The Fall of the Revolution

When the animals finally managed to kick out Mr. Jones out of the farm in a historic revolution, they felt that they had entered a new era of emancipation. They were so happy that immediately after the victory they gathered to celebrate whereby they passionately sang the Beasts of England, song which was that conjured visions of prosperity and happiness that the animal kingdom could enjoy if they were free. However, this newly found freedom was very short lived and the revolution turned into an authoritarian government. This essay, therefore, seeks to look critically into two changes after the revolution that led to its failure.

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In the animal farm, all the seven commandments set out by Snowball had been changed and so did several other things that undermined the revolution ideals. First, the animals were no longer allowed to sing the Beasts of England by Napoleon which is the song that had inspired all the animals to revolt against the human dominion. The Beasts of England was a beautiful song that conjured up the visions of happiness that the animals would enjoy in a society in which all of them were free from the dominion of humans and in which all animals were equal. Before Napoleon had declared himself as the leader of the Animal Farm, the animals used to sing the Beasts of England at the end of their routine Sunday meetings. In fact, Snowball who was very enthusiastic to see the liberation of the entire animal race took it upon himself to spread the word of the success of their revolution and teach other animals who were still held captive in other farms the "Beasts of England". As a result, the song spread with astonishing speed and it was heard everywhere across the country. The song had sparked a wave of rebellions in other farms and the animals that used to be cool turned violent against their masters.

The "Beasts of England' had attained the status of the national anthem in the Animal Farm and it was sung after the animals had won the second battle against Mr. Jones who together with other humans had come to recapture the farm. As a tradition, the animals hummed the song on every celebration and meeting to remind themselves why they had revolted against the humans.

However, during one afternoon Napoleon called an emergency meeting and ordered a wave of executions against all the animals that he deemed to be a threat to his regime. First, he ordered the execution of four pigs that had been meeting with Snowball silently. After slaughtering the pigs he went for the three hens who had been the ringleaders in the attempted rebellion against orders to surrender 400 eggs for sale every week. Thereafter, he also ordered the execution of a goose and two goats that confessed of having broken the laws of Animalism. After this event, the animals gathered together and they were shaken and traumatized. Never had they imagined that this is what the freedom that they fought for would look like. Out of despair, they started to hum the "Beasts of England" which worked as a reminder of what they had hoped for when they attained freedom. However, no sooner had they finished singing for the third time than Squealor, Napoleon's spokesman arrived and declared that Napoleon had banned the song and replaced with a new song. Though the animals felt aggrieved by this decision, no one dared to protest because they were afraid of Napoleon. Napoleon saw the song as a way of inspiring rebellion and by banning it he ensured that he cowed the animals who were somehow dissatisfied with his leadership into submission.

The second change after the revolution that worked to undermine the freedom and equality of the animals was the move by Napoleon to use the orchard designated for the retired animals for rest for the growing of barley and brewing of beer. First, the decision to isolate the orchard as a resting place for the old had been made by way of a popular vote by the animals way before Napoleon had turned in a dictator. Also among the laws of Animalism beer had been prohibited because it was considered as an invention of human thus not compatible with the nature of animals. Besides the old animals having no place to rest, no animal had actually retired on pension as it had been agreed. In fact, the issue of pension was not being discussed anymore. The general feeling among the animals was that this decision was contrary to the freedom ideals whereby all animals were to live by the law that they had made themselves. The barley from the orchard was used to make beer, which was a preserve of the pigs and no other animal was allowed to have a share of it. Deep inside the other animals knew that this was against the equality ideals but none dared to speak.

The revolution which started as a noble idea to liberate the animals in the farm finally turned into a totalitarian government with Napoleon, a fellow animal being the new oppressor. He disregarded the fundamental ideals of Animalism as envisioned in the "Beasts of England" out of his greed for power. As a result, the animals in the Animal Farm were becoming disillusioned and knew that their revolution had been futile.