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Character
Character
Throughout his works, Orwell creates his character to represent a larger meaning of the political agenda of various people. One way that he highlights political agendas is through conflict. In Animal Farm, two pigs, Snowball and Napoleon, hold leadership positions amongst the farm animals. Snowball represented peace and equality. He would often explain his desires for improvements to the farm that would benefit each and every animal. Napoleon, on the other hand, was intelligent, but he also began to see pigs as the superior species amongst the farm animals. This caused him to see himself as powerful and he desired power over others more.
Snowball and Napoleon also represent how political parties are in real life. Political parties each have representatives who are leaders, but each has an opposing view that the other does not. Parties fight for the approval of citizens in order to be able to gain more power and influence within government. Napoleon's forceful overtaking of power is meant to represent the communist government that allowed for a party to take over the government through manipulation. However, it wasn't just the contrasting relationship between Snowball and Napoleon that was demonstrated. Orwell depicted another pig, Squealer, who was Napoleon's right hand man, and he would promote and support all of Napoleon's decisions. Using his knowledge and excellent speaking skills, Squealer could convince the animals on the farm that anything Napoleon did was good or that someone else had committed treason. Squealer is an excellent representation of news and media.
Parties and party candidates in real life use social media and news coverage to demonstrate to the people an image of themselves. People only see what they are permitted to by the leaders who are in power, just as Squealer only tells the animals about what Napoleon wants them to hear. Orwell personifies aspects of government within his characters throughout many pieces of his work. Another showcase of how Orwell represents characters is through memorable quotes. Big Brother in 1984 promotes the idea that "freedom is slavery" and "ignorance is strength" to his people. With these ideas, Big Brother is supposed to represent the real life government's use deception and the people's lack of knowledge to keep itself in power. Without anyone to truly know everything about Big Brother, there was no way to end the oppression and rule against the people. Orwell depicts this government as an informative piece to warn people around the world about the political dangers of a totalitarian government taking control.
Setting
Setting
Orwell utilizes setting within his works as a way of demonstrating the lasting effects of characters' actions. A key example is in his work, Animal Farm, where the environment seems to change as Napoleon rises to power. Instead of having Snowball's promised winter of heating within the barn, Napoleon's rule brought upon a winter that "was as cold as the last one had been, and food was even shorter." Most of the animals stayed in unheated and poorly insulated structures which makes their suffering immense during this period.
Their lack of food causes them to lose weight which also makes them colder. However, the pigs and dogs get to stay in the heated farmhouse which is a luxurious living space in comparison to other options on the farm. Orwell illustrates the farmhouse as a symbol of power and that also serves as a way of division within the farm that keeps the "inferior" animals at a disadvantage. The division was not present after the animals liberated themselves from Mr. Jones, but Napoleon's greed for power caused a divided farm to reemerge once more.
Not only does the physical setting change, Orwell also relies on tone shifts to maneuver his works into a different direction. Such an instance is in Animal Farm, when there was a great feeling of hope and glee once the animals of farm had freed themselves of Mr. Jones. Snowball devised plans and helped others become more efficient while also promoting freedom and kindness. All of the animals had been filled with joy for they had achieved equality. However, Napoleon changes the tone from hope to fear.
Under Napoleon's rule, the animals had to undergo "cruel work, and the animals could not feel so hopeful about it as they had felt before" when Snowball lead them. Orwell uses shifts in tone to add moments to the story that the audience may not have been expecting. His tone shifts also serve to demonstrate the emotions that people feel when under the control of an unjust government. He utilizes his own thoughts and emotions from his own life to portray the actual feeling of being in the scenarios of his works. The use of fear to divide and rule over others is a tactic that Orwell wants to warn others of. His works are well know for shifting the positive light in which many see the government, to a skeptical and distrusting view of what is actually occurring in the world.
Plot/Structure
Plot/Structure
In the works of George Orwell, he utilizes structure to showcase the rise of power and loss of freedoms. One of my favorite of his utilizations of structure includes the Seven Commandments of the Animal Farm. These commandments served as the ultimate rules that every animal on the farm had to follow no matter what. They were introduced at the beginning of the novel, but as the story progresses, Napoleon begins to have Squealer alter the rules while no one is watching. The organization of the act is a perfect way to showcase the government taking control of the people. They had their rights and rules, but as Napoleon and his pigs grow more and more powerful the rules change. It also foreshadows the end of the novel in which the pigs eventually revert all of the rules one by one to the point where they hold the same power as the humans.
Another fascinating event that occurs towards the beginning of the novel Animal Farm is when nine puppies were born, but then "Napoleon took them away from their mothers, saying that he would make himself responsible for their education." At this point in the novel Napoleon was still seen as one of the good pigs who were helping all the other animals on the farm. However, it is clear that Snowball is the leader that cares more about equality and the improvement of the lives of all the animals. While Napoleon is ridged and views the pigs as superior to all other animals on the farm since the pigs can read, so reading the portion from an outside perspective made it very clear that Napoleon was conjuring some sort of plan. Eventually, it is revealed that he trained them to enforce his will upon those within the farm starting with driving Snowball out during the election for a leader.
The driving out of Snowball represented a key event within the story that would put the farm on a completely different path. It also symbolized Orwell's view of man, and how a man will always do what he can to gain power whether through force or deception. Hence also representing Orwell's distaste for communism and equality for all without many rules because someone, like Napoleon, will learn how to fill the void of power to gain whatever he desires. Overall, Orwell focuses on key events that alter the lives of every character and change the course of the novel itself.
Speaker
Speaker
Within Orwell's works, he often uses a third person point of view to narrate his stories. The third person perspective is perfect for Orwell's mission to inform the world of political ideas and influence. An excellent example of this can be seen in the narration of Animal Farm. From the third person perspective, readers are able to understand the actions and reactions of the various characters rather without the influences of a singular character's perspective. If the story was told from the perspective of someone like Boxer, who blindly follows Napoleon the story would be much different. There would certainly be more "I will work harder" and "Napoleon is always right" throughout the book, since that seems to be all Boxer says. However, the third person perspective allowed us to see the other animals' perspective as Boxer was deceived into being shipped to a butcher.
Having an outside narrator who is not in the story allows for the reader to know the truths about Napoleon's lies. The exposure of what is not seen by all of the characters furthers Orwell's political warnings and distrust. The people of the world are like the animals in the book while our governments are Napoleons who keep truths from the public in order to maintain power and divisions. Due to the fact that the narrators in Orwell's works are not all necessarily characters within the main story, it feels as though it is Orwell himself telling the story and giving his own opinions because it is his message and story after all.
However, if Orwell is, as a matter of fact, the narrator in his third person perspectives, then the views and statements that the narrators make are heavily biased based upon Orwell's opinions. Therefore, the narrator may not be the most reliable source to understanding the motive of every character. Maybe if the perspective were from Napoleon or Big Brother, who are the main antagonists in Animal Farm and 1984 the readers would have a better understanding of what is motivating those characters. The villains may have some just reasons for their actions that are not particularly selfish, but the character may feel it is necessary to protect people from themselves. Additionally, it is the third person perspective that also diminishes the amount of understanding of potentially complex characters in his stories that could have completely changed the message of his novels entirely.
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