Is Animal Farm relevant to Singapore? A revisit..

[D15z7]

Tan Kin Lian / Columnist

 

Are we seeing a modern Animal Farm happening in Singapore,

where corruption and propaganda are used to control the populace?

 

ANIMAL Farm is a novel written by George Orwell in 1945. I studied this book for Literature when I was in Secondary Two.

 

It is a satire, depicting events in Russia leading up to and during the Stalin era before World War II. The animals of Animal Farm threw out the owner Mr. Jones and took over the farm, depicting the overthrow of the Czar of Russia during the Russian Revolution in 1917.

 

The animals, representing the people, looked forward to a better life under a new leadership. Their leaders were the Pigs, and Napolean was the supreme leader. He ruled Animal Farm initially with the support of the animals, but later kept his power through all means, including propaganda, lies and the use of terror.

 

Two memorable parts of the book were the Seven Commandments and how they became distorted and the story of the loyal horse Boxer.

 

Seven Commandments

The original seven commandments of Animal Farm were written to reflect equality of the animals, ethical behaviour and the search for a better life:

 

Whatever goes upon two legs enemy

Whatever goes upon four legs or has wings is a friend,

No animal shall wear clothes. No animal shall sleep in a bed.

No animal shall drink alcohol.

No animal shall kill any other animal.

All animals are equal.

 

Corruption

Later Napoleon and the Pigs (elites) were corrupted by the absolute power they held over the farm. To maintain their popularity with the other animals, they secretly painted additions to some commandments to benefit the pigs while keeping them free of accusation of breaking the laws. The Pigs manage to get away with this because only Benjamin the donkey and Muriel the goat can read to any effective degree, but they were not willing to challenge the pigs.

 

The commandments were changed to accommodate the desire of the leader for a life of luxury and wealth, while ignoring the lot of the other animals.

 

No animal shall sleep in a bed with sheets.

No animal shall drink alcohol to excess.

Four legs good, two legs better!

No animal shall kill another animal without cause.

All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.

 

Boxer

I felt strongly attached to the horse Boxer. He was the symbol of the working class: loyal, kind, dedicated and respectful. He was physically the strongest animal on the farm, but na

[SGCMmaomao]

wise..