Animal Farm as a Utopia

The definition of utopia is “no place” and means a place or state that exists only in the imagination, where everything is perfect. This idea is usually displayed by communist governments and, in Orwell’s novel, the utopia dreamed by Old Major failed because of Napoleon. He started a bad leadership since the animals managed to get rid of Mr. Jones.

Before dying, Old Major explains his ideas of equality among the animals and convinces them to struggle against the owner of the farm. The old pig also says humans are the only creatures that consumes without producing and sings “Beasts of England”, which shows them the great life without man. So, the night Mr. Jones arrived drunk and forgot to feed the animals, they decide to organize their revolution.

Three days later, the old boar passes away and Snowball and Napoleon take over the place. But Napoleon wants all the power. When his friend become the leader and gathers the other animals to discuss the construction of a windmill, Napoleon stands up with nine enormous dogs which run after Snowball.

At this moment, Napoleon shows himself as a tyrant who's omitted his aims. He has trained the dogs for his protections, as well as other purposes. Then he becomes hypocrite and tries to erase everything he lived. From this time on, the idea of equality among the animals falls apart and turns into a dystopia, which is the antithesis of utopia, characterized by an oppressive social control.

The pigs break the rules and go into Mr. Jones’ house. They start to eat in the kitchen and sleep in beds. Clover remembers that there is something saying not to do that in the Seven Commandments, but she cannot read, so asks Muriel to read the fourth one. The goat says: “No animal shall sleep in beds with sheets”. Clover does not remember anything about sheets.

Because of the pigs’ attitude, the animals notice their perfect world is not the way they planned. The more Napoleon wants more power, the more the utopia goes away. The tyrant blames Snowball when the windmill is destroyed by the storm and takes more rations just as they are running out of food. This confuses the other animals.

The utopia changes to a dictatorship under Napoleon’s whip. He gained the animals’ trust only to improve his living and installed a caste system with two groups: the rulers – the pigs, and the workers – the rest of the animals. When Napoleon took command, the equal and perfect society they dreamt of failed. Napoleon made changes to justify his actions and turned out to be a symbol of greed.