0091110971 陈心园 09级翻译1班
A Farewell to Animal Farm
“The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man; but already it was impossible to say which was which.” It is the ending of Animal Farm. The farm has come to a stage where it faltered, and undoubtedly it will collapse sooner or later. As the curtain has gradually lowered, it is high time for us to wave farewell to Animal Farm.
Animal Farm used to be a dream which deeply rooted not so much in those animals’ heart as it is in human’s mind. In Animal farm, pigs wrote in The Seven Commandments:” All animals are equal;” in 1776, Thomas Jefferson put it into the United States Declaration of Independence: “All men are created equal. “ In fact, the creed of America has been virtually embraced by most nations now. And we all know what came next. With the days creeping by, the Seven Commandments was undermined into a single Commandment: “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others;” the common creed was warped---one of the most striking facts is the increasing polarization of the poor and the rich. When a pig walked on his hind legs, carrying a whip in his trotter, the terror had paralyzed other animals to deadly silence; when Hitler founded Nazism, commanding his army to capture Austria, the violence had resulted in a terrible toll.
In a sense, almost all creeds were marching into the opposite direction. Thus I want to ask why.
In the first place, thinkers picture a society in their wildest dream. Like Karl Marx, a great philosopher, developed communism and socialism, for which China now has fought for. And after following the seemingly perfect theory, we have come to find that the reality is always in transition. Then theory and practice become divorced. As a result, leaders are in need of conceiving a solution. It often occurs to them that power is the fastest solution. With this idea bulging gradually, leaders are quite likely to become an acquisitive collector of power and privilege. Accordingly, the whole society will totter and crumble. Finally we say farewell to the ideal world.
This is all my reasoning. However, step back to peer into the current Chinese society---I cannot assert that there is much difference between China and Animal Farm, especially the right to know the truth.
When the dying Boxer was carried out by Horse Slaughterer, Napoleon announced simply that Boxer just die of the natural disease. It occurred to me a “traffic accident”---the village chief Qian Yunhui was officially said to die from an accidental accident---which most people won’t believe and for which most people are overwhelmingly angry and disappointed. Because the truth is more likely to be a brutal murder in order to keep Qian from appealing forever. In Animal Farm, Napoleon and his followers repressed the doubts and protests by absolute power and discoursing; “fortunately”, the local government put it as an accident by investigation. However there are more investigatory reporters waiting and struggling for the truth. Unfortunately, Guangdong Province has begun to prevent its reporters investigating this event, not to speak of other provinces, for as far as I know, Guangdong Province is reputed one of the most democratic and open areas for the media in the mainland
0091110971 陈心园 09级翻译1班
Therefore it is a harsh and tough road to the real truth.
People are in want of truth. I cannot remember how many times the authorities entertain an obscure attitude and take a subtle action to address the suspicion and doubt. I cannot remember how many times the event ends up inside the government. I cannot remember how many times we have woed to the official answer. In front of all animals, Napoleon executed the hens who used to rebel over eggs, killed four pigs who had compliment on Snowball, Napoleon’s former friend and current foe, and putted two sheep to death for they have murdered Napoleon’s follower for Snowball. And so the tale of confessions and executions went on, until there was a pile of corpses lying before Napoleon’s feet and the air was heavy with the blood. How similar it is to the Qian’s accident!
Qian has been appealing for the land of villagers for five times, during which he had been sent to the jail for three times. To some degree, he was a protestant, who acted against the Leqing local authorities, who was not willing to relinquish the land in vain to the local government, who bothered the officials from time to time. Though he employed the legal method---appealing, which most officials look down on, for China has stayed in tyranny for thousands of years and people are so habituated to submitting to the authority, Qian was still regarded as an adversary of the local authorities. For these reason, after Qian’s peculiar death, people discussed, doubted, and argued: is it a warning for those persistent people that appealing only leads to a catastrophe? According to the media, some people who appealing for their rights was sent to the lunatic asylum, some people were bullied in various ways. Moreover those just what represented in front of people and what about behind the sight? I cannot imagine it.
Qian’s accident brought home to me that how hard to live up to the ideal theory---Marxism. It is the theory that we grow up with. It is the theory that we are required to learn from primary school to university. It is the theory that we are supposed to believe in. What’s more, it is the theory that China is supposed to base on persistently. Yet how pathetic we are learning something we need to follow but look up only to find something altogether contrary to the ideal.
In Animal Farm, the theory they lived up to had changed from “four legs good, two leg bad.” into “four legs good, two legs better.” by Napoleon .He worked behind the scenes all along to build his own power through manipulation and deal-making. He altered the theory by himself, according himself. Of course it is nearly impossible for Chinese leaders to change our theory in a small house alone, yet we should always be alert to the direction we are marching to.
If China literally sticks to the Marx, Qian’s accident will still remains to be detected. As far as I am concerned, China cannot afford to let its people down again and again.
Generally, Animal Farm, I think, is an adult fairy tale, simple but impressive and meaningful. Like 1984 which is also written by George Orwell, it specializes in its absurd genre. Animals can talk, think, fight, and can manage themselves. Pigs, which most people consider lazy, can be leaders of the rebellion, can be lawmakers of the farm, and can be the cleverest ones. Orwell has overturned the general idea about pigs,
0091110971 陈心园 09级翻译1班
and he created typical characters in which people can easily find their animal trait, like the fetish of Napoleon, Box. Orwell is a far-sighted writer and a talented political writer, for he employed a rather plain English to portray politics. While reading the Animal Farm, people can easily get access to the scene, and step out to ponder their life in a large scale. Besides, it will nurture the ability to critical thinking, to turn over a subject to see its all sides and facets and take an overall point of view.
We wave a farewell to the Animal Farm, however, we cannot say goodbye to China’s society, since it is our motherland and it is the part of the human community. I firmly believe that events like Qian’s accident, being cracked up to be employed, hide and seek scandal will be less and less. First it is truly a matter of time. Yet it is we who can and will make difference. For us, it is not standing outside as witnesses, but assuming responsibility and taking actions as doers. It is by this way that we will greet gladly the bright future.