George Orwell's Dystopic Visions and Essay

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In Animal Farm, Orwell more directly satirizes real world events, as the overthrow of a farmer by his animals and the progression of the new order established there to a totalitarian dictatorship closely mirrors that of Russia's sudden transition to Communism and Stalin's iron-fisted rule. Whereas 1984 drops the reader immediately into the world of a government gone wrong, Animal Farm shows the emergence of such a government. Things begin happily once the farmer has been chased off, the animals all pitch in to accomplish the necessary work and "every mouthful of food was an acute positive pleasure, now that it was truly their own food, produced by themselves and for themselves" (Chapter III, par. 3). But eventually one of the pigs -- the species that had started the revolution -- wrests power from the other by having him driven off, and things on the farm enter a steady decline where the animals end up overworked and underfed.

In a strange way, the government in 1984 is almost more honest than that portrayed in Animal Farm. Although Big Brother's Party watches and controls everything that goes on, including rewriting history and "fact" to suit its own political purposes, it does not really pretend that it does any differently. Despite attempting to appear more innocent than they really are, the Party is quite obvious in the amount of control it exerts over the individuals in society. It is also unclear that their motives are entirely nefarious, and this is one of the central problems with Fascism: it presupposes that utter control over society makes for a better and more efficient society. When Winston is faced with O'Brien's final betrayal, he admits that "Yes, he saw now, he had always known it" (III, 1, par. 85). A part of him has been automatically indoctrinated to the point that he knew even disobedience was part of the Party plan.

As insidious as the methods of the Party in 1984 are, the government as run by Napoleon in Animal Farm is far more dishonest and ultimately destructive towards its citizenry.

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Big Brother observes and controls everything, even using torture to break people down, but the point is to create a model society -- a scary vision of dystopia with no individuality or freedom of expression, but something that functions to provide everyone with the physiological necessities of life, and even the reworking of history and Party actions can be seen as working towards this goal. When Napoleon rewrites the wording of the Sixth Commandment to read, "No animal shall kill any other animal WITHOUT CAUSE,'" he is causing a fundamental shift in the society and government purely for personal gain, without any regard whatsoever for his "citizens" other than that they continue to be subservient to him (VIII, par. 1).

In 1984, Orwell depicts a world where language is so controlled that thoughts become difficult to develop if they do not match Party principles. The characters of "common citizens" in Animal Farm are too tired and overworked to think or remember any way. Both methods of government create systems where the populous is unable to have an opinion contrary to the ruling party's, and both seriously warn abut the encroachment of government into controlling aspects of society, both overtly and through hidden channels. While Communism has largely tumbled and Fascism never quite reached the extremity it sees in 1984, there are certainly lessons from these books that are applicable today. Without or own individual notion of truth, which can be difficult to arrive at in a world full of other versions, we cannot really be free.

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