“The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.”
~George Orwell (Animal Farm)
This quote very beautifully describes the current scenario of world governments. If we break this quote down into the basic elements, we can understand how every government, whether it be a democracy or dictatorship, manipulates people from time to time. They do so by using some kind of influence or through various other methods.
This quote is from the book Animal Farm which is authored by George Orwell, a satirical modern classics author, journalist, and poet.
The story takes place in “Manor Farm” which was initially inhabited by humans until the animals on the farm started a revolution namely "The battle of the Cowshed” which the animals won. Pigs, who were the only educated animals, decided that they would rule over the farm. There were 2 pigs who decided to take the lead, Snowball and Napoleon (Pretty ironic right!)
After a certain time, quibbles started to come up between the two and they never agreed with each other's ideas. Snowball, who was an ideal dictator made 7 commandments, where the last commandment was - “All Animals are Equal”.
But by the end of the book, Snowball gets exiled, Napoleon gains power and slowly morphs the 7 commandments into what Napoleon likes and the last commandment becomes “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” Even though this book was published in 1945, it is loosely based on the Bolshevik revolution in Russia.
The last line of the book is a very hot topic in today’s modern society even after 72 years, why?
This line pretty much sums up the general idea of the book and also explains how the communist/capitalist regions function. By the end of the book, Snowball’s memories amongst the animals were pretty much erased and due to the convincing power and manipulative skills of Napoleon, He had completely changed the 7 commandments to 5 and all the pigs assured the other animals that they had been getting older and their memories were getting weaker day by day.
The Seven Commandments - 1. Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy. 2. Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend. 3. No animal shall wear clothes. 4. No animal shall sleep in a bed. 5. No animal shall drink alcohol. 6. No animal shall kill any other animal. 7. All animals are equal.
The Revised Commandments by Napoleon - 1. Four legs good, two legs better. 2. No animal shall sleep in a bed with sheets. 3. No animal shall drink alcohol to excess.
4. No animal shall kill any other animal. 5. All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others.
In the end, Mr. Pilkington, the owner of Foxwood farms near Animal Farm, and his fellow human friends come to a dinner hosted by Napoleon where they all play cards. The animals are looking through the window and are unable to distinguish between the two species as the pigs and humans have now started to dress alike, both cheat at card games and then argue about it and that is the moment when all the animals realize that the pigs are just as cruel and of oppressive nature as human beings.
George Orwell did not end the book with a story that shows a workable political system that exhibits true equality for all but instead faced the cold harsh truth that a political machine will always remain the same whether it falls in the hands of the government, be it communist or capitalist or any other ideology. The ending infers that all political leaders are great liars and manipulators and it also infers that any political system which has an imbalance of power will ultimately fail, no matter what.
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