Topic > Animals' inability to read on Animal Farm

Animals' inability to read greatly affected their daily lives and how power was exercised among them. The ability to read and write makes pigs considered more intelligent than others and, therefore, more privileged. Soon a hierarchy is established where the pigs rule the farm and the rest of the animals are essentially enslaved. The pigs begin to sabotage Old Major's original plans for their own benefit due to the animals' inability to read the Seven Commandments for themselves. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Although Old Major's goals ruled out adopting the vices of Man, once they experienced what he was like, they began to resemble him in his ways. For example, when pigs moved into homes under the excuse of needing a quiet place to work, “some animals were disturbed when they heard that the pigs were not only eating in the kitchen but using the living room as a resting place.” recreation room, but we also slept in the beds." (Orwell, 79). The fact that the pigs copied their enemies made the other animals uneasy about their leadership. They evidently did not respect the original rules, or so it seemed. Furthermore, when Clover, “who thought he remembered a final ruling against beds,” heard what was happening, “he went to the end of the barn and tried to decipher the Seven Commandments which were written there. Finding himself unable to read anything but individual letters, he went to get Muriel... Curiously, Clover had not remembered the papers mentioned in the Fourth Commandment; but since it was there on the wall, it must have been so (Orwell, 79). and their power was exercised. The pigs managed to live comfortably by breaking the rules by convincing them using their power of literacy. The pigs maintained complete control over the animals due to their illiteracy. Napoleon used Squealer's intelligence to make his vigorous actions reasonable. Furthermore, when Old Major was alive, he commanded that “No animal shall ever kill any other animal.” (Orwell, 32). All the animals came to an agreement that no animal should ever kill another animal because they were all on the same team. Killing each other was simply an unthinkable action because unity was necessary to achieve their main goal: defeating Man. However, when Napoleon ordered his watchdogs to kill the “traitors,” they asked to reread the Commandments and noted that “somehow or other, the last two words had escaped the memory of the animals. But now they saw that the Commandment had not been violated; for evidently there were good reasons for killing the traitors who had allied themselves with Snowball. (Orwell, 98). Muriel took the opportunity to include the words “without reason” to validate Napoleon's actions, and the animals could not argue otherwise because they could only rely on their memories. Using his ability to read, he was able to make the unacceptable acceptable. No one could oppose Napoleon's crimes because he had no evidence or support. The habits of pigs were becoming more and more similar to those of humans in drinking, which was the initial cause of this revolution. Furthermore, when the animals first established the rules, they stated: “No animal shall ever live in a house, or sleep in a bed, or wear clothes, or drink alcohol, or smoke tobacco, or touch money, or engage in trades. " (Orwell, 31). All that'”..