Equality among citizens. Everyone wants to be equal, and that equality has to be possible, right? Wrong. There is no possible way for every being, human or animal, to be equal. There will always be someone or something that will take power and upset the balance of equality, even if it isn’t obvious at first. Animal Farm was destined for failure from the beginning because if the pigs had not taken charge, someone else just as inadequate would have, the pigs were already considering themselves preeminent before the revolution began, and the difference in opinions and ideas about the farm caused chaos.
The pigs may have been atrocious as leaders, but any of the other animals would’ve been just as bad. In Animal Farm ; (33) George Orwell states that “Boxer could not get beyond the letter D. ” Boxer may be the strongest, but he definitely wasn’t the brightest. No one that imbecilic should ever be in a position of power because whatever was being ruled would be immediately be driven into the ground by the lack of knowledge in ruling.
The only animals with even some cognition of the real world were the pigs, horses, dogs, and Benjamin, seeing as “None of the other animals on the farm could get further than the letter A” (33). The inability of being able to even learn the alphabet then disqualifies them for the position of a satisfactory leader. So why couldn’t Benjamin lead if he was one of the intelligent animals? He could “read as well as any pig” (33).
But, he was lazy and “he never exercised his faculty” (33), meaning that he may be smart, but he is also quite careless about what goes on around the farm. None of the animals on Animal Farm were fit for ruling due to their lack of intelligence, laziness, or their selfishness. The fact that none of the animals were fit to rule was a good reason for the farm’s failure, but they wouldn’t have even had a chance to rule because the pigs were already trying to prove themselves as superior before the revolution had even began.
Old Major especially was already thought to have been better than the other animals. Old Major was “so highly regarded on the farm that everyone was quite ready to lose an hour’s sleep in order to hear what he had to say” (4). He also spoke about all the things he had done and how he had not yet been slaughtered and the reason for that was because “such is the natural life of a pig” (4). He had already believed that he was superior to everyone else, which planted the seed of the superiority of the pigs in all of the animal’s minds.
The pigs especially believed Old Major about being preeminent compared to the other animals, seeing as “they had taught themselves to read and write” (23). They wanted to make sure that as soon as the revolution began, they were in charge without question, no matter the cost. Not only did the pigs want to become in charge so badly that they were slowly making themselves preeminent before the revolution even began, the two main pigs, Napoleon and Snowball, disagree about almost everything that had to do with running the farm.
Snowball had decided to make committees to help make decisions, but “Napoleon took no interest in Snowball’s committees” (34). When Snowball proposed the idea of a windmill to reduce the amount work to be done, “Napoleon held aloof. He had declared himself against the windmill from the start,” (49). He later admitted he wanted the windmill, so the only reason he was opposed to the windmill was just to disagree with Snowball. The two pigs hardly agreed on anything, making it difficult for decisions to be made.
Napoleon and Snowball had”disagreed at every point where disagreement was possible” (47). They were always dissenting about different issues, not just the ones that were mentioned. It’s difficult for anything to be governed when the two direct commanders are always arguing on how they should rule. Animal Farm was doomed to fail before it had even started. There was no one that was fit for ruling, the pigs had already deemed themselves in charge and superior before Jones was even gone, and the main pigs in charge were always dissenting.
Orwell meant this as a metaphor for real life. There isn’t always a good option for a leader, it’s more of a choice for the best of two evils. And even if there are good leaders, they don’t always agree which causes huge disputes, but nothing to be done about them. This shows that it doesn’t matter how hard anyone tries, there is no possible way for everyone to truly be equal. Animal Farm is just foreshadowing what the flaws in humanity could become if those flaws are ignored instead of an attempt to make an improvement.
