The political satire Animal Farm by George Orwell tells the story of the animals of Manor Farm rebelling and overthrowing their master, Mr. Jones the farmer. The animals take over and start Animal Farm, establishing the rules of Animalism within their new society. Determining the intertextual codes of Animal Farm will help to transform the reader into a “writerly” reader, find the meaning behind what we read as denotative, and reveal the connotative dimension of the text. As a reader begins in the denotative aspect of the text, it’s apparent that the Proairetic code of cause and effect takes place in the text’s progression of events. For example, when Clover the horse finds out that Comrade Napoleon the boar sleeps in a bed in the farmhouse, she vaguely remembered there was a rule against this established in Animal Farm’s Seven Commandments. Muriel the goat reads the commandment painted on the barn, “No animal shall sleep in a bed with sheets”, and Clover believes she’s mistaken since Napoleon was not using sheets, so it was okay (p.58). The reader knows that this is a manipulation when looking back on the actual commandment which read “No animal shall sleep in a bed”(p.22). The reader can predict from the corrupt cause of Napoleon that more commandments will be violated, and they are. When some of the animals are found guilty of being in alliance with Snowball or have done anything not in favor of Napoleon, they were killed. The animals collectively thought they remembered a commandment that forbid killing other animals, but when they read the inscription, it said “No animal shall kill any other animal without cause” (p.74). The reader once again knows this is a manipulation, as the actual commandment read “No animal shall kill any other animal” (p.22). This cause and effect continues by the readers prediction.
Cause and effect prediction pattern
The Proairetic Code opens a door to the Symbolic Code. This code creates a structured conflict, as seen in the cause and effect events between Napoleon and the animals under his rule. An underlying conflicting cause would be between the followers and the renegades. Napoleon being the latter, he betrays the founding principles of Animal Farm. The followers being the majority of the other animals on Animal Farm, they support and believe in what Animal Farm originally stood for. Another is Napoleon as the manipulator, and the other animals as the ones manipulated. Napoleon manipulates the commandments which manipulates the animals thinking. Thirdly Napoleon inflicts suffering while the other animals suffer. Napoleon makes the animals suffer under his new rules, including immediately killing those who oppose him. These are constant oppositions at play in the incidents revolving around the Seven Commandments. The reader can also decipher elements of the Hermeneutic code within this context.
Napoleon inflicts suffering
The proposal of the enigma happens with the first instance in which Clover is confused about her understanding of the Fourth Commandment. What follows is a request for an answer, Clover asks Muriel “…read me the Fourth Commandment. Does it not say something about never sleeping in a bed?”, then the snare occurs (p.56). Clover is deceived by the manipulation of the written commandment. This pattern of the enigma, request for an answer, and snare repeatedly happens each time Napoleon actively betrays and changes the original commandments. In chapter 8 an incident occurs when Squealer has fallen from a broken ladder in front of the barn wall where the commandments are written, besides him is white paint and a paint brush. For the majority of the animals this is but a partial answer to the enigma as they can not decipher the situation. The only one who has disclosure is Benjamin the Donkey “who nodded his muzzle with a knowing air, and seemed to understand, but would say nothing”(p.89).
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I realized after our discussion in class today something that lends itself to the semic code, and there’s one “seme” that we didn’t mention. The song “Beasts of England” is repeatedly sung throughout the novel, and It becomes very central to the story. It serves as the inspiration for the rebellion and becomes somewhat of an anthem afterward to keep the animals in line. In fact, it is such a profound force throughout the story that even its absence has an effect: Eventually, the “Beasts of England” is replaced by a new song to honor Napoleon. If I remember correctly, singing “Beasts of England” is becomes a punishable act. Perhaps I could generalize this thought even more, and the seme is just the presence of an anthem.
Julie, I enjoyed reading your interpretation of the hermeneutic code! One of the most important parts of the texts is the rules seemingly changing to whatever is most convenient for the pigs. I think the hermeneutic and symbolic codes overlap here if we take the symbolic code as meaning something comprises of unresolvable oppositions. The pigs are in a perfect place: they are the smartest and sneakiest, and the rest of the animals become their minions, blindly following and trusting them. However, some of the less ignorant animals (Like Clover and Muriel) notice this change. Instead of trusting their instincts, they can’t prove that their memory is faltering or prove that the pigs had anything to do with changing the rules. Another unresolvable opposition is whether or not the animals are living a better life now than they were with Mr. Jones. They don’t know, and they can’t remember. Another “insoluble” problem, according to the narrator (130).
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Julie has made some very intellectual observations as she picked out the codes that were in the story. I believe that there is also another code that can be found within the text: a Semic Code.
I found this when looking back at whenever Squealer was speaking about enemies of the farm. There was a phrase that was always used when he warned the other animals with. “Surely, comrades, you don’t want *blank* back?” This quote was seen in instances when the animals begin to question Napolean and his growing regime. This phrase is a ‘seme’ that brings out a fearful emotion from the characters.
The original quote is spoken about Farmer Jones, the abusive original owner of the farm. When the animals ask why Napolean makes the decisions, Squealer pulls out that phrase, and it causes the animals to step down. It’s a reminder of a ‘worse time’ in the beginning. Squealer brings it up AGAIN, except this time it’s with Snowball, who was framed for the destruction of the windmill. The windmill was such a major piece of this new movement, thinking of what the ‘traitorous leader’ will do, would scare the animals back in line… Exactly as Jones did.
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I would like to go further into the symbolic codes present up to this part in the book. In a way, the way Napoleon treats Snowball post-exile makes Snowball into a symbol. Napoleon uses him as a scapegoat, and blames all problems that occur as well as all problems that existed previously him. Either things went wrong while Snowball was there that the animals didn’t remember (like how he “suddenly turned and fled” (81) during the Battle of the Cowshed, in an attempt to lead the animals to their doom), or he suddenly became responsible for things like destroying the lighthouse or stealing food. Snowball became a symbol for all things that went wrongly or badly on Animal Farm, even though he was no longer there. This falls into an instance of qualitative progression: each time Snowball is mentioned, his crimes become worse and worse, until there is a death sentence placed on him and anyone who associates with him. We, as readers, at least have suspicion about whether Snowball has really done anything to the farm since his exile, and we can see how these “crimes” are following a pattern that is being used to manipulate the animals on the farm. This is similar to the different “seme”s that the others have mentioned– the vilification of Snowball has a clear progression through the book that represents different things each time it happens.
We can also make an intertextual connection to historical events when we examine the character of Snowball. One of the prominent members in the Russian Revolution was a man called Leon Trotsky. Trotsky was the main founder of the Red Army (a prominent force in the military aspect of the takeover)— similar to how Snowball lead the animals in the first battle against Jones. Trotsky was also exiled and kicked out of his position in the government, like Snowball, and from there on spent his days arguing against Stalin’s ideologies. Even before I (briefly) researched this, I could tell there were some historical allegories present in the book just by how the events played out and how dramatized the characters of Snowball and Napoleon are. If we read this book in the context of what happened historically, we may be able to analyze it and assume what will happen next (or what it means if it doesn’t happen the way it did historically, etc).
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