Sympathy

Orwell uses sympathy to make us realize how our actions affect others. We see the pigs as the enemies to the other animals, even though they are supposed to be the leaders of the government. As the animals are forced to work harder, food rations are decreased and living conditions get worse we really sympathize with the animals for having other peoples’ greedy decisions affect them.

The fact that the pigs see themselves as “more equal” makes me think of our own government and how they are some of the richest people in the country. I was watching 60 Minutes and they did a story on Congress members, specifically Nancy Pelosi, experiencing economic gain after executing financial transactions based on insider information. How is it fair that people in government can use their power the get insider information? Martha Stewart went to jail for the same thing. Congress should have the same civic duty as ordinary citizens and have to abide by laws which they have passed.

In 1984 we see Winston living in a crappy apartment and forced to eat government issued stew and coffee. The food isn’t even good! The stew is runny and tastes metallic. The coffee is weak and is sweetened with fake sugar. We sympathize with Winston and realize how unfortunate it would be if we had a government that controlled every aspect of our life.