Animal Farm Animal Farm

From the 2015 Paper…

Intro In the novel ‘Animal Farm’ by George Orwell, a leader on the farm called Napoleon (a pig) comes into conflict frequently with the other leader, Snowball (also a pig) because the two are just so different – Napoleon cares about only himself being in power, takes advantage of others and takes extreme actions to solve problems which other animals disagree with, while Snowball cares about all the animals on the farm and their wellbeing. To do this, Orwell uses techniques like Narrative technique Climax Characterisation Key Incidents

Summary In summary, Animal Farm is based on the Russian Revolution. All the animals on the farm are being badly treated by the farmer (based on the Tsar) and so have a revolution and overthrow the farmer. Two pigs called Napoleon (based on Joseph Stalin) and Snowball (based on Leon Trotsky) decide to be the leaders of the new Animal Farm, but everyone is equal because the animals believe in an idea called ‘Animalism’ (based on communism). Napoleon and Snowball never get on, eventually resulting in Snowball being banished. Sadly, in the end Napoleon turns out just as bad as the farmer, if not worse, because the power has corrupted him.

P1 P – We see foreshadows that Napoleon and Snowball are going to not get on from the moment they are introduced into the novel when Orwell writes a description of the two saying… ‘Napoleon was a large, rather fierce-looking Berkshire boar … not much of a talker but with a reputation for getting his own way. Snowball was a more vivacious pig than Napoleon…’ This foreshadows that the two aren’t going to get on because the two descriptions act as one comparison, showing how very different the two are (fierce and vivacious are pretty much opposites). The two are bound to get into conflict.

P2 P- Then we begin to see Napoleon and Snowball fall out. Their arguments were about small things like E- ‘…if one of them said that such a field would be perfect for cabbages, the other would declare it useless for anything except roots.’ E- This shows that Napoleon and Snowball are bickering about every issue possible. Although these arguments are about trivial issues, Orwell foreshadows that these issues will escalate into more import matters, thus developing the conflict more.

P3 P – We see Napoleon beginning to come into conflict with Snowball when Snowball makes plans to build a windmill (which Napoleon doesn’t like) and… E – Napoleon ‘urinated over the plans and walked out without uttering a word.’ E – This shows how the two have very different ideas and how Napoleon takes extreme actions to sort things out. The narrative technique here is very unbiased which means that the reader sees the true extent of what happens and how petty and childish the conflict is.

P4 P- The climax of Napoleon’s conflict with Napoleon happens in a key incident, when Napoleon… E- ‘…nine enormous dogs wearing brass-studded collars came bounding into the barn. They dashed straight for Snowball…’ E- This exciting part of the conflict is so exciting because of the language and word choice that Orwell uses. Words like ‘enormous’ and ‘bounding’ are a bit scary which makes the event quite thrilling, showing the reader that this conflict has developed a lot as just a bit of urination has turned into a violent banishment.

Conclusion In conclusion, Animal Farm is a novel by George Orwell where there is a conflict between the two leaders of the farm, Napoleon and Snowball. Through use of techniques, Orwell manages to develop the conflict from just little arguments to huge acts of violence. Personally, I have learnt from Animal Farm, that when there is power at stake, people will get very paranoid, therefore getting into conflicts much easier. I have also learnt that these conflicts can easily escalate from something very small to something quite dangerous.