if he is a man or still a boy, the way the adults treat him almost confuses him. They want him to be a man and get his career started but yet they still treat him like a boy. This quickly turns into stress on Ben’s shoulders. This tension and stress is even further highlighted by what happens later at his birthday party.

Most people believe that the main characters in a novel tell the story, but it is actually clear that without the minor characters there would not be a story. In George Orwell’s Animal Farm the minor characters play an important role in giving the clues that the new revolution will not work out. Animal Farm’s three minor characters Mollie, Benjamin and Boxer show the importance in being true to oneself rather than trying to please the all-knowing leader.

George Orwell includes a strong message in his novel Animal Farm that is easily recognizable. Orwell’s Animal Farm focuses on two primary problems that were not only prominent in his WWII society, but also posed as reoccurring issues in all societies past and present. Orwell’s novel delivers a strong political message about class structure and oppression from the patriarchal society through an allegory of a farm that closely resembles the Soviet Union.

Now in the literary story Benjamin has a grandfather who at the start was antagonized, became to enjoy his grandson’s company. It is a brief account of his grandfather but a meaningful one as this was the first one who gave him a sense of acceptance. The film version gave him acceptance through Queenie and we never get to know a grandfather; though one could say the patrons at the old folk’s home could have been grandparent surrogates for Benjamin. The patrons at the old folks home taught him many things but his experience living there taught him not to fear death and what loss was about which, in a sense, desensitized the character so that when Queenie passes he is not visibly upset.

Though Animal Farm can be considered nothing more than a charming animal fable depicting a doomed rebellion, its origin is actually of a more serious and political nature. It is not only the tale of Napoleon and Animal Farm, but a satire and commentary on that of the Russian Revolution, Stalin and Communism. For a person to gain a true understanding of Orwell's meaning in Animal Farm, it is best that he or she has an understanding of the political parties and history surrounding Communism, Stalin, and the upheaval and fear that followed Stalin's rise to power.