Suspense is commonly used in many literature works. Such as mystery, adventure, and fable. One of them is Orwell’s fable, Animal Farm. The suspense creates situation irony, reveals characteristic of the antagonist – pigs, and changes the animals from admire “animalism” to suspect “animalism”.
First Orwell uses suspense in Animal Farm to create irony. “Some of the animals remembered – or thought they remembered – that the Sixth Commandment decreed:’ No animal shall kill any other animal.'(Animal Farm, 61).” “Muriel read the Commandment for her. It ran:’ No animal shall kill any other animal without cause’ (Animal Farm, 61).” The suspense is when was the commandment changed? Who changed it? Later the ladder incident gives us the answer: there’s a crash one night and Squealer is found in the barn sprawled on the ground beside a broken ladder, a brush, and a pot of paint, it is “a strange incident which hardly anyone was able to understand.”(Animal Farm, 73) It is ironic that after the ladder incident, the animals still cannot figure out the “clever pigs” trick them. The animals hope to establish the Seven Commandments to operate their own farm and live a better life. However their dreams are ruined by the “superior pigs”. The narrator doesn’t seem to make the connection either. But Orwell makes sure we, the readers, don’t miss it. The irony—the contrast between what the animals believe, what the narrator actually tells us, and what we know to be the truth–fills us with more anger than an open denunciation could have done.
The Essay on Animal Farm Dystopia
Animal Farm Dystopia Humans are just as bad as animals, or is it the other way around? True equality between societies can never be accomplished because of true human nature leads societies to become dystopias. Animal Farm by George Orwell is the perfect example of a dystopia for three main reasons. One, propaganda is used to control the citizens of the society. Two, a figurehead of concept is ...
Second the characteristic of the pigs develops as the suspense is cleared one by one. It reveals that the greedy, hypocritical, and cruel pigs step by step. “’Never mind the milk, comrades!’ cried Napoleon…So the animals trooped down to the hay field to begin the harvest, and when they came back in the evening it was noticed that the milk had disappeared.”(Animal Farm, 16) Nobody knows who take the milk and where is the milk now. Later “The mystery of where the milk went to was soon cleared up. It was mixed every day into the pigs’ mash.”(Animal Farm, 22) In “The milk incident”, the pigs first trick the animals not to mind the milk. However who do mind the milk most were the pigs. They take the public property as their own. It shows that the pigs are avaricious and hypocritical. Further more “The dog incident” was cruel and bloody. “It happened that Jessie and Bluebell had both whelped soon after the hay harvest, giving birth between them to nine sturdy puppies. As soon as they were weaned, Napoleon took them away from their mothers, saying that he would make himself responsible for their education. He took them up into a loft which could only be reached by a ladder from the harness-room, and then kept them in such seclusion that the rest of the farm soon forgot their existence.”(Animal Farm, 22) Later when the conflict between Napoleon and Snowball become intense and unsolved, the puppies appear as nine sturdy dogs.
“At this there was a terrible baying sound outside, and nine enormous dogs wearing brass-studded collars came bounding into the barn. They dashed straight for Snowball, who only sprang from his place just in time to escape their snapping jaws.”(Animal Farm, 34) It shows that Napoleon is cruel and cunning. He raises and brainwashes nine puppies secretly, which turn to be his most important tools. In the following days, the dogs become his bodyguard and killing machine. Orwell uses suspense to reveal the pigs’ characteristic gradually and continually through Animal Farm. As the suspense is cleared, the pigs show their demon side to the reader step by step.
Third as the truth of the suspense is revealed one by one, the animals change from admire animalism to suspect animalism. The suspense sometimes cleared with great intensity in Animal Farm. For example, when Boxer, who has literally worked himself to death for the Farm, is carted off in a van to the “hospital,” and Benjamin reads out “Horse Slaughterer” on the side of the van (Animal Farm, too late), we know–and for once at least some of the animals know–what has really happened: the sick horse has been sold for glue. Two paragraphs later, when there is a banquet–for the pigs–in Boxer’s honour, we hear the sound of singing coming from the farmhouse, and the last sentence tells us that the word went round that from somewhere or other the pigs had acquired the money to buy themselves another case of whisky.” From the death of Boxer, some animals are already awaked. Boxer contributes all his life to the animal farm. Instead of retire and live a happy life, Boxer is sent to the “Horse Slaughterer”. Boxer does not deserve such bloody ending. Therefore a few animals begin suspecting communist in the farm.
The Essay on Animal Farm
In many ways, Squealer’s name says it all. Squealer is an extremely clever pig and a brilliant talker and the animals seem to think he could simply turn black into white. Squealer rises to power because of his quick mind. The first time we see squealer is when some of the other animals question the consumption of the milk apples, which then squealer gives a fabulous and persuasive speeches (like ...
The suspense plays an important and remarkable role in Animal Farm. It creates situation irony, shows the real faces of the pigs, and changes the animals from worship animalsim to suspect animalism.
