Flag Of Animal Farm example essay topic

George Orwell's political satire "Animal Farm" makes some interesting contrasts between the patriotic character of Old Major, an older majestic looking pig, and Napoleon, a pig who seems to bide his time waiting for the right moment to seize control for his own evil purpose. Old Major makes a patriotic speech to the assembled group, expounding the virtues of animalism (socialism) In effect he is calling for a utopian socialism in which the community must sacrifice for the collective well being of its members. He begins with the rhetorical question: "what is the nature of this life of ours? Let us face it: our lives are miserable, laborious, and short. We are born, we are given just so much food as will keep the breath in our bodies, and those of us who are capable of it are forced to work to the last atom of our strength; and the very instant that our usefulness has come to an end we are slaughtered with hideous cruelty. No animal in England knows the meaning of happiness or leisure after he is a year old.

No animal in England is free. The life of an animal is misery and slavery: that is the plain truth". (Ch I) The comparison (analogy) with the original concept of Karl Marx's socialism is clear: "1) complete equality of all citizens, 2) abolition of private ownership of the means of production (factories, mines, railways, etc. ), 3) the replacement of a market economy with one in which everyone got whatever they needed in return for such labor as they were able to give". web civ reader / world civ reader 2/marx. html The seven commandments of the new "animalism" order states that they are all to be comrades (friends), and behaving in any way similar to humans (capitalists) such as sleeping in a bed or drinking alcohol shall be illegal.

Notice the similarity in the seventh commandment "All animals are equal", (Ch II) to the "complete equality of all citizens" from the Marx Manifesto. Thus Old major becomes the symbol for freedom and equality, which is the embodiment of social democracy. Notice also a very interesting detail from chapter three, when the flag of animal farm was founded: "The flag was green Snowball explained, to represent the green fields of England, while the hoof and the horn signified the future Republic of the Animals which would arise when the human race had been finally overthrown". So as one may observe, this flag was almost identical to the flag of the Soviet Union, which consisted of a plain red flag, with a hammer and sickle crossed; a red star in the upper hoist. The hammer symbolized the nation's industrial workers, while the sickle symbolized the nation's agricultural workers. The red star represented the rule of the Communist Party. web of the Soviet Union Napoleon is an aggressive, shrewd pig that, along with Snowball, becomes the early leader of Animal Farm.

After he successfully eliminated Snowball " His imagination had now run far beyond chaff-cutters and turnip-slicers " (Chapter 5). This was too much for Napoleon, who disliked Snowball and had always disagreed with him. He called his dogs on him (note: the dogs, who guarded Napoleon were like KGB in Soviet Union, which operated with the same ruthlessness as the NKVD in Stalin's Soviet Union) and so Snowball was forced to flee for his life. In effect he became a criminal albeit he was truly devoted to the just cause of animalism. Thus we can compare this struggle between Snowball and Napoleon as the struggle between Trotsky and Stalin (Trotsky developed his theory of "Permanent Revolution", which stood in stark contrast to Stalin's policy of building "Socialism in One Country".

This ideological division provided much of the basis for the political divide between Trotsky and Stalin, which culminated on November 3, 1927 when he was expelled from the Soviet Communist Party - leaving Stalin with undisputed control of the Soviet Union. (web trotsky. html) Napoleon gradually increases his personal power and privileges, while simultaneously tightening the control over the other animals. He begins to turn this revolution into his personal regime, therefore he may be compared to his namesake, Napoleon Bonaparte of France. Napoleon does not like to give up, and he always does his best to get what he wants. When the animals completed the first windmill, it was destroyed by a storm. The animals were heartbroken, but Napoleon wasted no time in having the animals start to rebuild the windmill. Even when it is destroyed a second time, he forces the animals to begin working on a third windmill.

Napoleon also used his friends to his advantage. He used Squealer to deliver his messages to the animals, because Squealer is an excellent speaker. Napoleon is a very smart, yet misleading pig like Stalin. (Stalin was actually considered to be stupid, not smart.

A better description would be: Stalin was ruthless and obsessed with power. There are a lot of people who could be described this way-I disagree). The real Napoleon was brilliant.