Discussion Topic
The significance of the young pigs' education and isolation in Animal Farm
Summary:
The young pigs' education and isolation in Animal Farm signify the control and manipulation by the ruling class. By educating and isolating the young pigs, the leadership ensures they remain loyal and indoctrinated, preventing dissent and maintaining the power structure. This strategy highlights the theme of corruption and the perpetuation of a totalitarian regime.
What's significant about the young pigs' education and isolation in Chapter 9 of Animal Farm?
By this point in the book, the classless society that is supposedly the basis of Animalism has been dismantled. The chief significance of the young pigs being educated and kept apart from the other animals is that they were born after the revolt and the early years of Animal Farm. They therefore know no other way of life than being part of a class system in which they are raised as the superior beings. Because they are kept apart from the other animals, they can never gain a sense of solidarity with them. They are largely prevented from feeling compassion for their fellow animal beings.
Because the young pigs are being raised to oppress the other animals as the normal way of life, they will not question the system they are part of. After all, it benefits them and will seem natural. Therefore, the inequality that has betrayed the...
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revolution will be continued into the future.
The reason that this is significant is because it is just one more piece of proof that shows that the pigs are going to make themselves into this elite group that will be "more equal" than all of the other kinds of animals.
If you remember back to the start of the book, all animals were supposed to be equal. But little by little, the pigs took all kinds of privileges for themselves. Here, they are being taught not to even mingle with the other animals. They are clearly setting themselves apart and are feeling that they are superior to the other animals.
What is the significance of the young pigs' education in Animal Farm?
Napoleon firmly believes that pigs are massively superior to all the other animals on the farm. He thinks they are smarter, more hardworking, and most of all, more committed to the ultimate victory of Animalism than any other species. It's vitally important, then, for the young pigs to be educated—or more accurately speaking, indoctrinated—in order for them to live up to their noble calling.
Napoleon is chronically insecure about the foundations of the pigs' rule over the farm. This is one reason why he seeks to cement his dictatorship by terror and repression. He wants the Animalist revolution to be built on firmer foundations so that it will survive long into what he believes will be a glorious future. To do this, he needs to shape the minds of the next generation of rulers so they will be able to carry on his legacy.