NTHS - Animal Farm

[XXXsammyXXX]

but what i still dont get is y the animals would confess...even if they did the crime or not...i mean after the first animal was killed wouldnt you think theyd get the hint and not say anything if they valued their life?

[XXXsammyXXX]

so im guess what im asking is why did they confess?

[Conn]

All the animals in Animal Farm represent a different facet of the Russian October Revolution of 1917. The dogs represent the military, which was constantly controlled and pruged first by Lenin (Old Major) and then by Napolean (Stalin). Snowball represents Trotsky who was exiled by Stalin (and later killed in Mexico by an ice-pick wielded by a Mexican Communist with NKVD secret service connections) because Trotsky was Lenin's most probable intended succesor whose Communism differed vastly from Stalin's Totalitarian dictatorship and becaise while Trotsky was a primary figure in the Russian Revolution (Bothe Febuary and October revolutions) Stalin was a minor figure in the original struggle and an unknown prior to Lenin's death. As a result, the dogs didn't turn on Trotsky (Snowball) but were rather sicced on him by Stalin (Napoleon).

As for the lies about talking to Snowball, they represent the purges Stalin initiated before and after consolidating his power in 1923. They certainly were lies as Stalin's interrogators were not interested in the truth, but rather concerned with finding excuses to purge his enemies, and by torture and other means he forced people belonging to other parties and people who were a threat to him to admit to crimes, especially colaborating with foreign governments and other "counter-revolutionaries" like he branded Trotsky, so that he could punish them and show the people that he was vigilant in purging the country of "seditious elements." In Stalin's interrogations the truth was something that was maleable and unimportant. He exercised arrest quotas for districts and consequently people guilty of no crimes would be arrested simply to fill the quota to claim they were "vigilant in enforcing the standards of the Revolution."

from what SheykAbdullah says they were not nessecarily true but napoleans way of eliminating people that were not true followers, i believe they confessed because they never thought napolean would harm them from what the commandments told them at the time untill he "modified" the commandments

[FishyFelyse]

I agree with Mitchell, but I would also like to add that they weren't very smart to begin with so some of the animals may not have understood what was happening exactly and just followed in the other animals paths and confessed to their crimes...whether they were true or not.

[FishyFelyse]

I have a queston. Why didn't the other animals catch on to how the 7 commandments changed and were being altered? I mean most of the animals caught Squeeler in the act of changing the commandments, he had the paint brush in hand, the paint by his side, and had a ladder to give him a boost.

[ben lurie]

I have a queston. Why didn't the other animals catch on to how the 7 commandments changed and were being altered? I mean most of the animals caught Squeeler in the act of changing the commandments, he had the paint brush in hand, the paint by his side, and had a ladder to give him a boost.

the animals were so trusting and stupid they could nto reason for themselves what was actually going on. they were taught to trust the pigs no matter what so they belieed them and knew that if they diddnt bad things would happen to them. the smarter animals did not fall for it you notice but they were way too scared and smart to speak up.

[CheyRose]

Ya i agree with Felyse, its kinda retarted that the animals were that unintelligent, that even when they saw Squealer changing the comandments, they didnt even understand. It blows me away how they can watch something be done and not take any notice of it. Hmm weird.

[Conn]

well it would be like comparing the awarness and memory of someone who has mental troubles and then someone who can comprehend everything. so the animals couldnt help but listen and forget because they had no control over what the pigs were doing. Besides all the animals were said to have a brief memory of the change but then squealer would convince them otherwise with his jumping and whisking.

[jgross]

i would think the animals would see that the pigs were taking over and changing the commandments as they went. i think that maybe the pigs were afraid of the other animals freaking out on them so they tried to hide their wrongs or they just loved the power and didnt want anyone to stop them.

[FishyFelyse]

Yes the animals may have been stupid, but Clover was starting to question the commandments, when Squeeler was caught in the act of changing them, and benjimen knew all along, so why didn't he speak up and say something?

[ben lurie]

what is the deal with benjamin? i don't see who he really repressents or why he doesnt do anything to better himself and the farm..

[ben lurie]

who are the NKVD secret service?
ninja-kong viking danes

[XXXsammyXXX]

nkvd:Narodnyĭ Kommissariat Vnutrennikh Del

[juliagoolia]

Back to Ben's comment on pg 4-

Yes, you are right- the farm would indeed have gone down the drain if the pigs had not taken charge and organized the other animals. However, the way in which they did it was extremely wrong. As time went by, they began to realize that, by using the stupidity of the other animals to their advantage, they could gain complete control over the farm. That is when everything got worse for the other animals. The pigs used deceit and false hope to get the animals to labor like slaves, and what started out as a semi-equal society rapidly plumited into the cruel depths of dictatorship and enslavement. They fed the animals with little food and false information, and even though it never actually says in the book, I believe they began to wonder if their lives were as good as the pigs claimed they were. The pigs may have been eligible to lead the farm with their intelligence- lead, but not conquer.

[juliagoolia]

Benjamin...

As I believe Chey said before, Benjamin had seen this happen in the past. He probably reasoned that nothing he could do would stop the pigs, so he just sat back and watched. His signature quote was "Donkeys live a long time" (or something to that effect)- what he meant by this was that he had witnessed an animal rebellion (or maybe even more than one?) in his earlier yearas, and already knew that it would not result in a better future for anyone except the pigs.