Hypocritical Government

THE ORIGINAL SEVEN COMMANDMENTS IN ANIMAL FARM:
1. Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy.

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

3. No animal shall wear clothes.

4. No animal shall sleep in a bed.

5. No animal shall drink alcohol.

6. No animal shall kill any other animal.

7. All animals are equal.

Throughout the book all of the original commandments were broken by the pigs. Number one was broken when Napoleon brought Mr. Whymper to the farm and began doing business with humans. The pigs also began walking on two legs themselves. In the end the sheep began bleating, “Four legs good, two legs better.” Number two was broken when Snowball was exiled and Boxer was sent away to be made into glue. Number three was broken when the pigs began wearing Mr. Jones’ old clothes. Number four was broken when the pigs began sleeping in the farmhouse. The animals thought that was against Commandments but Squealer told them it said “No animal shall sleep in a bed with sheets.” The pigs broke number five when they drank whisky in the farm house. It was explained that the original commandment had said, “No animal shall drink alcohol to excess.” Napoleon blatantly broke number six when he ordered the slaughter of the animals who confessed to seeing Snowball. Once again the animals were told that the commandment read, “No animal shall kill any other animal without cause.” And finally number seven was broken near the beginning when the pigs were given a larger ration of food because they are smarter.

This government is hypocritical by not abiding by their own rules and being cruel by feeding their people false information.

This is the only commandment left at the end of the book:

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

This is essentially commandment seven. There is fault with this commandment because it is impossible for something to be more equal than another thing. With this commandment they are trying to say that the government is better than other animals.

Life As We Know It

This is the cover of my Animal Farm/1984 Soundrack. I chose the name, Life As We Know It, because the characters in both books experienced extreme contrasts from their original lifestyle. The cover art is just an example of how something (in this case a barn fire) can drastically change a person or animal's life. The soundtrack includes 5 songs that reflect the plot of both Animal Farm and 1984.

1. Somewhere Only We Know by Keane

2.  Wake Up Everybody by John Legend

3. Carry Me Down by Demon Hunter    

4. Tired of Being Sorry by Enrique Iglesias

5. Hail to the Chief

This album will be available soon in record stores near you!

Hail to the Chief

The song, Hail to the Chief, is the closing song of the soundtrack for Animal Farm and 1984. It is also the ultimate sign of respect to the leader of the government. When you hear this song you think of a strong President who is working in the best interest of his or her constituents. The last line of 1984 inspired my choice of this song for the soundtrack, “He loved Big Brother.” This song doesn’t have any lyrics but it does have a very clear meaning of patriotism. During the entire book Winston is anti-government, but in the end he is proud of the Party for defeating Africa and is proud to be a member of the Party. He gets brainwashed or “cured” from his heretic views in the book which is why he experiences this drastic change of heart. Winston is turned into a perfect citizen of Oceania. During the book he had to force himself to yell at the telescreen during the 2 minutes hate. I’m sure now Winston would have no problem turning red faced from spewing hatred at Goldstein. The patriotism Winston feels is synthetic because he did not choose to follow Big Brother on his own free will. So this song actually may have less authentic meaning to him.

Wake Up Everybody

The song, Wake Up Everybody by John Legend, reminds me of the beginning of Animal Farm when Major tells the animals of his dream that the animals will revolt against Mr. Jones. This song has an inspirational sound because Major was trying to make the animals think of a better place. The song isn’t angry or intense because the beginning of the revolution wasn’t violent, yet.  

Major’s speech makes Napoleon begin the revolution because “the world won’t get no better if we just let it be”. Napoleon basically says their conditions would be better if they remove Mr. Jones from power and become their own leaders and this song reflects that. “Time to teach a new way” not only refers to the revolution but also how each animal was learning the alphabet and how to read. The song lyrics say “Wake Up Everybody/ Can’t do it Alone”. This is the emotion felt on Animal Farm when the revolution started because everyone had to work together to make it happen. The song also talks of teaching the children because they are the future. In the book, the plan was to spread the revolution to other farm slowly so the animals would have complete control eventually. Instead the overthrow occurred very quickly on Manor Farm.

Carry Me Down

The song, Carry Me Down by Demon Hunter, reminds me of the scene in Animal Farm when animals are coming forward and confessing to heretic acts that Snowball forced them to do. This then leads to the death of each of those who confessed. The song has an angry tone which is appropriate because it is about death. The band also has an ironic name, Demon Hunters, because Napoleon was hunting down the demons who were betraying him.  While reading this scene I was surprised that so many animals were willing to confess even though they knew they would be slaughtered. The lyric, “don’t be afraid to lie” made me think of how the animals confessed to silly things like seeing Snowball in a dream. They may have been lying about that because they didn’t want to live in Napoleon’s world anymore. “If you see me losing faith” makes me think of the animals turning from Napoleon and listening to Snowball, which is why they died. “I’m better off without” could mean that the animals confessed in the best interest of the farm. They knew if they stayed around any longer Snowball would force them to do even worse actions. 

Tired of Being Sorry

I love Enrique Iglesias. The song, Tired of Being Sorry by Enrique Iglesias, reminds me of the scene when O’Brien is going to release the rats on Winston’s face. The lyric, “I don’t want to fight” makes me think of Winston contemplating how he is going to get out of this situation. In the novel he is tied to the chair but he still tries to break free. He is also doesn’t want to fight the Party anymore so he betrays Julia to make the torture stop. The lyric, “I’m tired of being sorry” reflects how Winston is finally turning on his rebellious characteristics after enduring torture. This torture makes him regret all of his anti-Big Brother actions, and he is “tired of being sorry” so he joins the Party. The lyric, “Crying out for you” is ironic because Winston screams Julia’s name to blame her. This is the only act that Winston promised he would never do, and the Party forced him to by making him face his worst fear, rats. If Winston hadn’t betrayed Julia the rats would have eaten his face and made the novel have a less meaningful ending. It’s all ok because Julia also betrayed Winston.

Somewhere Only We Know

The first song on the soundtrack is Somewhere Only We Knowby Keane.

This song describes the scene in 1984 when Julia and Winston stay in the room above the shop for the first time. They are amazed that they aren’t being watched by Big Brother there. There is no telescreen in the room so they feel free to do otherwise prohibited things. They eat rich food from the black market, read the Brotherhood book, and have forbidden sex. It is truly somewhere only they know. Winston wants to spend more time there but he can’t because it would become suspicious. This song sounds both reminiscent and happy because being in the room with Julia makes him happier than he is in the real world. The lyrics “I walked across an empty” and “I came across a fallen tree” also makes me think of when they went to the forest to have sex for the first time. They talked about going back to the forest again, but they never did go back. This is reflected in the lyric, “And if you have a minute, why don’t we go”. It makes me think of Winston yearning to go back. Instead they began meeting in the room which is what this song is about.