Be Careful In Your Wishes!

Have you noticed the strange crude human nature and behaviours that we see lately on the Television News screens – and what a mad world is out there that is all most weird, confusing, mind boggling, baffles sanity, logic and explanation? I look at the painful and hurtful scenes shown now on the Television scenes – and how the same people that once were great statesmen and heroes – and have now become far worse than those that they had replaced!

 I see people rejoicing because the son of the country’s president has been killed in an air raid by ‘foreign forces’ – and how they are celebrating their own country being bombed, devastated and destroyed also by others outside. I see the celebrations well in the night that the president of their country was nearly killed by a bomb blast. And then of course those in authority murdering their own citizens in cold blood and massacres. The same peoples that they are supposed to preserve protect and defend.

I notice also people that are supposed to be normally as dutiful obedient citizens demonstrating against authorities. Is it all copy and emulate blindly – the in-fashion thing to do? Or is it real? I also see forces from
another country ‘being invited’ to murder one’s own citizens of the land – on their ways of life, places of worships and gatherings that at best can be defined as slightly different from one’s own just in packages and in decorations.

I sit and think – Allah God Must be very angry with us! The Great Prophet too – peace be upon him – must be turning in his grave and ‘crying uncontrollably’ that all his good works and his messages have gone to waste.

And then I remember reading this story very well that I had read as a young boy decades back. It is the story of Animal Farm by George Orwell. The book is a satirical outlook at the Russian Revolution that had toppled The Czar Dynasty. It is understood that the book was banned in Russia.

The Author – Eric Arthur Blair – was born in Motihari, India, on June 25, 1903, to English parents. He adopted
the pseudonym of George Orwell in 1933 when he published his first book, Down and Out in Paris and London. A decade later, in 1943, the politically minded Orwell, distressed by the British support enjoyed by Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin, began writing Animal Farm to illustrate the way in which revolutions can turn into tyrannies.

In that preface, Orwell also described what gave him the idea of setting the book on a farm – …I saw a little boy, perhaps ten years old, driving a huge carthorse along a narrow path, whipping it whenever it tried to turn. It struck me that if only such animals became aware of their strength we should have no power over them, and that men exploit animals in much the same way as the rich exploit the proletariat.

The Book Synopsis – The animals on Mr. Jones’s farm, fed up with a life of servitude, instigate a rebellion and expel their master. Over time, however, the ideals of the revolution erode and are eventually discarded altogether because of the clever manipulation of the pigs, who ultimately assume their place alongside Man as two-legged tyrants.

Plot Summary Old Major, the old boar on the Manor Farm, calls the animals on the farm for a meeting, where he compares the humans to  parasites and teaches the animals a revolutionary song,  “Beasts of England” .

When Major dies three days later, two young pigs, Snowball  and Napoleon  assume command and turn his dream into a philosophy. The animals revolt and drive the drunken and irresponsible Mr. Jones from the farm, renaming it “Animal Farm”.

The Seven Commandments of Animalism are written on the wall of a barn. The most important is the seventh, “All animals are equal ” All the animals work, but the  workhorse, Boxer does more than others and adopts the maxim — “I will work harder.”

The Other Six Commandments – Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy – Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend – No animal shall wear clothes – No animal shall sleep in a bed – No animal shall drink
alcohol – No animal shall kill any other animal – All animals are equal (the most important one!).

Though the story centers on many animals, the rather starring one is Boxer. After a farm fights with their neighbours, Napoleon sends for a van to take injured Boxer to the veterinarian, explaining that better care can be given there. Benjamin the donkey, who “could read as well as any pig”, notices that the van belongs to “Alfred Simmonds, Horse Slaughterer and Glue Boiler”, and attempts to mount a rescue; but the animals’ attempts are futile.

Squealer reports that the van was purchased by the hospital and the writing from the previous owner had not been repainted. He recounts a tale of Boxer’s death in the hands of the best medical care. Shortly after Boxer’s death, it is revealed that the pigs have purchased more whisky.

Years pass, and the pigs had learn to walk upright, carry whips, and wear clothes. The Seven Commandments are reduced to a single phrase: “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” Napoleon holds a dinner party for the pigs and the humans of the area, who congratulate Napoleon on having the hardest-working animals in the country on the least feed.

Napoleon announces an alliance with the humans, against the labouring classes of both “worlds”. He abolishes practices and traditions related to the Revolution, and reverts the name of the farm back to “Manor Farm”.

The animals, overhearing the conversation, notice that the faces of the pigs have begun changing. During a poker match, an argument breaks out between Napoleon and Mr. Pilkington when they both play the Ace of Spades and the animals realize that the faces of the pigs look like the faces of humans and no one can tell the
difference between them.

Bottom line and Final Analysis is this. When the animals took over the farm, they thought that it is the start of a better life. Their dreams are of a world where all animals are equal and all the property is shared equally. But soon the pigs took control and one of them, Napoleon, became the leader of all the animals. One by one the principles of the revolution are abandoned, until the animals have even less freedom than
before!

The Final Crunch is the expression – All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.

Take Care!

 By Majid Al Suleimany