Mikayla Brown
Mr. Pozzuoli
ENG4U0
Friday, March 24th, 2023
Seeking Parallels Between Charles Dickens and George Orwell's Literature
There are numerous similarities between the themes of the writings of George Orwell and Charles Dickens. One might discover parallels between Animal Farm by George Orwell and Oliver Twist, Hard Times, and Bleak House by Charles Dickens in terms of the abuse of authority, the demonstration of failure of intelligence in the main protagonist and antagonist and the use of addressing the mistreatment of the lower class in each story. These common parallels all show how power can lead to societal corruption.
First, the antagonists in both literary works abuse their positions of power; this is particularly clear when comparing Oliver Twist and Animal Farm. Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist depicts individuals with positions of authority abusing their authority by taking advantage of and exploiting others, particularly the defenseless and weak. When Oliver Twist has to ask for more food for the other boys, the text explains that: “The master was a fat, healthy man; but he turned very pale. He gazed in stupefied astonishment [...] The assistants were paralyzed with wonder; the boys with fear.
"What!" said the master at length, in a faint voice. "Please, sir," replied Oliver. "I want some more." The master aimed a blow at Oliver's head with the ladle; pinioned him in his arms; shrieked aloud for the beadle. [...] Mr. Bumble
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Pardiggle to these latter. "I enjoy hard work, and harder you make mine, the better I like it."
"Then make it easy for her!" growled the man upon the floor. "I wants it done, and over. I wants a end of these liberties took with my place. I wants a end of being frawed like a badger. Now you're a-going to pollpry and question according to custom I know what you're a-going to be up to. Well! You haven't got no occasion to be up to it. I'll save you the trouble” (Dickens,
Some will blindly accept their lack of freedom but others will vehemently fight for their right to pursue happiness, would you? The story of Animal Farm follows a group of farm animals that revolt and drive away their human leaders. They change the new system and proceed to create a system where all animals are equal. This can be compared to the society of Anthem where people's rights are restricted. Freedom and will is taken away and directed towards the common goal of always helping others and being a group.
The books Slaughterhouse-Five, Animal Farm, Fahrenheit 451, and Macbeth, though different in plot, are actually quite similar in terms of theme. All of these books share the theme of knowledge. The plot of each of these narratives revolve around it. Although these narratives do share the theme of knowledge, Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five interprets knowledge differently than the other novels. While the other authors portray knowledge as being power, Vonnegut portrays knowledge as being useless, unless you are an authoritative figure.
In the nineteenth century, Dickens was writing a forgettable epic works. "Dickens beliefs and attitudes were typical of the age in which he lived” (Slater 301). The circumstances and financial difficulties caused Dickens’s father to be imprisoned briefly for debt. Dickens himself was put to work for a few months at a shoe-blacking warehouse. Memories of this painful period in his life were to influence much of his later writing, which is characterized by empathy, oppressed, and a keen examination of class distinctions.
Everyone wonders what the future will be like at least once in their lifetime. Ray Bradbury and George Orwell addressed this idea with the writing of their books, Fahrenheit 451 and Animal Farm. These novels force one to think about what the future may be like. In these two books the authors attempt to convey messages of warning about what may come to be in the future by creating a society in which everyone is oblivious to the option of individual rights. Then, by using allusions, the authors compare their fictional worlds to today's society and give signs that our current world may become like these fictional societies.
Lord Acton once said, “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” When one person is placed in complete control, they have a tendency to strive for higher power. That power continues to manifest, and could eventually lead to their own self destruction. In these four literary works: Animal Farm by George Orwell, Fahrenheit 451 written by Ray Bradbury, “Beowulf” told by an Anglo-Saxon poet, and Macbeth by William Shakespeare, the common themes portrayed are that power has led to immense greed and selfishness. Orwell demonstrates this theory best in his book, Animal Farm.
Logan Wallace Mr. Ware English 1 May 19, 2023 Themes of Fahrenheit 451 and Animal Farm In Fahrenheit 451 and animal farm they both share the same themes in their books. Propaganda, Fear, and Corruption are themes that both book’s share. In Fahrenheit 451 and Animal Farm both books use fear and corruption as themes to show how society can be change and manipulated. Animal Farm by George Orwell is about a group of farm animals who rebel against their human farmer, hoping to create a society where the animals can be equal, free, and happy.
Anthem by Ayn Rand and Animal Farm by George Orwell have many similarities as well as differences. Anthem is a dystopian novel featuring Equality, later renamed Prometheus, as the main character, and focuses on his journey to separate himself from the collectivist ideals of the society in which he lived. Animal Farm is an allegorical novel representing the Russian Revolution and Joseph Stalin's rise to power. One similarity is that in both novels, the group in power intend to create the perfect society, but it always ended in corruption and benefits given only to those in power. For example, the animals in Animal Farm drove out Mr. Jones in an attempt to bring equality and better treatment, but soon the pigs came into power, and they got
Many revolutions have similar characteristics whether they are non fiction or fictional. This is shown in the Korean War and in Animal Farm. Even though the revolution in Animal Farm is Fictional a lot of the characteristics to the Korean War or Korean Revolution are alike. Throughout the course of the Korean War, North Korea’s leader Kim Il-Sung, had similar characteristics to Animal Farm’s Napoleon, such as they were both dictators.
While trying to get their freedom and create the perfect utopia, animals found themselves in a difficult situation. They managed to cast out Mr Jones, but another dictator came to the farm, but this time it was one of them. By creating animalism, the pigs used an illusion in order to satisfy their greed and lust for power. George Orwell is more interested in political psychology rather than with individual characters.
Literatures that are rich in contexts are those that use figurative languages smartly. George Orwell in his novel “Animal Farm” symbolizes the rise of the animals against their masters and the takeover of the animal community by the pigs. This story is an allegory of the rise of the power of Joseph Stalin, a dictator. Like this novel “The case of the animal versus men before the king of the Jinn”, is a story that depicts something bigger than the arguments of master slave relationships between animals and humankind. Although this story can be interpreted differently, considering the time period and the arguments made by humans and animals, we can surmise that the humans the characteristics of fulfilling worldly desires and using reasoning
Animal Farm Literary Analysis The rebellion of Animal Farm was to escape man and his cruel ways, but can they escape the reality of power and corruption? Animal Farm is a novella written by George Orwell. In this book the animal 's desire more freedom than they are allowed. In order to achieve an equal and harmonious society they rebel against farmer Jones. Rather than resulting in a utopian civilization the animals are oppressed by the very pig who encouraged their rebellion.
Animal Farm by George Orwell is a story about animals that rebel against their owners on a farm. They then try to solve problems on how to run a farm. One theme in this story is ”Not everyone is equal; some people believe that they are more superior than others.” This theme is demonstrated by Napoleon, he’s a dictator and makes all the rules in the farm to fit his needs. Another theme in this story is “People deserve to have their own thoughts and ideas.
Jaewon Shim Ms. Manning English 9B 06 February 2015 Animal Farm Analytical Essay "Orwellian" is an adjective that describes the condition of the society that George Orwell identified as being destructive to the welfare of a free and open society. The adjective suggests an attitude that is controlled by propaganda, the denial of truth, and manipulation of the past. In George Orwell’s novel, Animal Farm, George Orwell develops his ideas about the Russian Revolution through a highly satirical story written in the form of a fable. The characters represent actual people in history during the Russian Revolution, which took place in the years between 1917 to 1944, as it talks about a story of a farm rebelling against a human owner and establishes their own way of running the farm, which was effected by Old Major’s speech who talked about a society where all workers led the society, with no actual leader. However, imbalance of power occur as the pigs, who are the smartest of the animals gain influence by supervising other animals to work.
George Orwell lived during a very tumultuous time, serving in the Indian Imperial Police, and seeing both World Wars and the Spanish Civil War. While surrounded by this near-constant state of strife, Orwell used writing as a way to comment on political situations and to pass on an understanding to his readers. In his novella, Animal Farm, Orwell uses the allegory of a farm to comment on the failures of Stalinism in the Soviet Union. As a man whose strong political convictions were shaped by his surroundings, it is no surprise that Orwell finds his purpose for writing in political commentary. Orwell’s purpose for writing is so severely political that he states that every novel he wrote after 1936 was written “directly or indirectly against totalitarianism and for democratic socialism” (268).