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Prompt:
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Animal Farm
‘When someone is striving for power, they will always affect the reality around them.’
Imaginative
Diary Entry
Dear Diary
It was peaceful. The birds were chirping and everyone was working together. I look back now and realise that it was never the same. After we learnt the truth about Snowball, the
“Great” Napoleon as many people would say, took over Animal Farm. The change was subtle and I never really thought about it until Boxer’s death. It shook me. How could Napoleon let this happen? To Boxer! The thought of this led me to uncover the truth about Napoleon.
The first few days of Napoleon’s leadership were exactly what everyone on Animal Farm wanted. Everyone was working together. Everyone was happy. Everyone was equal. But slowly things started to change. The pigs started to not work with me, Boxer and the other animals to help build the windmill; they would just observe and oversee the work. Never lifting a finger (trotter). Soon enough the pigs wouldn’t even come out, and the animals would follow the example of Boxer who ‘never gave up’ to complete the windmill. Napoleon was hardly ever seen. It wasn’t obvious but the pigs started to be treated above all the other animals.
I remember trying to memorise the seven commandments. When I thought I had the first one memorised, I would forget it instantly. I wish I had tried harder to memorise it. Maybe things would have been different. There were rumours around the farm about Napoleon and the other pigs, drinking alcohol and sleeping inside Mr Jones’ house, and at the time it jogged my memory. I would ask other animal “wasn’t there something in the commandments about this?” but nobody knew. The only animals that did were the pigs. I now know what
Napoleon did. He tricked all the animals. Even myself. I didn’t think Napoleon would ever do something like this, but he changed the commandments. Unsuspectingly to all the animals he added words to the commandments so it would suit him; changing the reality of all the animals because of his power.
I don’t remember the events of Boxer’s death that well. It started off like any other day. The pigs were drunk. The other animals were working to finish the windmill. Boxer was continuing his attitude of “Napoleon is always right” and “I will work harder” and the rest is just a blur. The only thing I can remember is Boxer being taken away, by what I thought at first was an ambulance. I was wrong. When I saw that Boxer was on his way to the slaughter house, I couldn’t believe it. I tried to tell him. He was too weak. Boxer was on his way to die.
Now that I think about it, of course Napoleon would tell everyone that he wasn’t going to die.
He was manipulative and the animals believed every word that came out of his mouth.
I try to remember a time where I was truly happy. In the days of Mr Jones? The early days of
Napoleon? But as soon as power went to their heads they changed us. Napoleon was manipulative, persuasive and a totalitarian and I wish I saw this coming. He is no different than Mr Jones and I don’t know whether or not it will ever be peaceful again.
Benjamin

Written explanation
I chose to write from the perspective of Benjamin. To try and best demonstrate my knowledge of Animal Farm and the prompt I decided to write a diary entry because I wanted to tell a story about a specific point of view and the feelings a character would have during the event that occurred in Animal Farm. The language is not complex as Benjamin could not read or write and the entry is not targeted at anyone. Benjamin uses this diary to express his thoughts and feelings not for other people to read. I decided Benjamin would be reflecting back in the story because in Animal Farm Benjamin doesn’t discover the truth about
Napoleon until the end of the novel.