GEORGE ORWELL'S
ANIMAL FARM
Adapted By Peter Hall
All the Characters performed by
the four actors
Boxer (the cart horse)
Clover (the horse, a stout motherly mare)
Hens
Jones (the farmer)
Mollie (the foolish, pretty white mare)
Moses (a raven, she told tales and did not
work)
Muriel (the goat)
Mr. Pilkington (a neighbour farmer)
Napoleon (a boar, cruel, corrupted by power)
Snowball (a pig, inventive, vivacious)
Squealer (a pig, a brilliant talker)
Old Major (the majestic looking old pig)
Animal Farm was first performed at the
Cottesloee Theatre, London, on 25 April 1984
by the National Theatre. Compagny ACT
presented it for the first time in Paris on 3rd
December 1988 at Theatre de la main d'or.
This new production will be created at the MJC
Palaiseau on the 26th January 2006 and toured
around France until end of April 2006.
An ACT Production
Animal Farm 1 acte
er
Synopsis en français, scène par scène
Mr Jones fermier autrefois capable, a sombré dans l'alcool. Il néglige sa
ferme, laisse les terres en friche, maltraite les animaux.
Le bruit court dans la ferme qu'une réunion secrète aura lieu dans la grange.
"Old Major", le porc le plus ancien, veut leur parler.
Old Major harangue les animaux. Il leur fait prendre conscience de la
tyrannie dont l'homme fait preuve à leur égard. Mais il est possible de créer
un monde idéal où les animaux seront maîtres de la ferme, partageant
loyalement le fruit de leur travail.
Il prêche la rébellion. Les animaux votent pour la première fois. Old Major les
met en garde: "Quand vous aurez renversé l'homme n'adoptez pas ses vices., et
n'oubliez jamais, Tous les animaux sont égaux!"
Old Major meurt 3 jours plus tard, mais les animaux ont maintenant un secret
à partager: Ils attendent le jour de la rébellion.
Les porcs, les plus intelligents parmi les animaux, se préparent en apprenant
à lire et à écrire. Ils mettent au point un nouveau système de pensée qu'ils
appellent "Animalisme". Ils doivent aussi combattre les comportements
contre-révolutionnaires de certains animaux: La frivolité de Mollie, jument
au service des maîtres, et les sermons lénifiants de M o s e s , corbeau
apprivoisé de Jones.
Le grand soir est arrivé, Jones plus saoul que d'habitude a oublié de nourrir
les animaux, C'est la révolution, Jones est destitué, l'Animalisme est instauré.
Les animaux découvrent pour la première fois la maison de Jones. Ils décident
d'en faire le musée de l'infamie où aucun animal n'habitera jamais.
Dans cette maison sont restés les jeunes chiots de Jones. Un des porcs,
Napoleon, les prend sous sa protection.
Un autre porc, Snowball dévoile le nouveau nom de Manor farm: Animal
Farm. Il dévoile aussi les 7 commandements, principes inaltérables de
l'Animalisme.
Les animaux entreprennent leur première moissson. Chacun travaille au
mieux de ses capacités:. Boxer, le cheval de trait, a un seul objectif: travailler
toujours plus - Clover la jument, prend soin de tous, - Muriel la chèvre,
observe et essaye de comprendre – Squealer, second de Napoleon, donne les
ordres. Seule Mollie reste à l'écart.
Tous les dimanches, les animaux se retrouvent autour du drapeau où sont
dessinés le sabot et la corne et chantent leur hymne: "Beasts of England"
Pour la première fois Napoleon et Snowball s'affrontent.
Jones et les fermiers des environs se retrouvent au pub. Ils décident l'attaque
d'Animal Farm. Les animaux sous la conduite de snowball remportent la
victoire.
Snowball, idéaliste visionnaire, propose de construire un moulin qui
alimentera la ferme en électricité. Napoleon s'oppose à ce projet qu'il juge
irréaliste. Les animaux se préparent à voter. Soudain, Napoleon relâche les
chiens qu'il a dressés depuis le premier jour de la rébellion Snowball est
chassé de la ferme.
2
3
Animal Farm: The author
George Orwell ( Eric Arthur Blair) was born on the 25 June 1903 at Motihari in Northwest
Bengal. Raised and educated in England, he enlisted with the Indian Imperial Police in
Burma. His early writings show a ridicule of imperial, despotic, oppressive rule. He went
to Spain during the Civil War, ostensibly as a journalist. Seeing the intrigue, treachery,
lies, expedient denunciations and falsifications of the communists, his future political
beliefs took root. Orwell completed the book Animal Farm in February 1943. He had
great difficulty publishing it for Russia had become an ally in the war against Germany
and publishers refused to accept the validity of Orwell's attack on Soviet Communism.
Animal Farm was finally published in May 1945, the month of the German surrender.
Orwell's last work, 1984, is a grim and bitter novel. Perhaps his pessimism is due to
aggravated ill-health which plagued him throughout his life. He died on the 23nd
January 1950.
In his preface to the Ukrainian edition published in 1947, Orwell said that he wanted to
write a book in a simple language because he wanted to tell ordinary English people
who had enjoyed a tradition of justice and liberty for centuries, what a totalitarian
system was like. His experience in Spain had shown him "how easily totalitarian
propaganda can control the opinion of people in democratic countries":
"Animal Farm was the first book in which I tried with full consciousness of what I
was doing, to fuse political purpose and artistic purpose into a whole".
Orwell used Russian historical background to build his story but in Animal Farm, he
intended to criticise something inherent in all revolutions, thinking of the French
Revolution and of the Spanish Civil War as well as the Bolshevik Rebellion in 1917.
"- the most encouraging fact about revolutionary activity is that, although it
always fails, it always continues. The vision of free and equal human beings,
living together in a state of brotherhood - in one age it is called the Kingdom
of Heaven, in another the classless society - never materialises, but the belief in
it never seems to die out. "
His point was to get people to face the facts of injustice, of brutality, and hopefully to
get them to think out for themselves ways in which a true and democratic socialism
could be brought about.
Animal Farm: the play
INTRODUCTION
In the past Mr. Jones, although a cruel master, had been a capable farmer. But now
he spent more and more time in the Red Lion Pub. Every night he came home drunk.
His farm was now thoroughly neglected. The fields 1 were full of w e e d s 2 and the
animals were underfed and in poor condition. But this night, when Jones was asleep,
the animals began to meet in the barn.3 . Word had gone round the animals that there
was a secret meeting. Old Major, the stud boar 4had something to say ....
ACT I - SCENE 1: "OLD MAJOR'S ADDRESS"
MAJOR:
Wait - no noise - wait! Or we'll wake up Jones! Listen!
What is the nature of this life of ours?
We are born, we are given just enough food to keep the breath in our bodies and the
very instant that our usefulness has come to an end we are slaughtered 5 with
hideous cruelty.
Man is our only enemy. (reaction from animals)
Clover, where are your six children, the foals 6 who should have been the support
and pleasure of your old age?
CLOVER:
They were sold at a year old by our enemy, man!
I will never see them again.
MAJOR:
And you hens7: (the two hens enter and create quite a fuss).What has happened to
the eggs you have laid?
HENS:
They have been stolen from us by our enemy! Man!
MAJOR:
Boxer, the day your great muscles lose their power, Jones will sell you to the local
"abattoir", where your throat 8will be cut and you will be boiled down for dog
food.
BOXER:
No!
MAJOR:
To that horror we must all come.
Cows, pigs, hens, sheep, everyone.
BOXER:
What must we do?
MAJOR:
Work Boxer! Work comrades all. Work night and day, body and soul, for the
overthrow of the human race! Rebellion!
ALL:
Rebellion!
MAJOR:
Shhh! But when you conquer man do not adopt his vices.
Remember - "All Animals Are Equal"!
ALL:
All Animals Are Equal
CLOVER:
But what about the wild creatures Old Major - the rats and the rabbits - are they our
friends or our enemies?
MAJOR:
You must decide. You must learn to vote.
Each one of you must have a say in the way we lead our lives.
I propose this question to the meeting: Are the wild creatures comrades? All those
in favour...
STORY TELLING: And so the animals learnt to vote for the first time.
It was agreed by an overwhelming majority that the wild creatures were comrades
.....
1fields:
champs
mauvaises herbes
3barn: grange
4stud boar: porc reproducteur
5slaughtered: massacrés, abattus
6!the foals: les poulains
7hens: Poules
8throat: gorge
2weeds:
4
Animal Farm: the play
Summary until Act II scene 3
ACT I SCENE 2 "BEFORE THE REVOLUTION"
Three nights later, Old Major died peacefully in his sleep. But
now the animals had a secret. They did not know when to
expect the rebellion, but they believed fervently that one day it
would come. The pigs, being the cleverest of the animals, led
the preparations by organising and teaching. Three pigs,
Snowball, Squealer and Napoleon elaborated Old Major's
teachings into a complete system of thought to which they
gave the name "ANIMALISM".
The Communist Manifesto written in 1848
ACT I SCENE 3 "THE REBELLION"
And so they went on waiting, waiting for the rebellion. Finally, it
came sooner than anyone expected. One Saturday night, Mr
Jones got so drunk at the Pub, that he did not come home till
Sunday and then he forgot to feed the animals. Boxer kicked
open the barn door and the other animals rushed in and
began to feed. Mr. Jones hearing the noise came into the
yard.9 Suddenly the Animals flung themselves onto Jones. Their
attack took him so much by surprise that he ran from the farm.
The animals slam the gate behind him. Jones was gone, and
the animals were free. The rebellion had been successful.
The Bolshevik Revolution of 1917
They all made a tour of inspection of the whole farm and
surveyed with speechless admiration the ploughland 10, the
hayfield11, the orchard 12, the pool,13 the spinney14. It was as
though they had never seen these things before. Then they filed
back into the farm house and halted outside the door. They
tiptoed from room to room afraid to speak above a whisper.
They touched with awe the unbelievable luxury - the beds, the
looking glasses, the sofa, the carpets.
NAPOLEON: I propose that this odious farmhouse should be
preserved as a museum. The museum of man, the murderer.
SNOWBALL: Let us put it to the vote.
THE ANIMALS: Agreed! Agreed!
ACT I SCENE 4 "THE SEVEN COMMANDMENTS"
Snowball had reduced the principles of Animal Farm to seven
commandments:
One.
Two-legged beings are our enemies.
Two. Four-legged beings are friends.
9yard:
cour
ploughland: la terre de labour
11hayfield,: champ de foin
12the orchard: le verger
13the pool: la mare
14the spinney: le petit bois
10the
5
Three Animals shall never wear any clothes.
Four. Animals shall never sleep in beds.
Five. Animals shall never drink alcohol.
Six.
Animals shall never kill animals.
Seven. All animals are equal.
ACT I SCENE 5 "THE HARVEST15"
It was the biggest harvest the farm had ever seen. Everyone
worked hard. The hens with their sharp eyes gathered up the
very last stalk16. Boxer was the admiration of everybody. He
had one answer to every problem, every setback "I will work
harder". Every one worked according to his capability.
ACT I SCENE 6 "SUNDAY MEETING"
On Sundays there was no work. The day began at the
flagpole17. The Hoof and Horn18 stood for the World Republic
of the Animals which would be achieved when the human
race was finally overthrown.
The hoof and horn is the hammer and sickle19, emblem
of the Communist Party
The song "Beast of England" is A parody of "The
International", the party song.
NAPOLEON: I'm a practical pig, a pig of few words. I believe that
the future lies with the young. I have therefore made myself
responsible for the education of the two puppies20. Mr. Jones'
puppies. We must take care of the young.
BOXER: Napoleon is always right.
SNOWBALL: Napoleon IS right - we must look after the young. But
I'm worried about the old. What about the old animals? I
propose they be allowed to retire to a home of rest in the
orchard21. The old have earned some peace.
NAPOLEON: Peace? This is wartime. We are surrounded by
enemies. Everyone, old or young, must be trained in the use of
fire arms.
SNOWBALL: No! No! That would be behaving like men. I will never
agree to that. We must never behave like men.
ACT I SCENE 7 "THE BATTLE OF THE COWSHED22"
Jones and his men had decided to recapture the farm.
The attack had long been expected by the animals and they
were all prepared. Snowball had studied an old book of Julius
Caesar's campaigns which he had found in the farmhouse. He
gave his orders quickly and in a couple of minutes, every
animal was at his post.
SNOWBALL: No sentimentality, comrade! War is war. The only
good human being is a dead human being.
15harvest:
moisson
tiges
17flagpole: drapeau
18The Hoof and Horn:le sabot et la corne
19the hammer and sickle: le marteau et la faucille
20puppies: chiots
21orchard: verger
22cowshed: étable
16stalk:
6
7
The Civil War between the reds (the new government)
and the whites (supporters of the Tsar )
ACT I SCENE 8 "THE EXPULSION OF SNOWBALL"
By custom, it was now expected that the pigs should decide all
questions of farm policy. But their decisions still had to be
ratified by a majority vote. This arrangement would have
worked well enough if it had not been for the continual
disputes between Snowball and Napoleon. But of all their
controversies, the most bitter was the one over the windmill 23 the windmill designed by Snowball.
NAPOLEON: Snowball, this windmill of yours is impossible.
SNOWBALL: Difficult, comrade, not impossible. We will have to
gather stones for its walls, we will have to make sails, we will
have to buy dynamos. I believe all this can be accomplished in
one year.
NAPOLEON: One year!
SNOWBALL: It will supply our farm with electrical power.
NAPOLEON: But you can't do everything at once, why can't you be
realistic?
SNOWBALL: I am being realistic. So much labour24 will be saved
that you animals will only need to work three days a week. Do
you deny my ideas?
NAPOLEON: Yes, I deny your ideas!
With the death of Lenin in 1924, a new leader, Stalin ,
emerged. Trotsky differed on many issues with Stalin. He
was exiled from the Soviet Union in 1929 and later
murdered.
ACT II SCENE 1: "THE WINDMILL"
NAPOLEON: Animals of Animal Farm. I have a brief
announcement, comrades.
We must look to the future.
Animalism will lead us to incredible achievements.
No task is too great for Animalism.
We are going to build a windmill!
ALL: What?
CLOVER: But I thought that Napoleon was against the Windmill?
SQUEALER: Napoleon was never actually opposed to the windmill.
The plan which Snowball drew was copied from some papers
stolen from Napoleon. The windmill is actually Napoleon's
own creation. And it always was.
All that year the animals worked like slaves25 to till26 the fields.
They also worked to build the windmill.
But everything they did was for their own benefit and for those
who would come after them, not for a pack of idle, thieving
human beings.
The first Five-Year Plan in 1928, which called for rapid
industrialisation and collectivisation of agriculture.
23windmill:
moulin à vent!
peine
25slaves: esclaves
26to till : labourer
24labour:
8
ACT II SCENE 2: "THE PIGS BREAK RULES"
NAPOLEON: Comrades, I have decided on a new policy. From now
on, Animal Farm will engage in trade with neighbouring farms.
Militant Communism is abandoned and the new
economic policy which restores some measure of private
enterprise is introduced.
MURIEL: Clover, Look!
CLOVER: Why are the pigs going into the farmhouse?
SQUEALER: It is absolutely necessary that we pigs, who are after
all the brains of the farm, should have a quiet place to work
in. It is also more suited to the dignity of the Leader to live in
a house than a mere sty27.
ACT II SCENE 3: "THE HEN'S REVOLT"
By the autumn, the animals were tired and hungry.
NAPOLEON: The hens must surrender their eggs.
HEN 1: But the clutches28 are ready for the spring sitting.
HEN 2: It's murder if you take our eggs away now.
HENS: We can't spare the eggs.
SQUEALER: You must do your duty.
HENS: No! No! No!
For five days the hens had held out. Finally they
capitulated and went back to their nesting boxes.
Nine hens had died.
Ordinary Soviet citizens suffered from forced labour and
food shortages which were partly due to the harsh way
collectivisation was carried out. The hen's revolt stands for
the peasant's bitter resistance to collective farming, when
they burned their crops and slaughtered their animals.
27sty: porcherie
28the clutches: les couvées
Animal Farm: An Allegory of Revolution
Animal Farm is a beast-fable, a satiric form in which animals are used to represent
human vice and folly.
Orwell subtitled his book "A Fairy Story". Like fairy tales, the book can be read on the
simple level of plot and character. It is an entertaining witty tale of a farm whose
oppressed animals, capable of speech and reason, overcome a cruel master and set
up a revolutionary government. They are betrayed by the evil power-hungry pigs,
especially by their leader, Napoleon, and forced to return to their former servitude. Only
the leadership has changed.
On another, more serious level, it is a political allegory, a symbolic tale, where all the
events and characters represent events and characters in Russian history between 1917
and 1943. Orwell's deeper purpose is to teach a political lesson.
Orwell used actual historical events to construct his story, but rearranged them to fit his
plot. Manor Farm is Russia, Mr Jones the Tsar, the pigs the Bolsheviks who led the
revolution. The human represent the ruling class, the animals the workers and the
peasants. Old Major, the white boar who inspires the rebellion in the first chapter, stands
for a combination of Marx, the chief theorist, and Lenin, the actual leader. Orwell
makes Old Major a character whose motives are pure and idealistic, to emphasise the
positive goals of the revolution, and makes him die before the rebellion itself. In
actuality Lenin died in 1924, well after the revolution, after having set-up the machinery
of political terror, which Stalin took over. The power struggle between Stalin and Trotsky
(represented in the book by Napoleon and Snowball) happened after Lenin's death,
not immediately after the revolution, as Orwell's account suggests.
9
Animal Farm: The Animals
OLD MAJOR: The old pig, provides the political philosophy on which Animal farm is
founded. Men, he tells the animals, are the only enemies. They steal all the animals
produce and make the animals work entirely for human profits. Get rid of men and
earth will become a heaven for animals.
"What is the nature of this life of ours?
We are born, we are given just enough food to keep the breath in
our bodies and the very instant that our usefulness has come to
an end we are slaughtered with hideous cruelty. Man is our only
enemy".
MOLLIE: The foolish pretty white mare who is quite incapable of serious thinking and
whose only idea of life is to be fed and wear ribbons.
"But Mr. Jones feeds us.
If he were gone we should starve to death.
So we have to be loyal".
SNOWBALL Succeeds Major as an intelligent leader. He is dedicated to the revolution.
He is not only a good thinker but a good general. He is defeated in the battle for
leadership by Napoleon and is eventually chased into exile.
"A spectre is haunting England: the spectre of Animalism.
Animalism will lead us to the life of plenty.
Everything that we produce, we shall own - collectively."
NAPOLEON: Wholly committed to seizing and keeping power, and does so in the way
of totalitarian leaders as we have seen them in Europe. He keeps his power by
propaganda, false information and opinions which are spread about for him by
Squealer.
"We'll be past voting, comrades, when our stomachs are empty. I'm a plain pig, a
practical pig, and I say this. The great need at the moment is to increase food
production. If we waste time on windmills, we'll starve to death".
SQUEALER: He is Public Relations Officer for Napoleon. It is Squealer's business to keep
the animals in order by finding out what they are thinking and changing their thoughts
when necessary.
"Comrades! You do not imagine, I hope that we pigs are taking the milk in a spirit
of selfishness and privilege? Milk is absolutely necessary to the well-being of pigs.
It is for your sake that we drink the milk".
BOXER: He is the big, powerful farm horse who represents the simple, honest, strong and
devoted worker. Boxer has few brains and he simplifies all problems into the need of
working still harder for the cause he believes in.
"Comrades. I have had time to think things over and I think I have a solution. What
Comrade Napoleon is offering us is real leadership.
He is a practical pig, a pig of few words. Let's do what he says. Agreed?"
CLOVER: The stout motherly mare. Like Boxer, she is hardworking, patient, always kind
and solicitous on behalf of others. She remains faithful to the principles of Animalism as
she knows nothing else and knows of no other solution.
"The food tastes better, because it's our food. We grew it ourselves and it's not
given to us by a mean and grudging master".
MURIEL: The white goat. She is the intellectual character. She can read and sees what is
going on more clearly than most people.
"If there's no more debate, there's no more Animal Farm".
10
Animal Farm: the songs
BEASTS OF ENGLAND
BEASTS29 OF ENGLAND! BEASTS OF IRELAND!
BEASTS OF LAND AND SEA AND SKIES!
HEAR THE HOOFBEATS30 OF TOMORROW!
SEE THE GOLDEN FUTURE RISE!
NOW THE DAY OF BEASTS IS COMING,
TYRANT MAN SHALL LOSE HIS THRONE
AND THE SHINING FIELDS OF ENGLAND
SHALL BE TROD BY BEASTS ALONE.
BEASTS OF ENGLAND!
BEASTS OF IRELAND!
BEASTS OF LAND AND SEA AND SKIES!
HEAR THE HOOFBEATS OF TOMORROW!
SEE THE GOLDEN FUTURE RISE!
29beasts:
bête
battements de sabot
30hoofbeats:
11
12
SUGAR CANDY MOUNTAIN
The pigs had an even harder struggle to counteract the
religious stories put about by Moses, Mr. Jones' tame raven.
MOSES:
(liturgically): Believe me brethren. It's there, up in the sky!
(singing) BEYOND THE FENCES31 OF THIS LIFE
THERE LIES A WONDROUS HILL
AND ALL GOOD CREATURES WHEN THEY DIE
GO THERE TO GRAZE THEIR FILL.
CHORUS:
ON SUGAR CANDY MOUNTAIN
NO LABOURING IS DONE.
BESIDE A MILKY FOUNTAIN
THE BEASTS LIE IN THE SUN.
MOSES:
ON SUGAR CANDY MOUNTAIN
YOU'LL FIND THE TREACLE LAKE32
LUMP SUGAR BEYOND COUNTING
AND FIELDS OF LINSEED CAKE.
SO FEAR NO MORE THE KNACKER'S YARD
NOR DREAD THE ABATTOIR,
BUT WORK TODAY SO YOU MAY JOIN
THAT SUGAR CANDY CHOIR.
CHORUS:
ON SUGAR CANDY MOUNTAIN
YOU'LL FIND THE TREACLE ....
SNOWBALL, SQUEALER and NAPOLEON: (singing)
THERE'S NO SUCH PLACE AS SUGAR CANDY MOUNTAIN,
NO SWEET BY-AND-BY.
THERE'S NO SUCH PLACE AS SUGAR CANDY MOUNTAIN,
SUGAR CANDY MOUNTAIN IS A LIE, LIE, LIE, LIE!
SUGAR CANDY MOUNTAIN IS A LIE!
SQUEALER:
THERE'S NO SUCH PLACE AS SUGAR CANDY MOUNTAIN,
ANIMALS ARE SLAUGHTERED AND THEN
CONVERTED INTO PORK OR MUTTON PIES
WHICH ARE GOBBLED DOWN THE THROATS OF MEN.
SNOWBALL:
SQUEALER and NAPOLEON:
THERE'S NO SUCH PLACE AS SUGAR CANDY MOUNTAIN,
WHEN YOU DIE YOU DIE.
THERE'S NO SUCH PLACE AS SUGAR CANDY MOUNTAIN,
SUGAR CANDY MOUNTAIN IS A LIE. LIE, LIE, LIE!
SUGAR CANDY MOUNTAIN IS A LIE!
IS A MOUNTAINOUS, MOUNTAINOUS, MOUNTAINOUS LIE!
31fences: clôtures
32treacle lake: lac de mélasse
THE HENS' REVOLT
HENS:
WE CAN'T SPARE THE EGGS.
SQUEALER:
YOU MUST DO YOUR DUTY?
HENS:
WE CAN'T SPARE THE EGGS
CAN'T YOU SEE WE'RE BROODY,
SQUEALER:
WE MUST HAVE THE EGGS
WE MUST PAY OUR WAY NOW.
HENS:
IT'S MURDER, IF YOU TRY.
TO TAKE AWAY OUR EGGS NOW.
SQUEALER:
CONSIDER ECONOMICS THE EGGS HAVE GOT TO GO.
HENS:
CONSIDER OUR UNBORN CHICKS33.
SQUEALER:
WE MUST HAVE THE EGGS.
HENS:
NO! NO!
TILL EACH EGG HAS THE RIGHT
TO BECOME A HEN
THERE'LL BE NO MORE EGGS
TO BE SOLD TO MEN,
THERE'LL BE NO MORE EGGS AT ALL.
LET THE EGGS RAIN DOWN
FROM THE HENHOUSE 34 SKY.
LET THE EGG SHELLS SMASH
LET THE EGG YOLKS DRY.
TILL EACH EGG HAS THE RIGHT
TO BECOME A HEN
THERE'LL BE NO MORE EGGS
TO BE SOLD TO MEN.
THERE'LL BE NO EGGS AT ALL.
LET THE EGGS RAIN DOWN
FROM THE HENHOUSE SKY
LET THE EGG SHELLS SMASH
LET THE EGG YOLKS DRY.
NAPOLEON:
OUR FEATHERED COMRADES, IT APPEARS,
HAVE LOST ALL SENSE OF REASON
AND THEIR REACTIONARY ACTS
ARE TANTAMOUNT TO TREASON
TO TURN THEM BACK TO SANITY
AND SAVE THEM FROM SELF SLAUGHTER
I ORDER THAT THE HENS SHALL BE
DEPRIVED OF FOOD AND WATER
33chicks:
poussins
34henhouse: poulailler
13
A NOTHING SONG
ANIMALS :
(singing) SAY WHAT YOU THINK
BUT THE BEST THING TO THINK
IS NOTHING THAT'S EXCELLENT THINKING.
EAT WHAT YOU LIKE
BUT THE BEST FOOD TO LIKE
IS NOTHING IT'S NOT ON THE RATION.
DO WHAT YOU WANT
BUT THE BEST THING TO DO
IS NOTHING AND MIND HOW YOU DO IT.
FEEL WHAT YOU LIKE
BUT THE BEST THING TO FEEL
IS NOTHING.
THIS ISN'T WHAT WE WANTED
CLOVER & MURIEL:
THIS ISN'T WHAT WE WANTED
THIS ISN'T WHAT WE MEANT
WHEN OUR GREAT REBELLION BEGAN.
WE HOPED TO MAKE A FARM WHERE
ALL ANIMALS WERE FREE
OF HUNGER, WHIPS AND MAN.
NAPOLEON & SQUEALER:
YOU MUST BE STRONG TO GROW ANIMALISM
RAKE OUT THE STONES
RIP OUT THE WEEDS.
WE'LL REAP THE HARVEST OF ANIMALISM
MARCHING WHEREVER
NAPOLEON LEADS.
MARCHING WHEREVER
NAPOLEON LEADS.
FOR THIS IS WHAT WE WANTED
YES, THIS IS WHAT WE MEANT
(Repeated together.)
WHEN OUR GREAT REBELLION BEGAN
Napoleon and Squealer marching around the farm turning the march
into a goose step.
14
ALLEGORY - FABLE - PARABLE
allegory- a poem, play, picture, etc. in which the apparent meaning of the characters
and events is used to symbolise a moral or spiritual meaning.
fable- a short moral story, especially one with animals as characters.
parable- a short story that uses familiar events to illustrate a religious or ethical situation.
All of the above have been used to describe or classify George Orwell's Animal
Farm. Orwell himself called it a 'fairy story.' It is a unique and unusual book--an animal
story written for adults. As a fable it uses animal characters to make a point about
human behaviour. As a parable it illustrates an underlying meaning. And as an
allegory it can be read and enjoyed for its surface meaning as well as for its more
significant underlying meaning.
The beast fable is not only a device that allows Orwell's serious message to be
intelligible on two levels; the use of animal to represent man is basic to his whole theme.
We can readily grasp that animals are oppressed and feel it is wrong to exploit them
and betray their trust.
Orwell counts on our common assumption about particular species.
The sheep and their bleating are perfect metaphors for a gullible public, ever ready to
accept policies and repeat rumours as truth.
We commonly believe pigs are greedy and savage, even to the point of devouring
their young.
Orwell wanted his central figure to typify the modern dictator whose lust for power is
pathological and inhuman.
ANIMAL FARM: IMPORTANT ISSUES RAISED WHICH ARE STILL RELEVANT
I. UTOPIAS AND IDEALISM
A utopia is a perfect world. The animals thought they were creating one when they
overthrew Jones and took over the farm. The aim of most-if not all-revolutions is to
create a better society, the search for a better life.
Ideals of equality among different races and equitable sharing of work and wealth are
among those that can be found among the animals at the start of Animal Farm.
George Orwell was an idealist, or perhaps more accurately, a "breaker of idols"
without contriving practical substitutes. His idealism was one that had a way of staring
facts in the face in a realistic matter-of-fact way which often resulted in pessimism. He
hated materialism, was against totalitarianism and for democratic socialism.
One of his favourite words was decency: a feeling for honesty and truth, linked with
a search for freedom (especially political, social and intellectual freedom).
Speaking about Charles Dickens, Orwell said:
His whole message is one that at first glance looks like an enormous platitude: If man
would behave decently the world would be decent.
Again, in 1943 Orwell wrote in an essay:
Either power politics must yield to common decency, or the world must go spiralling
down into a nightmare, of which we can already catch some dim glimpses.
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II. MEDIA AND TRUTH
The animals cannot make sense of the changes that happen, often cannot decide
what to do because they have no means of knowing what the truth is. And what they
are told by the "porte-parole" Squealer at times seems to go contrary to what they
remember.
Any government which controls the media (and all education) will be able to
control history, since our knowledge of what has happened in the past is dependent on
what we are told and what we read. Our memories are not reliable enough. But how
do we know what "really" happened?
In Nineteen Eighty-Four Orwell states:
Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.
Technical advances in this century have made communication efficient,
instantaneous and global. Satellite telecommunications leave no area of our world
isolated, no event unnoticed. Computers store, transmit, calculate, sort out information
on anything--and anyone. Cyberspace is becoming the ultimate communication -subject of intense interest and rapid expansion.
The search for truth by the media has lead to ethical questions about the right to
privacy of the individual, about too quick information, which is only partial (or
eventually erroneous!) and detrimental to an individual or group.
But how do we know that the "truth" we are given IS "the whole truth and nothing but
the truth"? Any hint of tying to "control" the truth is rejected as manipulation yet if it is
out of control what can we do? How independent, free, unbiased are the various
media which can potentially influence the minds of millions?
III. PRIVILEGE AND POWER
The animals in Animal Farm can soon be divided into two groups--the "haves" and
the "have nots." On the one side are the pigs (and to a lesser extent the dogs) and on
the other, are the rest of the animals on the farm. Almost imperceptibly the
benevolent, sympathetic and wise image of Old Major changes into the sickening
cruelty, injustice and tyranny of Napoleon.
Orwell's clear and prophetic insight into the nature of naked aggressive power, and
the cynicism of its wielders is seen in his handling of the pig characters. The fact that
the world for many is harsh and brutal is because fundamental decency and loyalty
has been deliberately (usually politically) banished or exploited by seekers of power.
This is the fate of the other animals on the farm.
Orwell never deluded himself: hence his discomfort at the political and social
tendencies of the totalitarian (and advertising) age, which is based largely on
exploitation and power tactics.