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Charles Daniel Prescher
English 1302
Mr. Valdespino
April 17, 2015
Lessons from Literature
Problems arise in our lives and we must find ways of resolving the problem by finding the
best solution, but sometimes the solutions that we believe are the right way may not be and the
solutions of others may be what’s best. Certain works of literature such as Utopia by Sir Thomas
More and Animal Farm by George Orwell give examples of how society can benefit from the
acceptance of other ideals and the tragedies that can befall a society that refuse to acknowledge the
benefit of other ideas because they hold on to the belief that only they can create ideas that are
worthwhile. These works of literature are reflective of the times they were written in and are
testimonies that a refusal to acknowledge the benefits of a different ideal cannot benefit a society
and that the respect for others and the ideals others have can enhance a society for the better.
Utopia was written during the sixteenth century and is a story about a society that has
learned to live in harmony. Utopia is written by Sir Thomas More and the book contains two
sections. The first part of Utopia is called Book One and it is where the narrator meets a sailor
named Raphael that has been to the country Utopia. Before the discussion on the society of Utopia,
the narrator and Raphael discuss the issues that plagued both England and Europe during that time
period. Some issues discussed are of thieves and how they are cruelly punished by execution, as
well as the problems caused by the wealthy and their monopolies on commodities that cause
suffering for peasants (More 15). The issues discussed are influenced by the time period that
"Utopia" was written in and it is for this reason why literature from a certain era is so important to
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understand. Constance Furey states that, “More builds his imaginary world using details culled
from life in sixteenth-century, and Utopia - a fictional island society- is itself a commentary on the
values and politics of More's society” (Furey 1). More created the fictional island of Utopia so that
he could address the problems of the day while also allowing future generations who read his work
to see what was going on during the turbulent times of which he was a part.
The society of Utopia is calm and many issues that are a problem in Europe are not in
Utopia. John Parrish from Loyola Marymount University explains that the "Love of learning and
openness to new ideas runs through every dimension of Utopian life” (598). What this implies is
that the country of Utopia and her citizens are in such good shape when compared to the countries
of Europe because they are willing to change their way of life if another way of life they perceive
as better is presented to them. The level of prosperity reached by Utopia did not come from the
ideas of just one political entity. It would have been a joint venture by all the people of Utopia
sharing all the different ideas that they have and choosing the best one for their society as a whole.
The satisfaction the people of Utopia feel would not have happened if they did not have an open
mind to other ideals and stubbornly clung on to their own individual ideals.
An example of what can happen when a society decides to allows the expression of ideals
can be found today by looking at most modern countries. The countries that allow other ideologies
to influence them are the countries that see the most stability. Countries that restrict the different
ideologies present in their country will see discontent among their citizens. The United States for
example is a stable country when compared to the country of Syria. The biggest difference
between the two countries is that the United States does not suppress the expression of ideals that
do not completely agree with established ideas, while Syria does oppress the ideas of their people
and as a result this has led the country into civil war. Theodor Tudoroiu reports that “Bashar
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al-Asad tried to give the impression that he was open to negotiations. Yet, the brutality of the
repression continued to increase, as shown by the 25 May 2012 massacre in Houla that left 108
dead, including 49 children” (310). Bashar al-Asad is the president of Syria and the method he
chose to suppress the protest in Syria was to massacre his own citizens instead of negotiating with
them as he said he would. The result of his actions led to the Syrian Civil War that rages on still.
Asad’s refusal to negotiate and find a compromise has led to conflict. It is clear that to compromise
is better for a society since the result of oppressing a population can lead to a conflict that benefits
nobody.
By contrast, the type of government the United States implements is a democracy. As a
result, our country is quite stable. Jared Diamond of Governance Journal states the reason why a
democracy is important; “In a democracy, citizens and their ideas get heard. Hence, without
democracy, people are more likely to feel unheard and frustrated and to resort to violence” (185). It
is because the United States is a democracy that allows their citizens to voice their concerns that
makes the United States a stable country. As mentioned before, our government is the exact
opposite of the political policies of Syria. As the evidence above states, a democratic government,
which allows the expression of ideas to present themselves, is one of the best ways for a society to
function. Any oppression of ideas will lead to conflict, as is evident by the Syrian Civil War.
Animal Farm by George Orwell is story about a group of animals that suffer under the
abuse of their owner Mr. Jones. This abuse eventually leads to the animals revolting against Mr.
Jones and taking control of the farm themselves. The animals attempt to create a paradise for all
the animals that live there so that they never have to suffer the cruelty that they suffered under Mr.
Jones. Hopes are high for this new life but the end result is that a small group of animals take
control of the farm and slowly begin to oppress the animals to the point that they are worse off than
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they were before with Mr. Jones.
This entire story is an allegory about the Russian Revolution and how there was hope for
the Russian people for change after the oppression of the Russian Tsar Nicholas II had ended, only
to once again be forced to live under cruelty by Joseph Stalin. John Rodden explains that Animal
Farm is also an allegory, whose plot and characteristics have a specific correspondence to events
in the U.S.S.R from 1914 to 1943” (70). The purpose of the book was to represent the political
events that were taking place in Russia during that time. It can be concluded had the events within
Russia never occurred the story would have never been written. Due to this, Animal Farm then
becomes a reliable source if someone decides to use it as a reflection of the troubles of that era.
The characters in Animal Farm all have significant meaning in the story and represent real
people. The two main characters of the novel are the pigs Snowball and Napoleon. Snowball
throughout the story is always organizing and discovering new ways to improve life at the farm for
all the animals. He helps the animals at the beginning to establish themselves as independent from
any human and creates a set of just laws for all animals to follow. As supported by John
Whalen-Bridge, Snowball is representative of Leon Trotsky who during the Russian Revolution
supported the Bolshevik and theorized new ideas that he believed would benefit the people of
Russia (73). Trotsky was later exiled by Stalin for having opposing views just as Snowball was
exiled by Napoleon in Animal Farm.
Throughout out the story, Snowball researches the books that were left behind by the
oppressive Mr. Jones and learns from them so that he can use the knowledge to better the farm. The
farm was run well under the coordination of both Snowball and Napoleo: food production was
better than it had ever been and the animals were content with the way life was. Snowball’s use of
knowledge from other resources such as the books of Mr. Jones to construct a windmill and his
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working with Napoleon to help the farm become more stable shows how the use of other ideas
does benefit a society as a whole.
While Leon Trotsky may not be part of contemporary society, there are examples of people
like Trotsky that are active in today’s society. One such example is that of Chen Guangcheng, who
is a Chinese human rights activist that has been persecuted by the Chinese government for
speaking against some of their policies. As explained by Gordon Chang, writer for World Affairs,
“Although Chen in particular had no apparent intention to roil the regime, he has inadvertently
done precisely that by creating a controversy" (6). Chen's activism was a thorn in the
government’s side and they attempted to have him removed from the political scene by arresting
and charging him with false claims. Similar to Trotsky, Chen was forced to leave China because he
is seen as a threat to the government. It's evident that any government or single political leader
whose motives are similar to those of Stalin or the Chinese government does not tolerate anybody
that would offer an alternative idea to what has already been established.
Napoleon is also one of the leaders in Animal Farm although his methods are very different
from Snowball’s. Snowball believed that the farm should be organized in a way that would benefit
all the animals there, where-as Napoleon wanted to run the farm in the way that would benefit
himself. He wanted absolute power for himself and had no regard towards the well-being of the
other animals. This opposition to one another finally ended when Snowball was forcibly exiled
from the farm, the same way that Trotsky was exiled from the U.S.S.R by Stalin in order to
eliminate any opposition to himself and his ideals. Shortly after this event the quality of life at
Animal Farm begins to deteriorate for all except for Napoleon and his supporters. V.C.
Letemendia from the University of Toronto states that text of Animal Farm gives clues as to what
will happen to the rule of Napoleon and his supporters; "The final scene of the book, moreover,
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reveals the disillusionment of the of the working beasts with their porcine leaders, an essential step
in the process of creating a new revolution” (3). The dissatisfaction of the animals with Napoleon
and his draconian methods of control cause the animals to resent him and will most likely lead
towards overthrowing and exiling him. When a political entity works to suppress the voice of it’s
people and no longer allows them a say in the established of policies and, instead, forces them to
maintain the status quo, then the people that have been disregarded for so long will take matters
into their own hands in order to make changes. It is because of Napoleon’s lust for power and his
unwillingness to incorporate the ideas of others that would benefit all animals that led to his
becoming no different than the humans the animals had worked to overthrow.
Governments such as Napoleon’s cruel reign over Animal Farm exist to this day. Napoleon
suppressed anybody that challenged his position just as the Chinese government did during the
Tiananmen Square protest. The Tiananmen Square protest was a protest to promote democratic
reform in communist China that ended with the Chinese Government forcibly ending the protest
with military intervention that cost thousands of lives. M.E. Sarotte writes that “CCP’s top
decision maker, Deng, wanted to show that he would tolerate neither large-scale popular protest
nor elite attempts-above all by Zhao-to split the party by reaching out to the masses (160). Deng
Xiaoping was the effective leader of the dominate Communist Party during the protest and ordered
the military to suppress the protesters because they challenged his way of running the country. Just
like Joseph Stalin and Napoleon suppressed the ideas of their people, Deng did the same thing
when he was confronted with an opposing idea.
Literature is a work of art by writers of a specific era who are looking to express the
problems faced during that time and to offer insight for people of other eras to understand what
was taking place. The writings tell us not only what the problems of their society are but also what
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they did to create the problems they had. Consequently, to understand the literature of an era
means to understand what happened in those times. Utopia is broken down into two books: one to
explain the troubles of the real world and the other to describe a fictional peaceful world and why
it is peaceful. Animal Farm describes a society of animals that try to live in harmony but fail
because a single group takes power and starts to impose their ideas which benefits them at the
expense of the rest of the society. Utopia presents a problem that society has and presents potential
solutions to these problems. Animal Farm presents an allegoric society that offers ideas to solving
the many issues they have as a new society but that eventually succumb to the oppressive way of
one segment of that society. Both works of literature provide evidence that a society that allows the
ideas of others to influence them can be enhanced while a refusal to do so can be harmful to that
society. Additionally, examples of the elements described in both texts can be found in both in
contemporary society. The Chinese government and their suppression of different ideologies share
similar features with Napoleon and his reign. The societal aspects of Utopia share a few
characteristic with such countries like the United States that allow the ideas of their citizens to
come to fruition which benefits society as a whole. Proof from both classic works of literature and
modern events show that the allowance of different ideas benefits a society while the suppression
of ideals leads only to conflict and damages a society by not allowing it to develop.
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Works Cited
Chang, Gordon G. “Great Leap Backward” World Affairs 175.2 (2012): 22-28. EBSCOhost.
Web. 27 Mar. 2015.
Diamond, Jared. “Four Threats to American Democracy” Governance 27.2 (2014): 185-189
EBSCOhost. Web. 4 Apr. 2015
Furey, Constance. “Utopian History” Method &Theory in the Study of Religion 20.4 (2008): 385398. EBSCOhost. Web. 15 Mar. 2015.
Letemendia, V.C. “Revolution on Animal Farm: Orwell’s Neglected Commentary” Journal of
Modern Literature 18.1 (1992): 127-137. EBSCOhost. Web. 27 Mar. 2015.
More, Sir Thomas. Utopia: A New Translation, Backgrounds, Criticism. New York: Norton,
1975. Print
Parrish, John M. “Education, Erasmian Humanism and More’s Utopia” Oxford Review of
Education. 36.5 (2010): 589-605. EBSCOhost. Web. 15 Mar. 2015.
Rodden, John. “Appreciation Animal Farm in the New Millennium.” Modern Age 45.1 (2003):
67-76 EBSCOhost. Web. 15 Mar. 2015.
Sarotte, M.E. “China’s Fear of Contagion” International Security 37.2 (2012): 156-182.
EBSCOhost. Web. 27 Mar. 2015.
Tudoroiu, Theodor. “The Arab Spring: Last Episode of the Cold War.” Contemporary Politics
19.3 (2013): 304-320. EBSCOhost. Web. 6 Apr. 2015.
Whalen-Bridge, John. “Animal Farm” Cyclopedia of Literary Characters. Ed. A.J. Sobczak. 1st
ed. Vol. 1. Pasadena: Salmen Press, 1998. Print.
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