In george orwell's Animal Farm, what is the difference between art and Essay

In george orwell's Animal Farm, what is the difference between art and propanda - Essay Example The process of achieving absolute power, the art of misinformation, and the way oppressed are perpetually oppressed in order to enjoy political power are allegorically portrayed in Animal Farm by the skilful use of irony and satire. A close scrutiny of the role of art and propaganda in Animal Farm is the focus of this paper. For a totalitarian government propaganda is essential in order to influence its audience. After selecting some important facts or information, they are presented in such a persuasive manner that they get injected into the minds of the people with little resistance. Propaganda is also needed to counter this kind of move. For example â€Å"our lives are miserable, laborious, and short. We are born, we are given just so much food as will keep the breath in our bodies†, tells Old Major to his comrades (Ch. 1). The revolutionary spirit is thus put in the minds of the general public, by Old Major, in Manor Farm. Therefore, propaganda is an inevitable political t ool in a society. The problem arises when the information is selected with a sinister motive, to achieve some selfish interest for a person or a party, or when it becomes harmful to the people, in this book for the animals: "War is war. The only good human being is a dead one" (Ch. 1V). The stress here is on the emotional response rather than on the rational response. This kind of propaganda is used to further some political agenda without taking the welfare of the people into consideration. Ultimately it also assumes the form of political warfare, leading to totalitarianism. Orwell has not written his novel to appease any particular party. John Rodden writes, â€Å"Orwell reportedly told his friend Stephen Spender, the well-known English poet, that he â€Å"had not written a book against Stalin in order to provide propaganda for capitalists† (Rodden, 135). Therefore, Animal Farm is to be seen as a work of art written to condemn all forms of totalitarianism. Animal Farm, the refore, is not a political work intended to propagate that totalitarianism is bad. On the contrary, it is a literary work which only takes the evil nature of totalitarianism as its content. It enables the students to study all aspects of satire, and also enlightens them on how effective allegory is in literature. Character development is superb in Animal Farm. â€Å"Squealer, with very round cheeks, twinkling eyes, nimble movements, and a shrill voice† reveals his true nature (Ch. 11). Orwell gives minute details of each and every animal, its natural instincts, without forgetting that they are the caricatures of great political personalities. Their role is to propagate to the readers the idiosyncrasies of their human originals in politics they represent, and they do it extremely well without forgetting their original tails or wings. Variety is the richness of Animal Farm, an assembly of complex and conflicting characters uniting for a purpose. They reenact the historical and political events superbly, which if presented as a book of history or politics would have generated repulsion and boredom. In the hands of Orwell art and propaganda converge to gift to the readers a fantastic piece of literary work. The working class is presented in the novel very