The Lack of Camaraderie in George Orwell's Animal Farm

In the Russian Revolution, fellow rebels referred to each other as comrades, In George Orwell’s Animal Farm, the animals adopt this term as well. It conveys a sense of camaraderie, but is this sincere? Although they may seem united, each rebel has a different perspective on liberation. Revolution will never successfully end oppression because the rebels are not unified. Each rebel has different moral ideals, Foremost, their separate perceptions of freedom disagree. When Mollie asks if she could keep her ribbons after Jones was driven out, Snowball replies, “’Comrade… those ribbons that you are so devoted to are the badge of slavery, Can you not understand that liberty is worth more than ribbons?”’ .

This quote shows that they have different perceptions of freedom since Snowball and Mollie disagree on the ribbon issue. Snowball‘s perception of freedom is a life where animals escape slavery by humans and roam the land as the dominant creatures.

Mollie’s idea of freedom is much simpler.

She only yearns for a life where she can tie ribbons in her mane and chew on sugar cubes all day. These two cannot possibly accomplish the same goal when their views on such an integral principle of their initiative contrast with each other so greatly. Thus, they cannot succeed in rebelling because they have two very different ideas of what success will be like. Furthermore, their beliefs on equal distribution of work are at odds. When Orwell describes how animals work on the farm, he says, “Boxer… would put in some volunteer labour at whatever seemed to be most needed, before the regular day’s work began… And the behavior of the cat was somewhat peculiar.

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It was soon noticed that when there was work to be done the cat could never be found”.

This shows that their stances on equal labor differ because some animals are shirking work while others are putting in extra hours. Boxer is the perfect worker and genuinely cares about the greater good of the animals on the farm. The cat is deceitful and uses its charm to reap the rewards that others have earned without her help. A rebellion will go nowhere unless each member is completely committed to the cause, and as the cat shows, there are always individuals who do not pull their weight. As shown by these instances, the rebels are held back by their conflicting moral beliefs The rebels do not perceive each other as equals. To be clear, they cannot be unified if they divide themselves based on intelligence. When Orwell describes the roles of the animals on the farm after Jones left, he says, “The pigs did not actually work, but directed and supervised the others.

With their superior knowledge it was natural that they should assume the leadership” (Orwell 45). This displays the fact that animals are treated differently due to their intelligence because the working animals automatically designate the pigs to lead them. The pigs use their intellectual superiority to manipulate the other animals and do what they please. Although a rebellion needs leaders, decisions should take into account the viewpoint of the whole, notjust the smartest, A revolution cannot succeed when the smartest are left to make all the decisions. It could even lead to the intelligent ones becoming the new tyrants and heaping more oppression on the others, which the rebels were trying to do away with in the first place.

In a similar way, discrimination arises based on different levels of obedience. When describing the deal Napoleon made for the hens’ eggs, Orwell says, “Napoleon had accepted… a contract for four hundred eggs a week… the hens made a determined effort to thwart Napoleon‘s wishes… He ordered the hens’ rations to be stopped, and decreed that any animal giving so much as a grain of corn to a hen should be punished by death”. This conveys the message that animals are treated differently based on their obedience since Napoleon enacts harsh consequences on those who go against his wishes. Boxer, a model worker, is completely obedient to the government. Thus, he is praised and held in high standing by Napoleon, The hens, however, are treated like traitors since they would not do whatever Napoleon says.

Every individual has different opinions, and in a revolution all peoples’ viewpoints should be heard and respected. Napoleon’s method of punishing those who do not conform to his ideals cements the fact that rebellion does not stop oppression, it only aggravates iti All in all, revolution cannot succeed when the rebels do not regard each other as equals. Overall, revolution will never succeed without unity. Although the rebels may refer to each other as comrades, they do not regard each other as equals, This is why the rebels remained oppressed even after the Russian Revolution concluded.