Animal Farm by George Orwell
參賽者：林O均
名次：第三名
書名：Animal Farm
得獎作品：
George Orwell once said, “Animal Farm was the first book in which I had tried, with full consciousness of what I was doing, to fuse political purpose and artistic purpose into one whole.” Animal Farm is an allegorical and dystopian novel, in which Orwell skillfully mingles the idea of communism with a tale about animals. At the beginning, all the animals brought up the idea that they shouldn’t have been controlled by human beings; they had the aspiration for independency and self-direction.
Nevertheless, Napoleon was a power-hungry leader and became a totalitarian dictator as his lust for power increased to the point of no return. Pigs themselves violated the Seven Commandments of Animalism, yet Squealer always excused those behaviors with his brand of twisted logic. The story climaxed when Boxer, an incredibly industrious horse, who offered all his strengths to help build the windmill, was sold to a knacker by Napoleon when he exhaustedly collapsed. The Seven Commandments were eventually reduced to a single law: “All Animals Are Equal / But Some Are More Equal Than Others.” At the end of the story, as other animals watched the scene from outside the window, they could not tell the pigs from the humans.
After reading the novel, I was profoundly horrified by the unsightly selfishness and disgrace of authoritarians. However, Animal Farm was in fact the epitome of the cruel and brutal reality, with some being egoistic and self-centered, caring nothing about others. What was worse was the ugliness of humanity could be seen everywhere, from conspiracies against each other, to schemes with evil intentions between countries. Cupidity and avarice have existed ever since antiquity; those who suffer from greed seem deprived of morality and commit criminal acts or conducts even worse.
Similar to the saying, “Absolute power corrupts absolutely.” In the story, the intelligence of pigs made them feel a sense of superiority and at a higher status than the other animals. Napoleon was just the example of corruption with centralization of authority. I could not help asking myself, “What if I were the ruler? How would I treat my people?” I can’t bare to imagine what the world would be like if politicians were not concerned about people’s welfare but paid attention to their own instead. If I were the leader, I would admonish myself not to lose my way in fame and gain. I would learn to bring leadership skills into full play and lead my people better lives. I would remind myself what I had expected from the ruler and always stick to ethics and justice. Only when I was devoted to public well-beings would people’s happiness be truly realized.
However, the situation could be even more tormenting when we were doing what we believed shouldn’t have been done. In Burmese days, Orwell witnessed the tyranny of British Imperialism, doubting himself as he was one of the pioneers that quelled the colonials. He feared for himself, abominated oppressions, and tortured himself from the bottom of his heart. The struggle between his position and belief was stiff penalty to him. “Political language…is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind,” said Orwell. The eager for power therefore became the main idea of Animal Farm and made the story a successful satire.
The form of government has evolved for a long time; people all over the world found the political system that they believe to be better. Democracy is generally thought highly of nowadays; people focus more on their rights and manage to protect themselves than before. The protest either “for” or “against” signing Cross-Strait Agreement on Trade in Services with China leads us to think back over democracy. Democracy doesn’t come easy; everyone should cherish the freedom of speech and not abolish the rights. I am fortunate to be born in a more robust and sound society. I encourage myself to always keep an open mind and commit myself to learning and listening to the thoughts from others.
