Change

[Yuliya]

This is my analysis of the character Benjamin, in the wonderful book, Animal Farm.


Change

Change. It shapes the world around us more than any natural disaster. Change is what forces us to make ourselves better. It chooses our direction into the future and how we differentiate ourselves from the past. In George Orwell’s book, Animal Farm, Benjamin goes through not only a change in himself, but a change in his part to play in the world around him.

In Animal Farm, the animals on Mr. Jones’s farm in England rebel and begin to govern themselves, only their life is far from ideal. Napoleon, a pig, assumes leadership and sneakily gets more and more power. At the beginning, Benjamin, the donkey, is someone on the outside who doesn’t bother to look in. When all of the other animals look forward to a rebellion against humans, he simply declares that it won’t make any difference. “Life will not get better,” he says. Benjamin is the type of character who isn’t trying to rise up, but he isn’t trying to sink down either. He just wants to continue in a straight line like he always has. Benjamin is the only one who can see clearly into the truth of Napoleon’s tyranny, but that vision is his own only, because he never believes that anything he or someone else does will matter, because, “life will not get better.”

Although Benjamin does not admit it, there is one animal he cares about. Boxer is the big, lovable workhorse, who, no matter what, tries his hardest. I think Benjamin doesn’t want the animals to know this because he views it as a weakness, something that could manipulate him. Yet, he can’t help but be devoted to Boxer, because, deep down inside him, he wishes that could be somewhat more like Boxer. He is a winsome giant who never sees any bad in the world, whereas Benjamin sees only the bad. He is the hardened war veteran while Boxer is the sunny young soldier at heart. Boxer is the only animal who Benjamin can find no wrong in. It is the spark that keeps Benjamin going, even if it is a small one, with a light that is surrounded by the dark of hopelessness.

Benjamin has always been this way; the animal with knowledge who doesn’t share it. He knows that Napoleon is a heartless ruler who abuses the trust of animals, including Boxer, but it didn’t matter to Benjamin because it didn’t affect him. That is, until it did.

It was when Boxer was too old to use his giant muscles anymore, when Napoleon sent him to be slaughtered. Only, he told the animals that he was being sent to the hospital instead. But Benjamin, standing by the van to say goodbye, read the words on the side and immediately knew what Napoleon was planning, but the van was already rolling away. It was in that moment that he realized he did care and it did matter. It was when someone who always tried his best and never complained was the victim that he knew life could get worse. And what made it all the more painful was that he could have prevented it, he could have stopped the terror at the end of Boxer’s life. Benjamin could have done so much, but it was already too late. After this event, Benjamin changed. Instead of being cynical and smug, he was regretful and angry at himself and Napoleon for destroying that one spark of light. Everything came back to him, all the chances he had missed to stop the cruelty. He was the savior who never saved anyone. He saved only his memory and his remorse. The faces he had enjoyed were now gone and destroyed because he had done nothing. “Since Boxer’s death, [Benjamin] was more morose and taciturn than ever.” Now, Benjamin was on the outside, looking in, wishing he had done so much, much earlier.

Change is the real force of the world, but what really changes? The actual events that occur? Or do we only change our perception of what has already happened? And is it better to go on not knowing the wrongs of the past or to realize our mistakes and not be able to do anything about it? These are the thoughts that I’m sure Benjamin was thinking after Boxer was killed, when he realized that he cared, but that it was already too late.