Janista Chaikanjanasak 1

English 12
Mr. Matthew Bishop
December 6, 2017

Feminist Theory Analysis in Animal Farm by Orwell

Animal Farm was published by George Orwell. The novel reflects the event of Russian

Evolution in 1917 and Soviet Union. In Animal Farm, there are also many actions of animals

leading to feminist theory. It is about the Manor Farm controlling by a man named Mr. Jones.

He is the owner of the farm. However, there is the leader of animal in the farm named Old

Major. He is known as the oldest men pig in the farm. After the rebellion of animal against

human leaded by the Old Major, the Old Major died. Snowball and Napoleon, the male pigs, is

selected to be the new leaders of the farm. The reason is because they are male. The animals

believe that male pig should be the head of the farm because they are considered as the brain of

the farm. While the male animals are always selected to be the leader and get accepted by others,

the female animals in the farm seem to have a difficult life. There are many different problems

occur with female animals. Some female animals are being under male animals causes by their

personal appearance. A lot of female animals are unaccepted by others in the farm. Therefore, in

Animal Farm, men act as the leaders who control most of the power, but women get exploited

and marginalized.

In Animal farm, the female animals are imprisoned in the farm by the men. The hens are

the only female animals in the farm that able to give their eggs. However, when the hens know

that Napoleon takes their eggs to sell to human as Mr. Jones did before, the hens start to rebel

against Napoleon. The result of rebellion is considered as the negative way. The hens are all

starved and imprisoned in the nesting boxes by Napoleon. Furthermore, Napoleon order the dog
FEMINIST THEORY ANALYSIS IN ANIMAL FARM BY ORWELL 2

to murder all of the hens. According to Cassandra Clifford (2007), girls are still treated less

favorably in all aspects over boys, education, healthcare, employment, and lower class value, are

some of the obstacles facing girls in the world today. This quote shows the inequality of women

in the human world comparing with the farm. The hens have more difficulties and obstacle

causes by the differences of value given to them. Orwell writes, He ordered the hens rations to

be stopped, and decreed that any animal giving so much as a grain of corn to a hen should be

punished by death. The dogs saw to it that these orders were carried out. For fives days the hens

held out; then they capitulated and went back to their nesting boxes. Nine hens had died in the

meantime (p. 76-77). As the quote clearly shows, there are many actions of Napoleon that are

considered as exploitation with the hens. He uses his power and authority in negative ways by

ordering other animals to imprison and starve the hens in their nest boxes. Napoleon also stops

feeding the hens as a punishment of rebellion. Furthermore, he uses his power in order to

ordering the dog to murder all of 9 hens. The hens are treated unfairly and staying under

Napoleon who is a male. Moreover, according to Cassandra quote, she also believe that girls get

the lower quality treated than the men similar with these story. The ways that men and others do

with women affect on women a lot. They have more difficulties in life. Therefore, all of the

action of Napoleon and other animals that treat the hens different and in negative way leads to

the feminist belief of how female is treated in the society and the inequality between men and

women.

Furthermore, in the farm, males are portrayed as a smarter than female animals. At first,

the Old Major, who is the leader of the animals, selected because of his old age and being male.

After the Old Major died the male pigs, Snowball and Napoleon, are also selected and voted to

be the leader. Animals in the farm believe that the male pig is the cleverest animal comparing to
FEMINIST THEORY ANALYSIS IN ANIMAL FARM BY ORWELL 3

others. According to Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (2013), she is the feminist who has

experienced inequality between males and female. She explained that people in the society give

more opportunity to men when selecting a leader, than they do for women. In fact, even when

women prove that they are cleverer than men, most people will give first priority to men because

people are concerned about the gender more than leadership ability or knowledge. In the novel it

says, The work of teaching and organizing the others fell naturally upon the pigs, who were

generally recognized as being the cleverest of the animal (p. 15). The quote explains that the pigs

will be the one who leads and control the part of teaching These causes by the belief of other that

they are the most intelligent animals and the one who suppose to be the head if the farm. These

clearly shows that the men are always represented as the smartest which will be selected to be

the leader.

Lastly, appearance of female is one of the factors influencing the perspective of social

acceptance. In the farm, the other animals have the negative perspectives on Mollie because she

has a different preference on her appearance. Mollie is an unintelligent horse in other animals

thought because she is very lazy. She is only concerned about her look. She also loves to being

pampered by others. Moreover, animals fierce Mollie after knowing that she admires herself in

the mirror. According to Austin Smith (2015), he explained that Mollie is asking stereotypical

questions such as the permission question for eating sugar and wearing ribbon which degrades

women and makes them look bad. It is obviously shows that the different choice of women is

unaccepted for others. In the novel, Mollie states, Will there still be sugar after the rebellion?

and And shall I still be allowed to wear ribbons? (p. 17). After the first rebellion of the farm

against Mr. Jones, Mollie stills ask for the sugar and the permission to wear the ribbon as the first

and the second things. These clearly shows that she gives a lot of concern about her appearance
FEMINIST THEORY ANALYSIS IN ANIMAL FARM BY ORWELL 4

and the sugar while the other animal do not. The animals judge Mollie when she wears the

ribbon. Mollie gets exploited in terms of thinking. Therefore, the reason why Mollie is not

accepted by other animals in the farm is about her physical looks and her appearance. That

makes Mollie has more difficulties to live in the farm.

To finalize, in the farm, men always selected to be the leader and gain all of the power

while the women are exploited from that power and authority. There are many ways of

exploitation leading to inequality including imprisonment, insulted in terms of personal

intelligence and appearance by men. Even though all of those actions are different, they all come

from the misuse of power and they are also considered as the exploitation between genders.
FEMINIST THEORY ANALYSIS IN ANIMAL FARM BY ORWELL 5

Reference

Cassandra, C. (2007). Are Girls still Marginalized? Discrimination and Gender Inequality

Today. Retrieved December 1, 2017 from https://foreignpolicyblogs.com/2007/05/29/are-

girls-still-marginalized-discrimination-and-gender-inequality-in-today%E2%80%99s-

society/

Adichie, A. (2013, April 12). We should all be feminists. TEDxEuston. Retrieved from

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hg3umXU_qWc&t=323s

Smith, A. (2015). Animal Farm Critical Lens Analysis. Retrieved November 30, 2017 from

https://www.scribd.com/doc/288753986/animal-farm-pdf