Essay on Animal Farm Rough Draft

Submitted By Hannah-Petrillo
Words: 548
Pages: 3

Hannah Petrillo
Dec.10, 2014
Animal Farm Minor Characters
George Orwell wrote animal farm as a political satire to criticize totalitarian regimes as governments that are founded on the oppression of individuals and the lower class. Orwell’s major theme depicts how absolute power can corrupt society. Through the use of his minor characters – the dogs, the sheep, Clover, Benjamin, Mollie, and Moses – Orwell illustrates how fear, ignorance, passivity, selfishness and religion aid those in power and contribute to living a poor-quality life. By doing this he expresses the danger of a society that doesn’t question the actions of its government. Orwell uses the dogs of his novel to demonstrate that instilling fear in the that those in power silence anyone who interferes with their ruling to instill fear in the masses and keep power. In the novel, Napoleon secretly raises a liter of puppies, brainwashing them to serve and kill in the interest of Napoleon maintaining his power. For example, they are instructed to kill any animals who are “disloyal” to the farm. The dogs are used by Napoleon to scare the other animals, intimidating them from disobeying, and thus serve as a way to keep power by instilling fear in the masses. The sheep of Animal Farm represent the working class of unskilled laborers. Because they have little understanding of their situation, they are susceptible to political brainwashing, and become brainlessly blind devoted followers. The pigs instill fear through their words, and a sheep knows nothing better to do then listen. Without the loyalty of the sheep, Napoleon wouldn’t have all the power. In this way Orwell uses the sheep to reveal that the naiveté of an ignorant working class is detrimental to a well-governed society. Orwell uses Clover, the well intentioned female horse, to represent hope as someone who is able to realize that the government is lying about it’s adherence to principles, but doesn’t have the means/education to fight against it. She often suspects the pigs of violating one of the commandments, but then blames herself for