P1

Orwell presents the wealthy landowner, Jones as reprehensibly greedy, slovenly and
reckless therefore unfit to lead. Jones’ self indulgent impulsive behaviors continuously
endanger the animals. Jones “was too drunk to remember to shut the pop holes” which
meant that the door to the chicken’s enclosure was left open, leaving them vulnerable to
predators such as foxes. This indicates that Jones has no respect for his livestock and
does not care if the animals are harmed. Too intoxicated to walk in an orderly fashion,
Jones “lurched across the yard” with his “lantern dancing from side to side”. It is evident
that Jones has a problem with alcohol and uses it to intoxicate himself, whilst
endangering the animals with the flammable lantern, showing how his self indulgent
behavior endangers the animals.When the evening came Jones and his men made their
way back to the farmhouse, Jones immediately “went to sleep on the drawing room sofa”
not giving a care in the world about the animals. It is mentioned that “when evening
came, the animals were still unfed”. Even after coming back, Jones and his men could
not be bothered to feed animals, exhibiting how little they care about the animals and
treating them as if they didn’t exist. These scenarios manifest how the careless and
ignorant behaviour of Jones and his men have instigated the animals to fight for a better
life as they have grown tired of being neglected and poorly treated. Additionally Jones
“drew one last glass of beer” further giving an insight into how his self indulgent habits
and his lack of care for his possessions, responsibilities and himself make him unfit to
lead. Likewise, under Jones’ poor leadership, his men, who are the caretakers of the
farm, fail to perform their duties. Countless times the animals describe the suffering
they have endured due to irresponsible and lazy caretakers. The animals were
“underfed”, “fields full of weeds” and “buildings wanted roofing”. The gradual
deterioration of Manor Farm has left the animals in poor conditions in the winter
months. “Fields full of weeds” indicate that under Jones’ leadership his men have grown
lazy and discontent with the idea of doing work. Manor Farm is an allegory that
symbolises tsarism through depicting Jones and his men as the Tsars who carelessly
rule the Russian working class and the peasants (the animals). Orwell starts the novel
by presenting Jones, a self indulgent, irresponsible farmer who fails to care for his
animals and Manor Farm and is unfit to lead. This establishes that Jones has poor
qualities, constantly letting his men evade their duties, consequently worsening the
condition of Manor Farm. Perpetually being starved and abused the animals have no
choice but to rebel and fight for a better life.
P2

The animals have no choice but to fight, as a collective, for a better life. The behaviour of
the men causes the animals to rebel, their only choice is to fight for better treatment,
when they are met with violence an impromptu ‘unplanned’ revolution ensues. The men
“had gone out rabbiting, without bothering to feed the animals” which suggests that the
men care more about their personal leisure activities more than attending to their duties
and looking after the animals, leaving them to feel neglected and hungry. Moreover,
Jones and his men resort to unnecessary violence when they start to lose control over
the animals. For the entirety of the novel, Mr Jones and his men have assumed control
over all the animals at Manor Farm, treating them poorly and often forgetting to feed
them. The second the animals rebel or show some sense of comradery Jones resorts to
oppressing them through sudden unnecessary acts of violence. The starving animals
could no longer depend on their negligent care takers and decided to take matters into
their own hands. The animals had not been fed all day so when one of the cows “broke in
the door of the store-shed” Jones and his men “were in the store shed with whips in
their hands, lashing out in all directions”. Out of disparity the animals had broken into
the store shed to feed themselves, however this enraged Jones and his men. The
caretakers who had failed to feed them all day brutally whipped the animals for trying to
feed themselves. They were “lashing out in all directions” which conveys that they had
no direct objective in solving the problem and just wanted an excuse to harm the
animals. Jones’ reasoning appears to be impulsive and unjust, by not feeding the
animals all day and then punishing the animals when they break into the store room to
try and feed themselves exemplifies situational irony. Instantly resorting to violence,
Jones and his men vastly over-react to the animals’ actions. Throughout the novel
Orwell exemplifies how the animals grow sick of the abusive, self centred behaviour that
Jones and his men display, resulting in the animals to rebel. It is apparent that Jones
and his men often resort to unnecessary violence to keep the animals fearful and
submissive.