Third Person Narrative Robs the Reader of Insight and Connection

"The third person narrator, instead of being omniscient, is like a constantly running surveillance tape"

-Andrew Vachss

The book Animal Farm is a political fable that is written entirely in third person narrative. In my opinion, this was both a positive thing for the progression of the plot and the development of characters as well as a negative thing.

As the quote above alludes to, by being presented the story by a narrator with an overarching point of view, I, the reader, get to see and know everything that happens within the world of the story, including everything all of the characters are thinking and feeling. The result is passages like: "Old Major (so he was always called, though the name under which he was exhibited was Willingdon Beauty) was so highly regarded on the farm that everyone was quite ready to lose an hour of sleep in order to hear what he had to say" (Orwell Animal Farm 1). Such reading provides the reader with what is occurring within the plot while including interesting facts that couldn't be shared through first person narrative. However, it also causes a very factual feel to a story and at times causes it to be dry and boring. Therefore, I believe Animal Farm would have been better if it was written in first person narrative, preferably from the perspective of one of the common animals, like Clover or Benjamin.

Had this exciting story been written from one of their perspectives, I would have been able to dive into the inner workings of their minds and developed a closer connection to one of the story's many protagonists. The feelings of pathos caused by first person narrative would have occurred within me as I developed intimacy for the character and cared for their well being. For example, if the book was written from Boxer's perspective, I would have truly seen the strenuous lifestyle that this mighty animal lived. However, I would have also witnessed his death and removal from his personal, sad perspective which, honestly, would have been awful. It was difficult enough to read about from the view of the omniscient narrator! "There lay Boxer, between the shafts of the cart, his neck stretched out, unable to even raise his head. His eyes were glazed, his sides matted with sweat. A thin stream of blood had trickled out of his mouth" (Orwell 79-80).

Another advantage of the book being rewritten in first person narrative is that the book and its plot would have had a much more mysterious feel to it. Since the character that we would be watching the plot from would only be limited to what he/she sees or hears, the reader wouldn't know every single detail within the plot. This would result in a more active reader as he/she would infer events within the plot according to the information that they have while also using this insight to foreshadow. If I were to follow the perspective of one of the characters in Animal Farm, like a lowly, unintelligent common animal, the lack of insight that that particular character has would make the story much more exciting as basically every event would be unexpected and the plot would become unpredictable.

Since George Orwell's classic was meant to inform, not entertain, the audience about the political downfalls of the east, I understand why Animal Farm was written from an 'all-knowing' perspective. Orwell wanted to inform the world about how corruption can ruin any chance at a happy, healthy and smooth running Utopia. Thus, it was important to give the readers the facts of this animal fable in order to clearly send his message. However, this engaging story of greed, corruption and oppression would have been much more engaging, meaningful, exciting and mysterious if written from the outlook of one the characters living their dream of freedom in nightmarish conditions.

*A special thanks to Cree Toner and her post on narration for her classic novel. It, along with the mustache that she had today, provided this post with inspiration and direction. *

Boxer: Loyalty Exploited

Of all the abused, trusting and naive animals on the Animal Farm, none of them worked harder or was more devoted to the pigs than Boxer, the cart-horse. "Boxer was an enormous beast, nearly eighteen hands high, and as strong as any two ordinary horses put together" (Orwell Animal Farm 2).

As he is the strongest animal on the farm, he is constantly called upon to complete difficult tasks that even all the animals combined wouldn't be able to do. However, "... he was not of first-rate intelligence, but he was universally respected for his steadiness of character and tremendous powers of work" (Orwell 2). It is this steadiness of character and loyalty that gets Boxer into a lot trouble after the Rebellion occurs and the pigs assume absolute power.

Although he isn't intelligent, Boxer realizes his importance to the new Utopia and the fact that what he does is the driving force behind it. "He had been a hard worker even in Jones's time, but now he seemed more like three horses than one; there were days when the entire work on the farm seemed to rest upon his mighty shoulders. From morning to night he was pushing and pulling, always at the spot where the work was hardest" (Orwell 18). At times Boxer doubted the decisions made by the pigs and the leaders themselves, yet he was never intelligent enough to understand exactly what was going on. "Boxer, who had now had time to think things over, voiced the general feeling by saying: 'If Comrade Napoleon says it, it must be right' " (Orwell 37). In place of thinking for himself, he resolves to remain stubbornly loyal to the cause of Animal Farm.

This foolish maxim along with his other of 'I will work harder' make up this beast's ideology from that point onward. It was then that I realized the reason Boxer adopts these personal mottoes is because he needs simple slogans to live by. When things become complex, all he can do is fall back on them. Although he is well intentioned, he is much too eager to have someone else tell him what to think. Due to this, he is exploited by the pigs, who allow him to push himself to the limit in order to help the farm.

Boxer may just be a fictional horse in a fictional book, but I found myself drawn to him and his work ethic. In fact, I saw a lot of qualities of Boxer being similar to myself. Throughout elementary school and some of high school, people always wanted to work with me during school projects. I was known as the "hard working browner" that would ensure a great grade for his group members because of my intelligence, eagerness, large capacity of work and the fact that I would take on projects myself instead of dividing up the work. This drive of mine was exploited by the students in my classes but it was also understandable. I never knew when to stop or let things go. I always wanted perfection and, in my opinion, that required me to do all the work. The combination of a pile of work to do and my drive for perfection resulted in a lot of stress for me and by the end of each year I was tired, burnt out and not the pleasant person that I take pride in being.

Unlike Boxer, I was able to stop this awful cycle that I found myself stuck in. A big part of that change for me was being introduced to the enriched stream of learning, where all students are as intelligent and eager as I am. Since then I have learned to delegate the work in a group scenario, be a better team play and step back every once in a while so I don't take on too much. Sadly for Boxer, the same could not be said for him. His dedication, loyalty and drive were too hard on his ageing body. However he wouldn't slow down, even when the other animals told him to.

Boxer's insane pace caused him to burn out and was what caused his death in pursuit of the dream of Animal Farm. "Too late, someone thought of racing ahead and shutting the five-barred gate; but in another moment the van was through it and rapidly disappearing down the road. Boxer was never seen again" (Orwell 82-83). At the same time, this also displayed the betrayal of the pigs, who merely sent him to the knacker without a thought after years of hard work and service by this powerful animal. For me, Boxer's life is a cautionary tale. In life it is important to work towards our goals but it is just as important to relax and enjoy where we are on our paths of life. Or else we will end up like Boxer: beaten down, tired, depressed and no longer the people that we want to be.

Symbolism, Propaganda and a Pen

"Whatever happened she would remain faithful, work hard, carry out the orders that were given to her, and accept the leadership of Napoleon. But still, it was not for this that she and all the other animals had hoped and toiled. It was not for this that they built the windmill and faced the pellets of Jones's gun. Such were her thoughts, though she lacked the works to express them" (Orwell Animal Farm 59).

George Orwell, a democratic socialist, was a critic of Joseph Stalin and hostile to Moscow-directed Stalinism. Although he wasn't against rebellion itself, he was against corrupt leadership and couldn't ignore the suffering, pain and helplessness of the people that were under Stalin's dictatorial reign ("Context of Animal Farm"). He felt that the new Soviet Union wasn't a positive representation of the possibilities of a socialist society. Therefore, Orwell became a sharp critic of communism as well as capitalism while advocating freedom as a committed opponent of communist oppression. His outrage was expressed through two anti-totalitarian books that he wrote shortly before he died. One, titled 1984, paints a terrifying picture of a world where personal freedom is nonexistent ("Context of Animal Farm"). The other, Animal Farm, reflects the events leading up to and during the Stalin era in Soviet Russia by retelling the story of emergence and development in the form of an animal fable set on an English farm. Although disguised as a children's book, Animal Farm is an attack on the Russian Revolution and became a valuable piece of propaganda on the evils of Stalin and his rule for the Western world.

Due to this, there are countless connections between the story and the events the occurred during the communist revolution in 1917. In fact, each character in the story symbolizes an important person or group of people that was somehow part of the uprising. The following post will explore some of the most important symbols and characters within the story, determine what they represent and their effect on the plot.

First, and most obviously, is the struggle for power between the pigs Snowball and Napoleon. "Snowball was a more vivacious pig than Napoleon, quicker in speech and more inventive, but was not considered to have the same depth of character" (Orwell 9). Snowball was a key part in the creation of Animalism and fully believed in a better life for all animals.He is less of a schemer than Napoleon but a fantastic speaker. "At the Meetings Snowball often won over the majority by his brilliant speeches, but Napoleon was better at canvassing support from himself in between times" (Orwell 31). Overall, Napoleon was very different in comparison to Snowball. He "...was a large, rather fierce-looking Berkshire boar, the only Berkshire on the farm, not much of a talker but with a reputation of getting his own way" (Orwell 9). Unlike Snowball, Napoleon was cruel, brutal, selfish, devious and corrupt.

Unfortunately for the future of Animal Farm and its inhabitants, "these two disagreed at every point where disagreement was possible. If one of them suggested sowing a bigger acreage with barely the other was certain to demand a bigger acreage of oats, and if one of them said that such and such field was just right for cabbages, the other would declare that it was useless for anything except roots" (Orwell 31). This rivalry was similar to the one between Leon Trotsky (the pure communist) and Joseph Stalin (the power thirsty revolutionist). "In both the historical and fictional cases, the idealistic but politically less powerful figure (Trotsky and Snowball) is expelled from the revolutionary state by the malicious and violent usurper of power (Stalin and Napoleon)" ("Themes, Motifs & Symbols"). The result is tyrannical rule and the eventual abandonment of the founding principles of their respected revolutions. "There was nothing there expect for a single Commandment. It ran: All Animals Are Equal But Some Animals Are More Equal Than Others" (Orwell 90).

Another important symbol in the story was the windmill, the key project that all the animal slaves devoted nearly all of their time to. It was Snowball's dream to see this structure built and working so it "could be made to operate a dynamo and supply the farm with electrical power" (Orwell 32). However, after Napoleon's takeover and numerous rebuilds due to weather, attack and structural weakness, the great windmill symbolizes the pigs' manipulation of the other animals for their own gain. "Despite the immediacy of the need for food and warmth, the pigs exploit Boxer and the other common animals by making them undertake backbreaking labour to build the windmill" ("Themes, Motifs & Symbols"). Then, after the completion of the project many years later, it wasn't even used for its original purpose! "The windmill, however, had not after all been used for generating electrical power. It was used for milling corn, and brought in a handsome money profit" (Orwell 86). This is yet another example of the pigs' betrayal to their fellow animals and their ability to get what they want because the animals cannot think for themselves. "From an allegorical point of view, the windmill represents the enormous modernization projects undertaken in Soviet Russia after the Russian Revolution" ("Themes, Motifs & Symbols").

Orwell wrote Animal Farm as a cautionary tale that he hoped would make a difference. Orwell not only wanted Russia to learn from the story, but he wanted all people to understand political revolutions where the ideals of justice, equality and fraternity shatter in the events (Johnson 4). This powerful plot and the vital symbols within it were used to explain how power corrupts well intentioned revolutionaries. George Bernard Shaw said it best when he penned: "Power does not corrupt man; fools, however, if they get into a position of power, corrupt power".

Bibliography

Johnson, Juliana. "The Russian Revolution and Animal Farm." Scribd. 8 December 2006. Web. 30 October 2011.
Lamont, George. "Animal Farm- Comparison of Characters to the Russian Revolution." n.p. n.d. Web. 26 October 2011.
n.a. "Context of Animal Farm." Sparknotes. n.d. Web. 29 October 2011.
n.a. "Themes, Motifs & Symbols in Animal Farm." Sparknotes. n.d. Web. 29 October 2011.

Deception and the Misuse of Power

"No one believes more firmly than Comrade Napoleon that all animals are equal. He would be only too happy to let you make your decisions for yourselves. But sometimes you might make the wrong decisions, comrades, and then where should we be?"

- Squealer (Orwell Animal Farm 37)

In George Orwell's thrilling and intuitive novel Animal Farm, we get to witness how the corruption, greed and selfishness of a revolution's leaders results in the destruction of any chance of a better life for its members. The reader sees how the leaders slowly use deception, wit and their advanced intelligence in order to create the perfect life for themselves while destroying those of others.

After driving the drunken Mr. Jones off of the Manor Farm, the 'superior' pigs assumed immediate and full power. “The work of teaching and organizing others fell naturally on pigs, who were generally recognized as being the cleverest of the animals" (Orwell 9). That day was truly the beginning of the slow and clever demise of the inhabitants for the new Animal Farm.

Through smart and carefully calculated manipulation, the pigs begin to create the perfect lives for themselves, at the expense of all the other innocent and naive animals that were loyal to the ideology that is Animalism. The deception used by the pigs was evident throughout the book; however, the most prominent example was the twisting and changing of the Seven Commandments of Animalism.

"These seven commandments would now be inscribed on the wall; they would form an unalterable law by which all animals on Animal Farm must live for ever after" (Orwell 15). However, over the course of their independence, the commandments are "modified" to justify when the pigs have broken one of the rules of Animalism in order to make their personal lives better. For example, there was a mass murder of animals that confessed to crime associated with Snowball, one of their former leaders. Napoleon and his dogs ended the lives of these animals for a variety of crimes such as meeting with Snowball in secret after his expulsion from animal farm, planning rebellion and urinating in the pond. "A few days later, when the terror caused by the executions had died down, some of the animals remembered - or thought they remembered- that the Sixth Commandment decreed: ' No animal shall kill any other animal.' And though no one cared to mention it in the hearing of the pigs or the dogs, it was felt that the killing which had taken place did not square with this" (Orwell 61). However, when some the animals went to the side of the barn to read The Seven Commandments again, "It ran: ' No animal shall kill any other animal without cause.' Somehow or other the last two words had slipped out of the animals' memory" (Orwell 61).

By adding to and changing that commandment, the animals realized that they were in fact in the wrong, for clearly there was good reason to kill the traitors that leagued themselves with Snowball. This simple modification of these laws of Animalism justified the acts by the pigs, even though they had broken the original rules that the foundation of Animal Farm was built upon. Unfortunately for the naive, innocent and trusting animals, this wasn't the first time that their lack of intelligence was exploited. The pigs also altered other commandments that justified their drinking of alcohol, sleeping in the farmhouse beds and wearing clothing!

While the pigs enjoyed the luxuries of human life, the lives of the other animals slowly became worse than before the Rebellion. "Their life, as far as they knew, was as it had always been. They were generally hungry, they slept on straw, they drank from the pool, they labored in the fields; in winter they were troubled by the cold, and in summer by the flies" (Orwell 87). And with no memory of life before the Rebellion, most of the animals had nothing they could compare their current lives with. Nobody realized that they their dream of freedom was just that, a dream. Nobody realized that this belief of freedom was truly what imprisoned them.

Welcome!

All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.

-Napoleon (Orwell Animal Farm 90)

As I have read from the first page of this classic novel, George Orwell has been able to suck me into the world at the revolutionized Manor Farm. I have witnessed the uprising of these animals as they realized their dream of running their lives, work schedules while being able to fulfill their desires, dreams and ambitions in life. Unfortunately, I was watched as the pigs have slowly taken over Animal Farm. They have taken every aspect of the farm and with their 'superior intelligence' and have been abusing the trust of all the other livestock.

Through my work in this classic novel study, I plan to explore the hierarchy found within this colony and how the pigs used tactical events and speeches in order to slowly take over the farm for themselves. Then, I will see how this shift of power led to the collapse of the dreams of these animals and numerous hardships. Finally, I will investigate the connection that Orwell made between his story and the collapse of the USSR in the late 1980's.

Sadly for the animals of the new Manor Farm, their dream of a perfect farm where all animals are equal and all needs are met was simply too good to be true. In fact, the day that they chased Mr. Jones of their property in order to begin a new empire was the beginning of the worst years of their lives. And for many, they would be their last.