Animal Farm. POWER AND CONTROL the Method Behind the Madness. AICE: General Paper 9/Pavich

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Garey Myles McDowell
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1 Animal Farm POWER AND CONTROL the Method Behind the Madness AICE: General Paper 9/Pavich

2 Whatever goes upon TWO LEGS is an enemy (therefore, one must never take up the habits of the enemy!) Whatever goes upon FOUR LEGS, or has wings, is a friend. No animal shall wear clothes. No animal shall sleep in a bed. No animal shall drink alcohol. No animal shall kill any other animal. ALL ANIMALS ARE EQUAL The SEVEN Commandments Of Animalism

3 So What, Orwell?!? Consider the following quotes from our story. What s Orwell s point in writing them? All that year, the animals worked like slaves (Orwell 59). There is work to be done. This very morning we begin rebuilding the windmill (Orwell 70). They were always cold, and usually hungry as well starvation seemed to stare them in the face (Orwell 74). they had worked longer hours and fed no better than they had done in Jones s day (Orwell 92).

4 Notice how the animal s living conditions keep deteriorating? If I were taking over the world (or the farm) dictator-style, I d keep the standard of living low too here s why

5 The Beauty of Low-Class Living HOW IT WORKS: Less product = more labor More physical labor = less intellectual freedom Less product also = less comfort for the masses Less comfort also = less intellectual opportunity (too busy trying to survive ) FEAR= Danger = willingness to hand over power as an unavoidable condition of survival LESS INTELLIGENCE OF THE ABOVE = MORE CONTROL

6 So What, Orwell?!? Consider the following quotes from our story. What s Orwell s point in writing them? Two Legs Bad, Four Legs Good you don t want Mr. Jones to come back, do you?! Comrades, he said quietly. Do you know who is responsible for this? Do you know the enemy that has come in the night and overthrown our windmill? SNOWBALL! (Orwell 69-70). Suddenly an alarming thing was discovered. Snowball was secretly frequenting the farm by night! The animals were so disturbed that they could hardly sleep in their stalls (Orwell 77). [Snowball] performed all kinds of mischief. He stole corn, he upset the milk-pales, he broke eggs (Orwell 78).

7 Notice how Napoleon is always making up lies about Snowball? How he maintains a good relationship with one neighboring farm at all times but never with the other simultaneously? If I were trying to take over the world (or the farm) dictator-style, I d create a source for negative energy too here s why

8 Creating an enemy gives the citizens a focus for their hatred and anxiety; it s a form of emotional control over the masses. By hating the enemy, they feel the opposite for their leader, devotion and love. By feeling fear of the enemy, they look to their leader for protection. Remaining in conflict with at least one neighboring country/region at all times has the same effect (i.e. Pinchfield OR Foxwood one provides necessities, the other provides source for control). Remaining in conflict with an outside country/ region at all times, creates a sense of pride and unity inside the leader s country, which decreases the likelihood of rebellion within!

So What, Orwell?!? Consider the following quotes from our story. What s Orwell s point in writing them? As for the pigs, they could read and write perfectly (Orwell 32).

9 So What, Orwell?!? Consider the following quotes from our story. What s Orwell s point in writing them? As for the pigs, they could read and write perfectly (Orwell 32). Clover learnt the whole alphabet, but could not put words together. Boxer could not get beyond the letter D (Orwell 33). None of the other animals on the farm could get further than the letter A (Orwell 33). [The animals] remembered, or thought they remembered (Orwell 80). The animals saw no reason to disbelieve him, especially as they could no longer remember what conditions had been like before the Rebellion (Orwell 92).

10 Notice how uneducated the animals on the farm are? If I were taking over the world (or the farm) dictatorstyle, I d teach myself to read and write but not share it with the others either here s why

11 The animals are kept in a state of utter ignorance. Thus, they are never aware of their oppression Thus, they will never rebel Thus, the leader will always have TOTAL control!

12 So What, Orwell?!? [Squealer] assured them the resolution against engaging in trade and using money had never been passed, or even suggested. It was pure imagination Have you any record is it written down anywhere? (Orwell 64). it s all written down in the secret documents that we found I [Squealer] could show you this [plot to lure us to our doom] in [Snowball s] own writing if you were able to read it (Orwell 80-81). No animal shall kill another animal without cause (Orwell 91). Did we not see for ourselves how [Snowball] attempted to get us defeated at the Battle of the Cowshed? [Whereas] Napoleon sank his teeth in Jones s leg? Surely you remember that (Orwell 79-81). The animals now also learned that Snowball had never received the order of Animal Hero, First Class merely legend (Orwell 97). A loud crash in the yard at the foot of the end wall of the big barn, where the Seven Commandments were written a ladder a lantern, a paintbrush (Orwell 108).

13 Notice how Napoleon keeps changing his story? How we, as the reader, start getting a little confused ourselves after a while? If I were trying to take over the world (or the farm) dictator-style, I d re-write history to make myself look good too here s why

14 Whoso controls the PAST, controls the FUTURE the leader is never wrong! If a written record does not exist, it is easier to persuade the masses that it never existed in the first place. As a back-up, even if it is written, the animals are too unintelligent to read it anyway! Orwell s concept of DOUBLETHINK the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one s mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them it s a tampering with reality. It s the willful blindness to contradictions in a system of beliefs. EXAMPLE: knowing Snowball was formerly heroic, erasing this idea from your mind because the leader says so, then believing the information that replaces it, that Napoleon was the hero).

control them body, mind and spirit Body work

15 Bottom Line? The GOAL for Totalitarian Leadership is to INSTILL FEAR in the masses, make them dependent upon their leader in order to control them body, mind and spirit Body work em hard Mind change history and keep em ignorant Spirit toy with their emotions, make em love ya

16 The moral to be drawn from this dangerous nightmare situation is a simple one: Don t let it happen. It depends on YOU George Orwell HOMEWORK FINISH THE NOVEL WITH THESE IDEAS IN MIND!!!!

Soon or late the day is coming. Tyrant Man shall be o erthrown. And the fruitful fields of England Shall be trod by beasts alone.

Soon or late the day is coming. Tyrant Man shall be o erthrown. And the fruitful fields of England Shall be trod by beasts alone. Old Major s Speech Comrades you have heard already about the strange dream that I had last night. But I will come to the dream later. I have something else to say first. I do not think, comrades, that