What is the importance of dreams in Animal Farm?
In the novel Animal Farm by George Orwell, the concept of dreams is an important theme, both in the literal sense of the word and the metaphorical sense of the word. Toward the beginning of the novel, Old Major tells the other animals about a dream he had the night before. He dreamt about a world in which the animals no longer toiled for the benefit of the farmer and his family but instead worked for themselves, for each other, in a “society” in which all were equal.
Beasts of England, beasts of Ireland,
Beasts of every land and clime,
Hearken to my joyful tidings
Of the golden future time.
Soon or late the day is coming,
Tyrant Man shall be o'erthrown,
And the fruitful fields of England
Shall be trod by beasts alone. (Chapter 1)
Old Major’s literal dream becomes the dream, the impetus, for the...
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revolution that upends life on Manor Farm and for a little while creates Animal Farm. In the end, though, Old Major’s original dream dissolves as Animal Farm disintegrates and the pigs take over the role that the humans once played. The animals no longer work for the benefit of themselves and each other but rather for the benefit of the pigs, who have, in a very real way, become just like people. The dream is dead.