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Animal Farm

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How are the characters in George Orwell’s ‘Animal Farm’, different and diverse?
Difference and diversity refers to the concept that embraces the variety of characteristics in all living things. It is portrayed through species, preferences, religion, culture, race, political beliefs, ideologies and more. In George Orwell’s Animal Farm, difference and diversity can be seen in the character’s species, level of intelligence and their needs.
In Animal Farm, the characters are different and diverse as they are of different animal species. In chapter one when all the animals gather to hear Old Major’s dream in the barn, we learn that “First come the three dogs..., and then the pigs..., the hens..., the pigeons..., the sheep and cows..., the two cart-horses..., the white goat..., the donkey..., the brood of ducklings..., the white mare... and last of all comes the cat.” This indicates that there was a wide range of animal species living on Manor Farm (name of the farm given by the human owner) since it is stated early in the book in the opening scene. The variety of animal species on Manor Farm is just one aspect of difference and diversity shown throughout George Orwell’s historical satire.
Moreover, difference and diversity is noticeably shown through the different levels of intelligence of the characters in Animal Farm. Two great examples of this are Boxer and Clover. “Those two had great difficulty in thinking anything out for themselves, but having once accepted the pigs as their teachers, they absorbed everything that they were told and passed it on to the other animals by simple arguments.” Boxer and Clover weren’t very intelligent and trusted the pigs’ decisions, who usually organised everything and lead the animals to victory in every attack. However, the main cause of most of the animals’ dumbness was due to their inability to read and write. As the pigs could

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