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What does the last paragraph of "Animal Farm" mean according to George Orwell?
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The last paragraph of "Animal Farm" signifies the complete corruption of the animals' revolution, as the pigs become indistinguishable from the humans they overthrew. Orwell uses this scene to satirize how Communist leaders like Stalin ultimately mirrored the capitalist oppressors despite their initial ideals. The pigs' transformation reflects their betrayal of the revolution's principles, highlighting the cyclical nature of power and corruption.
The famous final paragraph of the story illustrates what's happened to the pigs since they took over the running of the farm. The Animalist revolution was supposed to free the farm animals from human oppression, to give them control over their own lives for the first time ever, but that's not how it has turned out.
Under Napoleon's dictatorship, the ruling pigs have subjected the other animals to far worse treatment than they received when Mr. Jones was in charge. Not only that, but the pigs have systematically rewritten the Seven Commandments of Animalism so that they can enjoy human creature comforts such as sleeping in beds and drinking whisky. In a final betrayal of everything Old Major stood for, Napoleon and his gang have been engaging in trade with the hated human oppressor. By the time we reach the end of Animal Farm , the pigs have become...
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so much like humans that it's impossible to tell them apart.
What Orwell is satirizing in this final paragraph is the tendency for Communists such as Stalin to end up like the capitalist oppressors they overthrew, despite their professed commitment to justice and freedom for the working class.
The setting for the last paragraph of Animal Farm is a game of cards at the table in the farmhouse. The animals are looking through the window and watching as the pigs, Napoleon and Squealer, are playing with the humans. An argument breaks out when Napoleon and Mr. Pilkington both attempt to play an ace of spades, and it quickly becomes heated. The animals watching from outside cannot tell the difference between the pigs and the humans. The point is that the corruption of the animals' revolution is now complete. The pigs have become as bad as the humans that they fought to overthrow. There is literally no difference between them:
Twelve voices were shouting in anger, and they were all alike. No question, now, what had happened to the faces of the pigs. The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.