Equality

Test yourself

Equality

Even though Orwell appears to advocate equality, he also suggests it is impossible to achieve in a society.

Impossibility?

Old Major declares that the ideal society is one in which every member is equal.
However, we see that even when the animals sit in front of Old Major to listen, they sit in a hierarchical order with the dogs and the pigs at the front.
Orwell may be suggesting that this idea of equality is difficult, perhaps even impossible, to achieve.

Access to education

Equality also seems impossible on Animal Farm as not all of the animals are able to learn.
Snowball attempts to educate the animals early on and perhaps, if this had been successful, a balanced level of equality could have been achieved.
However, Snowball is unsuccessful and the uneducated animals become dependent on the pigs.

Orwell's view

Orwell appears to agree with Old Major in that a society would be more successful if its members were equal. We can see this because the farm is at its most successful, directly after the Revolution, when the animals work together at the harvest and in the Battle of the Cowshed.

Communism (Animalism)

Orwell uses Animalism to represent communism. He criticises communism as it is easily corrupted and enables individuals to seize power.

Marx and Lenin

Marx believed that workers were manipulated and exploited by their employers (just as Old Major says that Mr Jones abuses the animals).
Marx said that, because the employers were getting all of the profit and paying low wages, the workers would rebel and then they could create a more equal society.
Lenin created his own version of communism which was influenced by Marxist ideas. Old Major’s speech uses Marxist ideas, but he calls for the Revolution in the way that Lenin did.

Stalin the dictator

Orwell uses Animal Farm to expose Stalin as a cruel dictator; to show his readers what had really happened in Soviet Russia.
Therefore, he starts with Old Major’s speech to try and show his readers what a socialist society could look like, if its ideas were not corrupted and if power were not seized.

Napoleon

Napoleon gets rid of any opposition, holds trials and executions, bans free speech and changes the commandments to suit his regime.
He does not educate the animals equally and he gains absolute power. In the end Napoleon and the pigs are indistinguishable from the men.
Orwell’s message here is clear; in Soviet Russia, Stalin’s regime was so cruel and corrupt that the people suffered just as much as they did under the capitalist Tsar Nicholas II.

1Important Plot Features

1.1Plot Summaries

1.1.1Chapters 1-2

1.1.2Chapters 3-4

1.1.3Chapters 5-6

1.1.4Chapters 7-8

1.1.5Chapters 9-10

1.1.6Keywords

1.1.7End of Topic Test - Chapters 1-5

1.1.8End of Topic Test - Chapters 6-10

2Characters & Their Links to History

2.1Key Characters

2.1.1Old Major

2.1.2Snowball

2.1.3Napoleon

2.1.4Squealer

2.1.5Boxer

2.1.6End of Topic Test - Key Characters

2.1.7AO2/3 - Key Characters

2.1.8Exam-Style Questions - Boxer

2.2Other Characters

2.2.1Mr Jones

2.2.2Clover

2.2.3Hens

2.2.4Sheep

2.2.5Mollie

2.2.6Benjamin

2.2.7Moses & Mr Frederick

2.2.8Pilkington & Mr Whymper

2.2.9End of Topic Test - Other Characters

2.2.10End of Topic Test - Other Characters 2

3Key Themes & Orwell's Purpose

3.1Key Themes

3.1.1Education

3.1.2Power & Control

3.1.3Power & Language

3.1.4Equality

3.1.5End of Topic Test - Key Themes

4Language, Form & Structure

4.1Language, Form & Structure

4.1.1Form & Structure

4.1.2Language

4.1.3Symbols

4.1.4Narrator & Allegory

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