9. Prose Passage Chart #2

From Animal Farm by George Orwell, pages 117-123:

There was a deadly silence. Amazed, terrified, huddling together, the animals watched the long line of pigs march slowly round the yard. It was as though the world had turned upside-down. Then there came a moment when the first shock had worn off and when in spite of everything— in spite of their terror of the dogs, and of the habit, developed through long years , of never complaining, never criticizing, no matter what happened— they might have uttered some word of protest. But just at that moment, as though at a signal, all the sheep burst out into a tremendous bleating of—

‘Four legs good, two legs better! Four legs good, two legs better! Four legs good, two legs better!’

It went on for five minutes without stopping. And by the time the sheep had quieted down the chance to utter any protest had passed, for the pigs had marched back into the farmhouse.

Benjamin felt a nose nuzzling at his shoulder. He looked round. It was Clover. Her old eyes looked dimmer than ever. Without saying anything she tugged gently at his mane and led him round to the end of the big barn, where the Seven Commandments were written. For a minute or two they stood gazing at the tarred wall with its white lettering.

 ‘My sight is failing,’ she said finally. ‘Even when I was young I could not have read what was written there. But it appears to me that that wall looks different . Are the Seven Commandments the same as they used to be, Benjamin?’

For once Benjamin consented to break his rule, and he read out to her what was written on the wall. There was nothing there now except a single Commandment .

It ran: ALL ANIMALS ARE EQUAL BUT SOME ANIMALS ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS.

  

After that it did not seem strange when next day the pigs who were supervising the work of the farm all carried whips in their trotters. It did not seem strange to learn that the pigs had bought themselves a wireless set, were arranging to install a telephone, and had taken out subscriptions to John Bull, Tit-Bits and the Daily Mirror. It did not seem strange when Napoleon was seen strolling in the farmhouse garden with a pipe in his mouth— no, not even when the pigs took Mr. Jones’s clothes out of the wardrobes and put them on, Napoleon himself appearing in a black coat, ratcatcher breeches and leather leggings, while his favourite sow appeared in the watered silk dress which Mrs. Jones had been used to wear on Sundays.

[…]

Twelve voices were shouting in anger, and they were all alike. No question, now, what had happened to the faces of the pigs. The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again: but already it was impossible to say which was which.

	Linguistic	Semantic	Structural	Cultural
Specific textual  examples of what you’ve observed when reading at this level—cited in MLA format. (You may use numbers or bullets here to take notes)	·         “He looked round. It was Clover. Her old eyes looked dimmer than ever” (Orwell 117). ·         “‘My sight is failing,’ she said finally” (Orwell 118).	·         “Four legs good, two legs better! Four legs good, two legs better! Four legs good, two legs better!” (Orwell 118). ·         “All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others” (Orwell 118). ·         “The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again: but it was impossible to say which was which” (Orwell123).	·         “After that it did not seem strange when the next day the pigs who were supervising the work of the farm all carried whips in their trotters. It did not seem strange to learn that the pigs had bought themselves a wireless set, were arranging to install a telephone, and had taken out subscriptions to John Bull, Tit-Bits, and the Daily Mirror” (Orwell 119).	·         “After that it did not seem strange when the next day the pigs who were supervising the work of the farm all carried whips in their trotters. It did not seem strange to learn that the pigs had bought themselves a wireless set, were arranging to install a telephone, and had taken out subscriptions to John Bull, Tit-Bits, and the Daily Mirror” (Orwell 119).
Demonstrate the development of complexity of thought at each level by writing a descriptive response to what you’ve written in the row above.  (Analyze your thought patterns when observing the examples you’ve listed above—these may also be in note-taking form)	Orwell’s choice of words in this passage from Animal Farm is quite intriguing. Instead of simply saying that Clover’s could no longer see as well as before, he specifically says that “her […] eyes looked dimmer” or that her “sight [was] failing” (Orwell 117-118). This is interesting especially because we see Orwell using physical sight as a symbol for the vision of the revolution and how it has faded.	Orwell uses irony and paradox extensively to highlight how fundamentally corrupted a revolution’s ideals can become, even without its people realizing. The fact that the sheep chant that two legs are better is not only self-deprecation on their part, but also shows that most of the farm animals blindly believe that the pigs are infallible. And the fact that the pigs have altered the commandments shows how absurd their justification for their wasteful habits is. And finally, in saying that the pig has become man, Orwell not only shows how the Pigs have essentially become the human overlords the animals had once overthrown. But he also subtly compares humans to pigs, stating that humans are not to be trusted because they are selfish and greedy, like pigs.	This passage, following the animals’ discovery that the Seven Commandments had been altered, is rife with the repetition of the phrase “It did not seem strange” (Orwell 119). In repeating this phrase, Orwell highlights how the Animals are helpless to do anything to curb the Pigs’ splendorous and wasteful lifestyle because it is now rooted within the ideology of Animalism, which they dare not oppose.	In Animal Farm, George Orwell strived to demonstrate how even the most righteous of rebellions and revolutions could be twisted and corrupted. The Pigs’ transformation into mirror images of humans is Orwell’s idea of the ultimate corruption. The animals had overthrown the humans on the basis of Animalism, but now that the pigs have justified their rise through the principles of Animalism, the other farm animals are powerless.  Through this, Orwell shows how unscrupulous, selfish individuals can take control of a revolution and bring the people to a state even worse than then one they had sought to overthrow.