In the year 1984 across
the world, people flooded book stores in search of an old book they remembered
that they had read in high school. The title of the book was Nineteen Eighty-Four and everyone
thought it was so funny to see how wrongly George Orwell had predicted the way
the world would be by that year. They laughed at the inaccuracies, and
especially, they were glad to note that their government was nothing like the
one in the book. Much like the characters of the book 1984, the people failed to see how the government had changed for
the worst. The progression towards a world like that of the book is even worse
now in 2014. Much like the “telescreens” that watch a person’s every movement
in their life, the people of today are monitored through security cameras, the
internet, and the new threat, the NSA. You won’t be killed in America for
simply denouncing the country, but the America government can deem a person as a threat or a
terrorist and throw that person in Guantanamo Bay if they don’t want them here.
The Ministry of Love from the fictitious novel comes to life in Guantanamo Bay:
people go in and never leave and no one is supposed to question the government
about what happens. We have holidays and celebrations that make us forget the
hardships of life like the ones in 1984.
The more times you read Orwell’s book, the more connections you find. Some may
claim that as a people, we are much too smart to let something like the events
in 1984 happen, but perhaps the fact
that we think we can’t be fooled is what the government uses to fool us.
In Nineteen
Eighty-Four and Animal Farm,
George Orwell asserts that when the underprivileged members of a society
attempt to revolutionize the government in order to make it a system run for
the benefit of the whole community, the leaders of the revolution become
corrupt and turn the government into a totalitarian system, worse than its
previous self. All members of the new society are eventually made obedient and
dumb so that they don’t question the new government. An individual is worthless
in a totalitarian system, but a group of individuals working together with the
same goal is perfect according to the government, because they simply float through
their lives, never causing any problems. People who fight back cannot win, they
get sucked back into the flow, so individuality is swallowed into the mass of
non-thinkers.
Animal Farm is the story of a
farm that is tired of taking orders from humans who do not really care for the
well-being of the animals and take all of the “produce of our labour.” They
revolt and take over the farm with each animal doing their fair share and
reaping the rewards from this new farm named “Animal Farm”, changed from its
original human name “Manor Farm.” As the book progresses, conditions get worse
for other animals except for pigs and dogs who rule and prosper. Eventually
conditions regress to an inferior condition than that of when humans were
around; and pigs become similar to humans. The next book of Orwell’s seems like
a loosely based sequel to Animal Farm. 1984 is the story of the character
Winston who lives in one of the three countries on the planet, Oceania. He
works as an Outer Party member at one of the three Ministries of the Party, the
Ministry of Truth. Oceania controls all aspects of the country: the history
(which is changed if necessary), the citizens, and the minds of the citizens.
Winston falls in love, which is forbidden, and searches for ways to oppose the
tyrannical government. The couple is found and sent to the tortuous Ministry of
Love where they eventually lose the people they were. The novels are very
similar in that Animal Farm is like
the description of development of the society and 1984 is a description of that society after it has become very
powerful. The former novel has a much lighter tone than the next and the
predecessor focuses on the revolting group while 1984 focuses on one individual’s experience.
“Big Brother is
Watching You.” He is the most feared, but revered, man in Oceania, at least by
anyone who wants to keep his or her life. But who is, or was, Big Brother? On Animal
Farm, Napoleon the pig is like Big Brother. Both are the absolute and
unquestioned leaders of their lands. Unlike Big Brother, the origins of Napoleon
are known. The animal that sparked the revolution in Animal Farm was the pig Old Major, but after he died, two younger
pigs became the leaders of the revolution and they overthrew the humans. The
pigs, Snowball and Napoleon, could not agree on anything, so Napoleon used dogs
to run Snowball off the farm. Napoleon’s leadership evolved back into that of
the human’s way, he treated pigs and dogs well, but all other animals were like
slaves again. The more privileges he gave himself, the less open he was to the
public. “All orders were now issued through Squealer or one of the other pigs,”
(99). He was known by all animals as a sort of savior, but he would probably
eventually become like Big Brother with a face, a name, and an idea, but never
a real figure. A leader can seem a lot more menacing when he is not ever
visible; he becomes an invisible presence everywhere. This menacing figure is
used as a fear tactic for the citizens and animals, so that they stay docile.
Each totalitarian
system creates enemies that supposedly threaten their government and people.
Having an enemy makes the citizens and animals feel more patriotic towards
their way of life, despite how they struggle. Animal Farm’s main villain is Snowball the pig, one of the two head pigs in the revolution. After Napoleon
runs him off the farm he claims that Snowball sided with the humans the whole
time; Napoleon came up with new lies about Snowball whenever it was convenient.
From then on, anything that goes wrong on the farm is blamed on Snowball. When
a windmill they had been working on crumbles to pieces, Napoleon tells the
animals Snowball did it. “’We will teach this miserable traitor that he cannot
undo our work so easily,’” (83). Napoleon uses the animals’ anger at Snowball
to get them to work even more. The government in 1984 claims the same things about an enemy name Emanuel Goldstein.
Once a revolutionary with Big Brother in the early days, now Goldstein sneaks
around trying to overthrow the government. “[Winston] could never see the face
of Goldstein without a painful mixture of emotions,” (14). Like many other
figures in Oceania, Goldstein in reality probably never existed, but that was
not the point for the government. Snowball and Goldstein represent an idea to
the people; they are traitors, so the idea of them is to stir up unrest in the
people and animals. They are a force that makes citizens work harder, so that
evil forces can’t thwart the good country/farm. Disloyal people can be claimed
to be conspirators to the traitors, so that the governments can rid themselves
of the unwanted citizens who cause trouble. Astonishingly, each government
convinces unwanted citizens to claim to be on the side of the traitors. The
Ministry of Love in 1984 tortures
people with their worst nightmares not so that they lie and say they sided with
Goldstein, but these people are actually tortured until they themselves believe
that they are traitors. The animals are so stupid in Animal Farm that they do
not have to be tortured into believing they conspired with Snowball, they just
think traitorous thoughts and then they believe they have sided with Snowball.
Although neither Snowball or Goldstein are trying to disrupt the farm or the
country and the two of them might not even exist anymore, it is the idea of
them that can actually convince people to implicate themselves as criminals,
which leads to their deaths.
As there are two
adjoining farms to Animal Farm, there are two other countries neighboring Oceania. The
government in Oceania was always at war with one country and partnered with the
other, their names being Eastasia and Eurasia. The alliance changed every so
often, but when that happened, Oceania would claim to its citizens: "We've
always been at war with Eastasia" (or Eurasia) and they would change all
documents and media that said otherwise. Likewise, Napoleon switched alliances
between Frederick and Pilkington, two farmers, depending on who he wanted to
trade with. “Snowball was known to be skulking” on whichever farm Napoleon was
not in alliance with. What is astonishing is that people or animals would so
faithfully believe when the government changed their minds about an alliance
that the ‘made believe’ alliance becomes ‘a matter of fact’. The brainwashing
this government had done to the people made their brains like play dough for
the government to mold how they see fit. Both governments continually say that
the products/crops that are made in their land keep increasing, but nothing
ever gets better for the animals or the people. Their rations of food and other
supplies actually decrease, most likely because of the expansion of disparity
between the poor and the rich that goes without complains. In fact all the
animals and most of the people believe it.
This new
totalitarian party wants to confuse people so that they don’t try to look too
closely at the corrupted government. If the citizens see that their government
is not what they had imagined it was, then they might revolt again as they, or
their ancestors did before. With distractions from all around, the people
muddle about their lives like sheep unaware of exploitation of their
government. The government wants mindless laborers so they use tactics to cloud
the minds of its subjects. The confusion is inflicted on the citizens in two
ways: through public rallies or anniversaries and with confusing chants and
slogans.
The slogan of 1984 is so backwards that it fits this
perplexing government:
“WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
IGNORANCE IS
STRENGTH”
They claim these
“definitions,” but they sound like antonyms. The Inner Party of 1984 does this on purpose because if the
people believe that what is worse is better, then they will not fight against
worse conditions, but they will revel in them. Trickily, the Inner Party has
convinced the people to think they are happier when conditions get poorer.
Animal Farm adopts
the saying “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others”, by the end of the book after the pigs don’t follow any of the original rules
from their beginning idea of a farm. There is no such thing as “more equal,”
but of course most of the animals are not smart enough to understand what equal
really means, since they have been convinced that the pigs and dogs who do not work deserve a much better lifestyle because they are more intelligent.
Like moths to a flame,
the people flock to public events and rituals. They are excited by the
camaraderie of a mass of people all celebrating one idea. The totalitarian
governments are cunning to organize such events, because groups of people are
more controllable than individuals. Emotions spread quickly through groups,
mainly emotions like rage, resentment, and revenge. Winston from 1984 is forced to participate daily in
an event called the “Two Minutes Hate.” In this activity all party members have
to watch a video on the telescreen that angers them because it reminds them of
their enemies, like Goldstein. “The horrible thing about the Two Minutes Hate
was not that one was obliged to act a part, but that it was impossible to avoid
joining in. Within thirty seconds any pretense was always unnecessary. A
hideous ecstasy of fear and vindictiveness, a desire to kill, to torture, to
smash faces in with a sledge hammer, seemed to flow through the whole group of
people like an electric current, turning one even against one's will into a
grimacing, screaming lunatic. And yet the rage that one felt was an abstract,
undirected emotion which could be switched from one object to another like the
flame of a blowlamp,” (16). With a time as small as two minutes the government
has got hold of the emotions of its subjects and can control them in any
direction it wishes to. Even Winston who does not believe in the government
anymore and comprehends their methods of distracting the people, cannot help
but take part in the shouting and anger to display his inner fury. Surrounded
by a group that have a strong emotion running through them, it would be hard to
not get carried away with the action. The individual, with their own thoughts
and emotions, is lost in the sea of monotony. 
In Animal Farm instead of anger, the
animals go through a daily boost of pride in their day. By singing “Beasts of
England,” the animals remember the goal they are looking forward to and their
joy in the accomplishments they already have.
“Beasts of England,
beasts of Ireland,
Beasts of every land
and clime,
Hearken to my joyful
tiding
Of the golden future
time.”
The song inspires
the animals, but its revolutionary ideas and beginnings lead to Napoleon
banning it near the end of the novel, when he has increased his power
significantly. Although the animals do respond to anger, like in 1984, they are more responsive when the
emotion presented to them is pride. This song resonates more with the animals,
because they are more proud of what they have already done and they believe
that they will meet their future goals, even with hindrances. Napoleon has it
replaced with a song that is patriotic, but it doesn’t inspire the animals like
“Beasts of England” did.
To break the citizens of their daily
rituals, the government has a sort of ceremony annualized so that every year
the citizens remember the struggles went through to create such a “marvelous”
nation/farm. Every year in the world of 1984
there is a week long holiday called Hate Week. Weeks before the holiday
preparations start, the members of the Party, working in the Ministries, stop
their usual work so that they can prepare for Hate Week. “Processions,
meetings, military parades, lectures, waxwork displays, film shows, telescreen
programs all had to be organized; stands had to be erected, effigies built,
slogans coined, songs written, rumors circulated, photographs faked,” (122). Hate
Week has new distractions made to engage all the people of Oceania from their
gloomy living conditions towards a common patriotic goal, and it succeeds in
distracting them employing songs and visuals. During the weeks leading up to
Hate Week “the rocket bombs crashed oftener than ever” creating more disruption
with the people. The title of the holiday indicates its angry theme, so in
order to put the citizens of Oceania in the right mood for the holiday, the
government uses the rocket bombs not only for confusion, but furthermore to
anger the citizens at their enemy, who inspires Hate Week. Posters of the hated
Eurasian soldier are put up, “even outnumbering the portraits of Big Brother”
which add to the enraged feeling of the citizens like the rocket bombs. These
posters are more important than the Big Brother posters because for Hate Week the
goal for the government is to remind the people of the enemy, not of the fear
of the Inner Party. On the other hand, the government is sublimely
manufacturing consent of the people in its aggression.
It is ironic that a
group of people is all the community needs to start a revolution against an
oppressive government, but it is in groups of people that governments
control their subjects. All they need to do is to direct their anger at the
government forcing them to participate in such activities. The reason they
don’t is a lack of hope. The things that could bind them together as a united
force are what break them apart. In 1984,
if an individual ever thinks about protesting, they imagine that angry group of
their friends and colleagues turned on them and the thought of that is frightening.
The animals in Animal Farm don’t think that clearly; what they experience is a
celebration, so they automatically think that life must be better if they have
something to celebrate about. Both societies (Oceania and Animal Farm) claim
that everything is getting better, including the quality of life, but many
characters think they remember more prosperous times.
There is a
connection between losing hope and religion. When religion is around, animals
and people don’t try to work as hard for the life that they already have,
because they think that afterlife would be better. Napoleon brings back a crow
that was around in the time before the revolution; this crow speaks of a place
called Sugarcandy Mountain where “it is Sunday seven days a week.” When Winston
loses all hopes he remembers the phrase “GOD IS POWER.” Religion makes the
animals and people give up on having a good life, which is exactly what the
governments want.
Orwell’s final
message is not an optimistic one. After months or years of torturing, Winston is
not the person he used to be. He finally denounces his only love Julia and he
has been broken. “He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother,”
(245). What had made Winston different from the mass of citizens in Oceania was
his willpower not to let the Inner Party creep into his mind. He had written in
his diary: “down with Big Brother,” while all others adored and worshiped that
entity. With the animals, the breaking point is when the pigs become humans and
even change the name of the farm to its original human name, Manor Farm. “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,” (139). The
whole reason for the revolution was to create a world where all animals were
equal and respected, without any human involvement. But the pigs have just
created the same environment except with pigs and humans on one side and all
other farm animals on the other. 
“Reality exists in
the human mind, and nowhere else. Not in the individual mind, which can make
mistakes, and in any case soon perishes: only in the mind of the Party, which
is collective and immortal.” The goal of the Animal Farm and 1984 governments
is to have absolute control over all aspects of what they can control. The
minds of the people and animals are what is easily controlled, even the most
difficult individuals with their independent thought, like Snowball and
Winston, can be changed. Orwell shows the never-ending cycle of governments;
they start tyrannical, so they are overthrown with the intention of keeping
focus on the people, but that government becomes corrupt and is eventually
defeated again in another revolution. There are only two choices for an average
individual: accept the life you have and expect worse conditions in the future
or die.
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Bibliography
Orwell,
George. 1984. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc., 1949. Print.
Orwell,
George. Animal Farm. New York: Signet Classic, 1946. Print.
