In his
speech to the animals in the big barn,expounds certain principles which the animals are to live
by if their rebellion should succeed. Most of these propositions have to do with the animals
treating one another as equals and not adopting human characteristics or behavior. Old Major
feels that everything about humanity is evil and that the animals, once they have gained their
freedom, should never become like their abusive, exploitative, and tyrannical
masters.
After Old Major's death, , , and , the three leading pigs on the
farm, develop Old Major's teachings into a complete system of thought that they call Animalism.
After the Rebellion, the animals are in complete control of the farm. The pigs, through their
studies over a period of three months, reduce the principles of Animalism to Seven Commandments.
These laws will be the foundation on which the animals' lives are based and are unalterable.
Snowball then inscribes the list of rules on the barn wall where they can be clearly
seen.
The information above makes it clear that the Seven
Commandments are the result of a joint effort by all the pigs. The formulation of the
Commandments is the result of the pigs' investigation and study of all the concepts contained in
the theory of Animalism and is an expression of its practical application.
It is ironic, however, that the very same animals who
develop the Commandments are the first ones to alter them to suit their wants and their greed in
spite of the fact that they have said that the rules must be unalterable and permanent. In fact,
by the end of the novel, all the commandments have been replaced by a single, paradoxical
instruction that:
All animals are equal, but some animals
are more equal than others.
This equivocal statement
becomes a symbolic testament to the unequal equality that the majority of the animals on the
farm are exposed to, and it is a damning indictment of the pigs' manipulation and greed. Old
Major would have been ashamed.
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