Critical Lens Essay

660 words - 3 pages

Bernard Malamud once said, “The purpose of the writer is to keep civilization from destroying itself.” This quote means that the purpose of the author is to bring awareness to the issues in society. This quote is shown to be true in Animal Farm by George Orwell and Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. In these two pieces of literature, the authors expose the issues in society that can lead to destruction and the character’s demise.

Napoleon from George Orwell’s Animal Farm demonstrates how a character can corrupt a society. Napoleon started off as a fairly strong leader, and followed all of the teaching’s of Old Major and the commandments that were agreed upon by all animals. As time went on Napoleon began to alter the commandments to make them more suitable for himself and the other pigs. Some of the commandments that Napoleon broke were “no animal shall sleep in a bed” and “no animal shall drink alcohol” The commandment of “no animal shall sleep in a bed” was altered to “no animal shall sleep in a bed with sheets,” so that the pigs could sleep on the beds in the farmhouse between two blankets. The commandment of “no animal shall drink alcohol” was altered to “no animal shall drink alcohol in excess,” this commandment was altered so that Napoleon and the other pigs could drink alcohol, even though he eventually allowed the rest of the animals on the farm to drink alcohol too. Napoleon altering these commandments in which all of the animals on Animal Farm were to abide by corrupted society . The issues of society caused many of the animals to have to overwork themselves. Boxer overworked himself to the point of splitting his hoof, and then collapsing. Boxer was then sent to the slaughterhouse to be killed. Napoleon used the money he earned from having Boxer slaughtered to buy himself and the other pigs a case of alcohol, further corrupting society. Napoleon showed how one character can...

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