Animal Farm;
Hope
By Kainan,
Tabitha & Liam
Why is it important to have hope?
What does it give people?
In Animal Farm, it is important for the animals to have hope
so they rebel against Mr. Jones and hope for a better life
without man and with animalism. The song ‘Beasts of
England’ inspired the animals to rebel and gave them hope.
They hoped for a life where all animals were equal, they were
their own bosses and where there were no humans to tell
them what to do. Old Major says “remember your enmity
towards Man and all his ways’’ this makes the animals think
about their hatred towards Man and it makes them hope for
the life without Man; taking the hens eggs, taking the cows
milk, making the animals pull the plough, and Man is the only
creature that consumes without producing.
If Moses raven represents religion, what is
his view of heaven and how does this offer
hope to the animals?
In Animal Farm Moses the raven thinks Heaven is Sugar
Candy Mountain. Moses describes Sugar Candy Mountain
as “that happy country where we poor animals shall rest
forever from our labours” and “everlasting fields of clover
and the linseed cake and lump sugar growing on the
hedges.” The animals believed everything that Moses said
about Sugar Candy Mountain and it was something for the
animals to look forward to after they die. They believed
that they had somewhere good to go after they die and
they thought that it would be better than the life they
already have because they won’t have to work and they
have unlimited amounts of food. Compared to their hungry
and laborious lives now Sugar Candy Mountain was their
hope and their light at the end of the tunnel.
What do you think each of the main
animals on the farm hope for ?
I think that all the main animals in Animal Farm
hope for “a society of animals set free from
hunger and the whip, all equal, each working
according to his capacity, the strong protecting
the weak.”
This shows us their dream or hope for the future
when the plan of the rebellion had first been
thought of.
Also “their sense of honour and privilege in being
member of Animal Farm. They were still the only
farm in the whole of England to be owned and
operated by animals” This was what they wanted
from the start so this is what they had hoped for
when they rebelled.
What is the philosophy of Animalism and
how does it represent hope for the future?
The philosophy of Animalism is “All animals are equal.”
This gives the animals hope in a way that they believe
that no one should be their boss, they should be the
bosses of themselves. It gives the animals hope for the
future because the lives they had before were lives in
Totalitarianism so the thought of Animalism gave them
hope and it gave them something to look forward to.
But when Napoleon began to take the lead, their dream
for the future seemed to fade away and the philosophy
was changed to “All animals are equal, but some are
more equal than others.” This showed that
Totalitarianism seemed to be coming back and
Napoleon ruled Animal Farm in the same way as a Tsar.
Explain Old Majors speech and the
ways in which it offers hope.
Old Major gives the speech about how bad the animals lives are
compared to humans and how they can change it. He explained
what an easy life humans lead and what they get away with and how
unfair it is. ‘ Man is the only creature that consumes without
producing, he does not give milk or lay eggs, he is too weak to pull
the plough and he cannot run fast enough to catch rabbits. Yet he is
lord of animals’.
This small part of what Old Major said about humans gave the
animals an understanding of how much they actually have to deal
with and it hurt them to think about how much they really have to do
yet still they are lower than men.
Explain Old Majors speech and the
ways in which it offers hope.
Animals have it so much harder and Old Major rubbed this in to get
it into their heads what they’re letting the humans get away with.
‘We are born, we are given just so much food as will keep the breath
in our bodies, and those of us who are capable of it are forced to
work to the last atom of our strength; and the very instant that our
useless has come to an end we are slaughtered with hideous
cruelty’. This was the tuning point for the animals, it had taken them
time but then they finally realised what they had been going through
for most of their lives and Old Major told them straight that they had
to do something to stop it.
Old Major said again and again ‘man. Man is the only real enemy we
have. Remove man from the scene, and the root cause of hunger
and overwork is abolished for ever’.
Old Major gave the animals hope that theirs lives would get better if
they get rid of man and he told them over and over so they built all
their anger up so that as soon as man’s gone, their lives would
instantly improve and they’ll be happy forever. Old Major finishes
him speech with ‘rebellion’ and this is how they will get rid of man.
How does education, or lack of it, influence
the hopes and dreams of the animals?
Education influences the animals into thinking that without it,
they will grow old without a good job so they are constantly
hoping that they will get educated somehow because they
want to live the best lives they can get (which is what they
see the pigs doing, who are educated and can read and
write). Also because it makes their lives more exciting. A
good example of an animal who is determined to learn is
Boxer, he is always trying his absolute hardest in everything
because he wants to be the best, however Boxer isn’t very
intelligent. This is shown in chapter 3 where Boxer is trying
learn the alphabet, ‘Boxer could not get beyond the letter D.
He would trace out A, B, C, and D, in the dust with his great
hoof’. That is just a small part of the quote which backs my
point that Boxer is trying to learn but he cannot learn more
than 4 letters of the alphabet so he therefore must be hoping
and dreaming on a regular basis that he will get the chance
to learn more (by being educated).
In chapter 10 are the animals to be admired
or pitied for never giving up hope?
In my opinion I pity the animals but its only because I
think they’ve been stupid as Napoleon and the other
pigs ended up behaving like the humans anyway, right
in front of them, when they were supposed to be
against them and the animals haven't even realised
how much the pigs have changed, its unbelievable how
it hasn’t even occurred to them.
Its also very obvious that they still believe its all about
Animalism, when actually they’re the only ones left out
of all of the animals who are still dedicated to what they
had first decided about removing man from their lives;
the pigs have returned to non-animalism ways.
This shows how stupid the animals have been and this
is why I pity them.