Enthymeme Thesis:
Animal Farm is a great reflection on history’s attempts at creating a totalitarian society. Therefore, when I say attempts, Animal Farm is a prime example of how societies can come relatively close to totalitarianism, but never fully reach it because it is too ambitious.
Outline:
In the first paragraph, I will be talking about chapters 1 and 2 of Animal Farm. These chapters are relatively short so I decided it would be best to include passages from both because they contain a lot of important details. These chapters specifically relate to the era where Major has a great influence on the farm, thus becoming this great unifier. I will relate this to Chapter 10 of Origins of Totalitarianism where it specifically talks about how totalitarianism can become this great unifier amongst individuals.
In the second paragraph, I will be talking about another two short chapters, chapters 5 and 6. These chapters are important because they mark the era in which Snowball and Napoleon governed the farm, but it also marks the beginning of Napoleon’s reign after he exiled Snowball for interfering with his vision for Animal Farm. I will relate this to the introduction of The Black Book of Communism on how such revolutions like this start and what the motives are. I will also go back to Chapter 10 of Origins of Totalitarianism and draw parallels between the beginning of Napoleon’s rule and the tools needed to reach a state of totalitarianism.
The final paragraph will touch on chapters 7 and 8, the height of Napoleon’s rule. At this point in the book, Napoleon has taken over all authority, and the farm animals remaining still show unwavering loyalty to him. This means I will touch on Chapter 4 of The Black Book of Communism and again on Chapter 10 of Origins of Totalitarianism with both discussing the tactics and basically the recipe to create a totalitarian society, but that became too ambitious at this point.
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