I was stopped in an airport by a man who noticed I was holding George Orwell’s Animal Farm. He looked to be older, and immediately met me with a smile when pointing out “you’re reading Animal Farm! How is it so far?” I was only 20 or so pages in, so I replied by saying that I saw some parallels to major moments in human history, and that I thought it was a really intriguing read so far.
In the story, a wise pig named Old Major sparked some new, intellectual thought amongst his fellow animals and drove a revolution against their oppressors. It reminded me a lot of the American Revolution, and how the founding fathers organized a revolt. Old Major was like Thomas Paine waking others up with his piece Common Sense.
This airport man went on to say that he’s read it every five years throughout his life since studying literature in college. He recommended the same for me; that I should read it every five years and I’ll still find Orwell’s story a fitting metaphor for the human condition. That’s the magic of the allegory.
With that piece of advice in mind, I finished the rest of the story within a few days. Every page was meaningful- symbolic of flawed leadership, flawed society, flawed systems. It was the natural lifespan of an increasingly fascist society, all caused by the mistake of the blind follower’s faith.
To sum it up, Mr Jones was a farmer who always mistreated his animals: starved them, beat them, exploited them. All the oppressed and abused animals accepted this as how life is, until one day, wise elder pig Old Major gives an impassioned speech creating a rebellion. With comradery and motivation, Mr Jones was overthrown and the animals went on to rule the farm.
All were exilherated, beyond elated to have earned their freedom. Immediately, they began organizing their new way of life. They would work whenever, eat whenever, and sleep whenever. This all fell apart, however, when the smart pig named Napoleon began spreading lies, misinformation, killing his dissenters, and choke holding the entire farm into submission through fear his of murderous hounds. Napoleon ordered impossible working hours, essentially turning his “comrades” into slaves through the disguise of patriotism and progress. Food rations, harsh work hours, and strict regulation of free speech were given.
The pigs began rewriting the constitution, fitting it to their desires. They began living as tyrants, living the same comfortable and luxurious lifestyle that Mr Jones, their previous dictator, had enjoyed. Of course, the entire story is more specific and detailed than this summary, but thats the gist.
Initially, I began comparing this story to the United States’ revolutionary times. Colonies who wished to be sovereign rebelled against their oppressive king who lived overseas- their king who enjoyed a luxurious lifestyle. Their king that would cast upon them unjust taxes and the intolerable acts, and even ration their food with scarce supplies and little to no actual benefits of being under his rule. However, instead of good and democratic founding fathers like those who attended the first Continental Congress, this story is like if America was immediately born as a fascist nation with Washington as our dictator.
Animal Farm certainly stands as a metaphor for the American Revolution, but this story can be applied to plenty of other instances. India’s liberation from British governance and occupation, South Africa’s riddance of apartheid led by Nelson Mandela, the Russian Revolution during World War One.
Most interesting to me, though, is how Animal Farm applies to modern United States politics. The book has aged like fine wine, and airport man was absolutely right: the story is always applicable in some way. Reading every five years might actually be a great idea.
I saw the personality and scumminess of Trump in Napoleon. Trump is a man who indulges in pleasure, even at the cost of his own dignity. He’s a man who lies to his blind following, as the animals once were to Napoleon. A man who steers the mob’s hive-minded thoughts for his own convenience. Lets talk about what actual details parallel.
Squeaker was the spokesman of Napoleon; a devout follower whose only goal in life was to kiss Napoleon’s ass. Napoleon went on to fill the government with other pigs similar to squeaker. Ben Shapiro is a squeaker with rock-solid close-minded beliefs that he rattles off faster than Eminem just to preach pro-Trump rhetoric that is almost always factually incorrect. Elon Musk is the kind of squeaker that sits behind a screen spam-tweeting cult-like beliefs and praise into his own echochamber. Ron Desantis is an out of touch squeaker who has fallen so far into Napoleon’s cult that he’s essentially twisted the state of Florida into a testing ground of outdated societal structures and bigoted beliefs. Similar to Squeaker saying the year of slave labor was good for the animals who endured, Ron Desantis declared that slave-owners of the confederation did African Americans a favor.
The rest of the pigs that enjoy a luxurious life style thanks to Napoleon stand to represent Trump’s business partners: yes-man suckers that please him, and his family and friends. Gluttony, a symbol of greed, became commonplace amongst the pigs on the farm. The pigs got much, much bigger as they lived lavishly with constant feasts and no rations on food. The cows produced milk one night, and while no one else was looking, the pigs took them and drank it all. Similarly, last May, Trump accepted an Air Force One from Q’atar as a gift, outmaneuvering restrictions that limit presidents from personally benefitting through presidency.
Snowball, Napoleon’s competitor for leadership, was chased down by Napoleon’s hounds and forced into hiding. For the remainder of Napoleon’s rule as pigtator, he blamed every single thing that goes wrong on the farm on the unseen, unheard Snowball. Today, Trump and his administration are blaming undocumented immigrants for the bulk of the United States’ problems. Issues like unemployment, the economy, supply chain shortages, and higher crime rates are all supposedly the undocumented immigrants fault. The unseen, unheard undocumented immigrants. What does Trump do? He ignores the facts; immigrants strenghten the economy and supply chain, and, statistically, they have the same crime rate as U.S. citizens do.
Trump tramples on undocumented immigrants with foul language and unbased accusations, then targets them with legislature stripping them of rights. All this to cover up the real causes of our country’s problems: wealthy businessowners hiring at criminally low wages, the rich not paying tax, Trump’s own tariff policy hindering supply chains, and a godforsaken pandemic that got millions unemployed.
All this to say that the parallels are absolutely existent. The pigs in Animal Farm represent fascist leadership. Their methods and governments reflect many of the past, such as Hitler’s scapegoating and supremacist regime, Stalin’s scare-tactic obsessed and dissent-crushing sole leadership style, Mussolini with the self-proclaimed title of “The Duce of Fascism,”
Orwell wrote Animal Farm as a warning with, impressively, no bias in how the story is told. The details, actions, and motivations of all of the animals on the farm speak for themselves. Animal Farm will remain a timeless sociological piece used to assess our own governance, and undoubtedly, as airport man said I should, I’ll be reading this story once every five years.