Sonia Gupta
Mr.Gellert A Corrupt Society
ENG 4U0-C
October 6th, 2014
The pigs create a totalitarian society through ultimate control. Orwell depicts the idea of equality through animals as he mentions in this quotation, “All animals are created equal but some are more equal than others” (Orwell 52). The idea of a totalitarian society in Animal Farm is seen through the pigs being “more equal”. (Orwell 52). “More equal than other’s” is Orwell’s way of expressing that one being can not be more superior than another as everyone is equal (Orwell 52). It is possible to misuse the word “equal” because there can be different degrees of being equal (Orwell 52). The pigs envision themselves as this privileged “some” and all the other animals are working to serve them. In the novel Animal Farm by George Orwell, the pigs create a totalitarian society through ultimate control.
In Orwell’s novel, he demonstrates that having knowledge can be used as a tool to one’s advantage. The pigs are the first to take control of the farm using their intelligence by manipulating the other farm animals. On the day of the hay harvest, the pigs reveal that “during the past three months they had taught themselves to read and write” (Orwell, 9). Through this quotation we learn that the pigs were highly educated and refused to help the other farm animals in order to gain power. As the farm was later recognized, “The pigs did not actually work, but directed and supervised the others” (Orwell, 11). Orwell depicts the evident theme of manipulation through this quotation as the pigs use their knowledge to stay out of working and persuade the other animals to work. In Animal Farm, we see that when one has superior knowledge, they are able to use their power in contrast to someone who is uneducated and does not have power. As the pigs have advantage over the other animals, they are able to use it as a tool to oppression.
The pigs continue to create a totalitarian society as they deny change within the farm and create rules. Napoleon is able to take control over the animals as he gets rid of Snowball and announces his dominance.
From now on the Sunday-morning meetings would come to an end…[also] all questions relating to the working of the farm would be settled by a special committee of pigs, presided over by himself. [additionally] there will be no more debates. (Orwell, 21)
After declaring his power over the other animals, Napolean decided there would be “no more debates”, putting the other animals on the farm at a disadvantage as they would not have a say in the decisions. In this quote, we see that when leaders abuse education for power, they will discard anything that may be a threat to keep their power. They are able to fool their subjects as they think of them as beneath them. The other animals are not able to advocate themselves as they do not feel as powerful compared to Napolean. Napolean takes full control of the animals which leads to taking advantage of the pigs and using his power to his advantage. Having ultimate control over the other animals gives Napolean power and puts the others in oppression. A totalitarian society in Animal Farm puts the animals in a devastating