“All animals are equal but some are more equal than others” — George Orwell
Good evening, my blog!✌️
Today’s post is only about one quotation from the book which we are reading in our Pleasure Reading Conferences at LUNN. By “We” I mean Anatoliy Ivanov, Amina Golubeva(amina_go), Людмила Советкина, Dmitry Mavrin, and Nikita Kabishev . Our small group (actually it’s bigger than all others) is reading the book which is called “Animal Farm” by George Orwell, the autor of dystopia «1984». By the way, Animal Farm is also a dystopia, but it was written before “1984” (1945 vs 1949). So, I’ve chosen one of the most popular quotations (and I have a presentiment that I’m not the only one who had chosen the same quote😅).
So,
The violation of the seventh, the most important commandment of the Animalism “All animals are equal” — is the latest example of pigs’ systematically abusing logic and language to control their subordinates. It happens in Chapter X and puts completely meaningless content in a seemingly plausible linguistic form. Although the first proposition implies that all animals are equal to each other, it does not explicitly state this. Thus, it is possible to misinterpret the word “equal” as a relative term rather than an absolute one, implying that there may be different degrees of “equality”, just as there may be different degrees of colorfulness (for example “more colorful”, “less colorful”). Once this misinterpretation occurs, saying “more equal” is no more absurd than saying “more colorful”. (Just think about it!😲🧐)
By small, almost imperceptible steps like these, the core ideals of Animalism— and any human nation — gradually become corrupted.
The revision of the original phrase also points to the specific form of corruption on Animal Farm. The initial, unmodified phrase makes reference to all animals, its message extending to the entire world of animals without distinction. Similarly, Old Major expresses ideals that posit the dignity of all, the comradeship of all, the inclusion of all in voting and decision-making, so that no one group or individual will oppress another. However, the revised phrase mentions “all”, but only to distinguish “SOME” from this “all”, to indicate the uniqueness, elite nature, and chosen status of this “some”. Pigs clearly present themselves as this privileged “someone”; under their totalitarian regime, working animals exist only to serve the greater glory of leadership, provide food and comfort to rulers, and maintain their luxurious and exclusive lifestyle.
And as many may already guess, the “Animal Farm” is a metaphor for the Soviet Union with its leadership and the communist politicians in the role of the pigs that seized power over the other animals: Old Major (as V. Lenin), Napoleon (as J. Stalin), Snowball (as L. Trotsky) and others. Maybe I’ll write about this topic more in some of my following blog-posts. So, watch for updates!😉
That’s all for today, folks!🙌🏻
And as always, see ya later in my next blog post!😸 Take care, wash your hands and wear a mask!😷
S.Bar
