- This theory is a nice dream, but doesn't hold water, due to the hierarchy the pigs have instituted. They're the ones in charge, and they're the only ones who interact with humans, and enjoy the benefits of the other animals' labors. Mr. Pilkington acknowledges this disparity when during his toast, he refers to all the other animals (besides the pigs) as "lower classes", and congratulates Napoleon on how "efficient" Animal Farm is run, meaning the pigs exploiting the other animals and effectively turning them into slaves. If the humans have cultivated respect and/or admiration for anyone, it's for the pigs.
The ending of the book is vague, but one interpretation of the strange events taking place then — one of the more straightforward ones — is that in the climax of their corruption, as the pigs are making their alliance with the humans and officially make the farm just as it was before, only worse (even re-renaming it back to "Manor Farm"), something wondrous and terrible happens: the pigs turn into men. To quote:
"The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which."
Think about this for a moment. It is quite possible that this is not the first time it happened.
Mr. Jones, the old owner of the farm, was a pig himself. Just like Napoleon, he served a cruel human owner until one day he took part in a great rebellion. Just like Napoleon, he rose from the ashes as a horrible dictator. Just like Napoleon, he turned into a human in the end as a sort of wicked prize (or a punishment) for his evil.
Manor Farm is cursed. It exists in a cycle of pain that cannot be broken. Every time the human owner grows too cruel, the animals rebel. Every time, one of the animals inevitably becomes an evil dictator. Every time, this animal is transformed into a man, and the cycle begins anew...
Ever wondered why Benjamin the donkey is so bitter and cynical about the whole thing? It's because he is really, really old. He saw the same events happening before, perhaps more than once. The result was clear to him from before the beginning.
- That makes a disturbing lot of sense.
- Plus, considering that the people from around the district were not as surprised as they should have been, it does fit somewhat good.
- This actually fits in with the allegory somewhat. Some historians say that many countries were trapped in an endless cycle like this one; the oppressive ruling class eventually does something that causes the working class to snap and rebel, then the strongest of the working class jump into the power vacuum. Eventually, they become exactly what they fought against, and the original government is re-established (or something very similar to it, at any rate). The cycle then repeats.
- This makes perfect sense when you consider 1984's description of the cyclical nature of revolutions and power struggles.
- Doesn't fit the allegory, though. Farmer Jones is the Czar, and the Czar always was, well, a Czar.
- Well before the Middle Ages the ancestors of the Czars used to be nobodies.
- The 1955 animated adaptation somewhat includes the idea of an eternal cycle, as the animals rebel once more against the new humans; and the credits begin as we see the new army of animals, looking disturbingly like the one Snowball commanded that attacked Jones at the beginning. The difference is that the army is led by Benjamin the Donkey now.
- And human flesh is said to taste like pork.
Yes, I did just suggest Putin was a dog.
- Given that the most recent film adaptation ended with Manor Farm collapsing into ruin due to Napoleon alienating many of the larger animals into fleeing the farm and spending all their income from trade on luxuries for the pigs instead of necessities for the farm, followed by the surviving animals (including some of Napoleon's dogs) swearing to not repeat the mistakes of the past after a new human family buys the land, it's possible.
- In the 1955 animated adaptation, after seeing the pigs behaving like humans, make the animals revolt again.
- There was a Russian sequel fic retelling the Khruschev era onwards, introducing tons of new animal characters who were caricatures of 1960s-1990s politicians. However, it's so inferior to the original that I don't even see the point of linking it here.
- The idea of Putin being a dog isn't far-fetched◊.
- Because every work of fiction has to have at least one, and it would explain his implied longevity.
- What is his TARDIS, then?
- It was stolen by Snowball during his escape, which is why no one ever found him.
- Donkeys live a looooooooooong time. None of you has ever seen a dead donkey.
- There, I just solved the mystery for you. You're welcome.
- Mr. Pilkington seems a more likely candidate for the role, especially with the card feud at the end.
- Not so much Wild Mass Guessing as Critical Research Failure Guessing: American troops did not take part in the Russian Revolution and if they had, they wouldn't have fought on the side of the Bolsheviks.
- Yeah no, it's very clear that Snowball represents Trotsky, right down to his Insufferable Genius personality and banishment. Also from the perspective of Orwell as an author American capitalism being represented positively makes no sense, Orwell was a dissident socialist through and through and his ultimate point with Animal Farm is not so much that socialism is bad as it is that Bolshevism is capitalism with a new coat of paint.
- Wow, that's the same belief I share.
- This makes even more sense because we never actually see Big Brother.
- A small sentence in the book states "The others said of Squealer that he could turn black into white." That sounds like 'blackwhite' from Newspeak. Squealer is one of the original founders of Ingsoc!
- Certainly adds a new spin to the phrasing 'Proles and animals are free' encountered in 1984. Could he...be deliberately trying to kill humanity off?
- If you think about this allegorically, Benjamin is the elderly wise fathers of the young naive workers, aka Boxer.
- With a bit of extrapolation, one might say this is how the 1954 animated adaptation ended. Napoleon looked suitably terrified when his "followers" stormed the house, and killing him and feeding the remains to his dogs would be both ironic and efficient. Of course once they had eliminated the pigs and consumed all the spoils left behind in their hoard, the animals would see a power vacuum open up, to say nothing of encroaching starvation and another harsh winter just around the corner.
- He would also be troubled by Jones' drunkenness and abuse, remembering the Zuckermans' kinder treatment of his animals, and fear for his companions.
- The act of being sold may have left him somewhat disillusioned about humans; having to leave a good home for more squalid surroundings made him wonder if the best thing for animals was to be on their own, not dependent on human whims.
This is based on the fact there's a pig called Napoleon, who ends up seizing power following a revolution that's supposed to promise equality and justice for all. Does This Remind You of Anything?
A long shot, of course, and perhaps unfair given that Napoleon made many reforms which today would be seen as positive, but it vaguely makes sense: not only is it showing how revolutionary idealism was subverted in Soviet Russia, but in all revolutions.
- Interesting thing this made me think about: Animal Farm before Napoleon takes over is somewhat similar to the immediate situation of France after the storming of the Bastille, where you could argue that they're in a similarly bad situation, but the citizens have belief that their sacrifice now will create a better nation later. The animals expelling Mr. Jones but him (in a way, via Napoleon) eventually returning is also similar to France: The Congress of Vienna ended up putting the French Monarchy back onto the throne.
The old major is Juan Perón. Farmer Jones is Carlos Menem / Fernando de la Rúa. The revolution is the 2001 riot. Snowball is Eduardo Duhalde. Napoleon is Kirchner. Squealer is Guillermo Moreno. And the end of the animated film is the "8N".
- ...And a short time after I wrote this WMG, the newspaper Clarín stole the idea
- It makes no sense, yes. But this is WMG, damnit, Epileptic Trees reeks here.
- Most people have mixed feelings about the end of the Cold War. A lot of people think the death of Communism in Eastern Europe is a good thing, but Orwell would have imagined that one elite was simply being replaced by another. In Russia, communism was replaced by the Russian oligarchs, many of whom were former Russian bureaucrats. Boris Yeltsin's reign over Russia, in particular, was defined by its staggering economic mismanagement and incompetence. It wouldn't be hard to write a pig based on Yeltsin: alcohol is what drove Napoleon further down the rabbit hole, and Yeltsin was a notorious drinker. So if Napoleon's regime were to collapse, it would be replaced by a pig who acted completely drunk, and while it would be less brutal than Napoleon, he would anger the animals by destroying machinery with his incompetence.
- What would a pig version of Putin be like?
- See "Modern day Animal Farm" above. Putin will be most likely a dog.
- Helping an ass with a comb-over take over a farm in America.
- Obviously a rooster. Has the comb on top, the wattle underneath, strutting about and crowing about how great he is.
- Then invading another farm on pretenses they somehow pose a threat while hanging out with people doing the exact same thingnote and causing the true collapse of Animal Farm as everyone sanctions it. Also a farm run by a bear is involved.