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Essay / Analysis of Common Themes in Animal Farm and Lord of The Flies
“Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely” is a quote from John Dalberg-Acton, an otherwise unremarkable politician. This quote has proven to be global, both in literature and in history. Throughout tens of thousands of years of human history, this quote has been proven time and time again, in the words of George Santayana and then Winston Churchill: "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. While the two authors behind Animal Farm and Lord of the Flies, George Orwell and William Golding, both had their distinct intentions in the book, both serve as important allegories and cautionary tales on many preeminent human themes. Although both of these tales employ a microcosm, Animal Farm obviously being about animals and Lord of the Flies being about English children, they both contain the themes of tyranny, power, corruption, propaganda, dictatorship , violence and censorship. Although both of these allegories address a specific point in human history, the early 20th century, these two allegories can be seen as a microcosmic of any revolution and the resulting power vacuum. Both of these fables possess the ability to transcend the times in which they were written and serve as powerful tools to warn of the past, present, future, and the inherent evils of humanity. These two texts are a synecdoche of humanity and the inherent flaws of humanity. These tales remain relatable because of their omnipresent nature, to quote writer Don Watson "read Animal Farm and have no doubt: you are there, if only as a sheep." Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”?Get the original essayAnimal Farm and Lord of the Flies were written in 1944 and 1953 respectively, in his essay, Fable, William Golding refers to Animal Farm several times. , and it served in part as the inspiration for Lord of the Flies. While these two authors had different intentions in writing their respective texts, Golding being a capitalist and Orwell being a socialist. However, both of these texts touch on the heart of humanity and the purpose of literature. Literature essentially serves as an exploration of human themes, a study of the situation of humanity. These two texts inform us about the tendencies of humanity. These two texts are both valuable because of the underlying themes and morals. Both make the reader acutely aware of the failures and difficulties intrinsic to the capacity of the humanities to govern themselves. In the period before the texts were written, World War II, humanity fell into a deep decline in its moral values, which resulted in the murder of 70 to 85 million people. For these two authors, the beginning of the 20th century, which they witnessed, considerably changed their vision of the world. Orwell was born in the farthest corner of colonialism in Burma, and as such developed an aversion to colonialism and nationalism, as shown in his critical writings. Orwell moved to England and ended up fighting in the Spanish Civil War in an attempt to fight fascism. In the same way that Orwell developed his aversion to fascism, Golding had a hatred of war and senseless violence. In 1940, at the start of World War II, Golding joined the Royal Navy and fought on destroyers against the Nazis. The personal experience of these two writers was found in their text, either by osmosis of their inner self, or through thedesign. Golding looked at humanity's inner inclinations toward violence and used his experience as a teacher and naval man as a link between himself and the real world and his writings. Orwell wrote to express the problems with the USSR and how "communism" turned into fascism, again by intention or accident, both have the ability to transcend the era in which they were written. I personally believe that it is a combination of both design and serendipity that these novels are so valuable in the 21st century. Because these two novels touch the heart of humanity, it is natural that they summarize and expose the flaws of all humanity. An additional similarity between these two texts is the ending presented. In Lord of the Flies, at the end, the schoolchildren are standing on the beach, crying, after their society has collapsed, resulting in two deaths, and they have potentially been saved or potentially they are just chasing another guy of danger. In Animal Farm, the novel ends with the pigs dining with humans, and the evocative lines, "the creatures looked at each other from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again: but already it was impossible to say which is which". Indeed, at the basis of these two novels, these two novels are about a promising young society which becomes decrepit, with all its ideals becoming tools by which society is oppressed. In our world of 'Today and in the past we see many examples of events where events played out in the same way as Animal Farm or Lord of the Flies or both. There are a multitude of times where small events or large ones. Historical movements recalled these two texts. A simultaneous and real-life example of animal farm could be North Korea After World War II, Japan had to return Korea after almost 40 years of tyranny over the Korean people. Korea was split in two, with the communist USSR (which Orwell wrote about in Animal Farm) taking interim control of the northern half and the United States taking interim control of the southern half. The USSR quickly set about transforming what had become North Korea into a communist country. The USSR imposed Kim Il-sung as leader of the country. Kim Il-Sung was considered a famous and very powerful Korean resistance leader. However, historians doubt this, as they believe he was at best a minor figure in the country. Korean resistance. So here we are, faced with the USSR, already corrupt, which is planting the poisonous seed of a government in a “completely new” country. In this North Korean example, we can see the direct path from the Russian revolution discussed by Orwell to this macrocosm of what happens when a so-called communist government is imposed. In North Korea, there are many similarities between the two texts and real life. Although the reason is different, in Animal Farm and Lord of the Flies a new society is being established. There is a similar theme in the USSR (obviously), China after its civil war, and North Korea. These three countries followed similar paths, which were those predicted by Orwell when he wrote Animal Farm. Today, while China seems to have some resistance, it seems that North Korea is on the path to the USSR, and therefore to Animal Farm. The Soviet Union is now defunct and went through years of economic turmoil before collapsing in 1994. Likewise, North Korea has a struggling economy with a per capita GDP of just $1,700, which would place it 179th in the world according to this criterion. unemployment being 25.4%. Furthermore, “40% of the North Korean population suffers from malnutrition and 1 in 5 children suffer fromstunted growth due to chronic malnutrition. In the words of George Orwell "they were always cold and generally hungry", even in a "communist" society like North Korea or Animal Farm, there are still leaders who live lavishly, and everyone else. While Kim Jong-Un is a 300-pound smoker who lives in a private compound described by visitors as “the Ibiza of North Korea.” Not to be too clever in the comparisons, but, at the end of Orwell's book, Napoleon is described as being "a full-grown wild boar weighing 24 stone (152 kg)" and Squealer was "so big he could hardly see out." of his body.” eyes". To summarize the North Korean experience, we see a country born from the abominable seed of the USSR. North Korea has moved away from its traditional communist views and turned towards authoritarian dictatorship in which they live. If North Korea is Manor Farm, then we are Foxwood Farm, looking from the outside and relying only on second-hand information about the situation in North Korea. North Korea today is in deep economic decline, with a large group of bourgeoisie sitting atop a throne thanks to unlimited wealth created on the backs of the self-proclaimed Democratic People's Republic of Korea and not just the dictatorship. obscure and pure and simple who is guilty of seeing its ideals dilapidated by greed and by people who only seek their own personal game The USSR had an absolute ideal to which it stuck “From each according to his abilities, to. each according to his needs. Western capitalist countries also had a strict set of ideals. For example, the United States of America was founded on July 4, 1776 with the intention of creating a freer society. In fact, it was freedom that initially drove the Pilgrims to cross the sea and settle in the New World, to escape religious persecution. The young United States also redoubled this message of liberty when in 1791 it adopted the Bill of Rights, the ten amendments to the constitution that gave all citizens certain universal rights. The “land of the free and home of the brave” was originally very determined to maintain these absolute rights. Many today still refuse to accept an argument against the 2nd Amendment, the right to bear arms. Even though these rights are recognized by many, they remain systematically violated. Amendment 4 is of particular interest for “protection against unreasonable searches and seizures” due to recent events. The treatment of immigrants from south of the border has shown that the United States does not care about these particular immigrants. ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) planned on at least one occasion to target “up to 2,000 families” in a day. This seems especially interesting when you consider America's unwavering dedication to the Second Amendment. It seems that freedom depends on which side you are on. Indeed, the synechdocia of the United States, the Statue of Liberty, has on its pedestal the inscription "Give me your weary, your poor, Your gathered masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore." Send these to me, the homeless, tossed by the storm, I raise my lamp beside the golden door.” In light of recent events, it is not difficult to think of a less appropriate inscription. The United States was also originally a very isolationist country, when in 1823 President Monroe and John Quincy Adams announced the "Monroe Doctrine" which announced that the United States, and it alone, dominated events in the western hemisphere. Although this is.