Irony in ”Animal Farm” by George Orwell

In the story Animal Farm by George Orwell the author wants to show how too much power in the hands of one individual can lead to inequality and unfair advantages. In the story it was said all animals should be treated equally, but as the story progressed all the animals began to be treated unequally. In the story Orwell uses the literary device irony, dramatic irony. Orwell was showing us the hypocrisy coming from the pigs before the animal were able to see. the animals told each other ​ “Man is the only creature that consumes without producing. He does not give milk, he does not lay eggs, he is too weak to pull the plough, he cannot run fast enough to catch rabbits. Yet he is lord of all the animals. He sets them to work, he gives back to them the bare minimum that will prevent them from starving, and the rest he keeps for himself.” All the animals were against the humans including the pigs but once old major died there was many changes made. Napoleon and Snowball were left in charge for being the smartest. but Napoleon wanted to be the only one in charge he wanted to have all the power over the animals.

The only thing stopping Napoleon from having power of all the animal was snow ball. Snowball had different plans such as building a windmill to give them electric power so they can use electric tools and make make work much easier for them. while Napoleon wanted to worry about food production. So the rest of the animal were asked to vote between Napoleons idea or Snowballs idea. Once Napoleon realized the animal were going to choose Snowballs idea he sent his nine dogs to chase Snowball out of the farm. The animals are frightened by the nine dogs that standby Napoleon so they obey all orders given by Napoleon or his assistance Squealer because “Napoleon is always right” now that Snowball is out of Napoleons way he begins to make the hens give up 400 eggs a week to pay for grain because they were out of food.

The hens refused to give up eggs so Napoleon punished the hens by not feeding them and who ever fed the hens would be punished as well. After five days pass with the hens not fed some have died so the hens decide to give the 400 eggs as Napoleon asked. Boxer begins to realize the hypocrisy coming from Napoleon, he tells Squealer he thinks snowball was loyal and was never a traitor to animal farm. Squealer takes the message back to Napoleon and later Napoleon send his dogs to attack Boxer and anyone else who agreed with Boxer. Boxer was able to take on the dogs and save himself but the other animals were killed. Boxer realized the commandment 6 states “. No animal shall kill any other animal.” he also so saw the pigs drinking alcohol when the 5th commandment says “No animal shall drink alcohol.” Later commandment 6 and 5 were changed to ​ “No animal shall kill any other animal without cause.” and “No animal shall drink alcohol to excess.” the animals saw that the pigs were changing the commandments to their benefit. In April as they begin to build a new windmill Boxer

becomes ill and Napoleon sends to a vet but when the vet shows up the vehicle shows a sign saying “ horse slaughter”. Boxer died three days later in the hospital.the pigs took over animal farm and began to be just like the humans walking on two legs, carrying whips and wearing clothes. the pigs then got rid of the commandments and put “All Animals Are Equal. But Some Are More Equal Than Others.” Too much power in the hands of one individual can lead to inequality and unfair advantages. ​ Power can easily corrupt someone into becoming the person they were trying to destroy. The pigs goal was to destroy Mr Jones because he was cruel and unfair with the animal.The animals were used by Mr Jones he would take the animals production for his personal use and benefit. but the pigs became exactly like Mr Jones but worse.