Essay – Animal Farm

In the novel Animal Farm by George Orwell, an essential character is Mollie. I dislike Mollie however she plays a crucial role in understanding the text. Mollie is disliked by me because she never displays a work ethic, believes she is the most beautiful animal on the farm and she feels she deserves more luxuries than everyone else. A characher that helped me understand the novel is Mollie because she is one of the various different personalities illustrated by Orwell. My displeasure of Mollie helps me understand how the novel can be interpreted differently by different people depending on their values.

A reason I don’t like Mollie is she never shows a real work ethic throughout the novel. As Mollie saw her self superior to the other animals; she believed she didn’t have to work while the rest of the animals were. While all the other animals were working Mollie would sleep in or claim she was injured, to leave early. when Mollie did work she would work extremely apathetically. “Mollie, it was true, was not good at getting up in the mornings, and had a way of leaving work early on the ground that there was a stone in her hoof”, this displays clearly how Mollie has an apathetic work ethic. Orwell’s purpose in showing this is how not every animal was always working adequately on the farm. A real-world example of this is Donald Trump. Donald Trump was given a loan by his father for close to sixty million dollars. He used this money to buy his way up to business and political hierarchy without doing any real work. This is similar to Mollie because they both put in little to no work in their area, in the end, they both got what they wanted. Trump acquired control of the USA and obtained even more money, Mollie got all the goods she wanted after leaving the farm as she was seen getting fed sugar and looking like she had been taken care of extensively. This shows how even when people do not work hard they still can get what they want and the people that work the hardest are left with nothing. Mollie never showed any effort while working on the farm and did not benefit the farm postivety.

Mollie is self-centered and narcissistic. All throughout Mollies time on the farm she always saw her self as better and more beautiful than all the other animals. I do not enjoy people with the trait of narcissism which shows why I have negative feelings towards Mollie. Mollie has a heart of stone. Boxer helped the farm undoubtedly, Mollie only cared for her self and her physical appearance. “She took a place near the front and began flirting her white mane, hoping to draw attention to the red ribbons it was plaited with”, Mollie clearly thinks she looks spectacular and barges through the crowd to show off her presence and ‘beauty’. The purpose of Mollie being narcissistic was that Orwell wanted to display many personalities and how some people don’t care about others or anything but them self, this is a common personality type in modern society and there are many other personalities featured in the novel. This is one of the ways Mollie helped me understand the novel and its purpose. Narcissus the Greek mythology character was very similar to Mollie, they both care about how they look and do not show any feelings for others but themselves. Orwell did a splendid job of linking Mollies personality in with the other personalities in the novel, I think this is one of the reasons Animal Farm was such a great novel. The smorgasbord of personalities Orwell included in the novel is seen everywhere in real life society. Mollie does not care for others and only cares about her looks.

Mollie believes she deserves more luxuries than everyone. The privileged horse wants her ribbons, sugar and an always freshly trimmed mane. Mollie, who lived a life luxury before the revolution, hated the idea of these privileges being taken away. After the revolution, all the animals on the farm were limited to necessities only. Most animals were fine with this but Mollie seemed to think she deserved a more luxurious life than the others. “She had taken a piece of blue ribbon from Mrs. Jones’s dressing table, and was holding it against her shoulder and admiring herself in the glass in a very foolish manner”, this displays Mollie dispersing from the group to steal luxuries like ribbons. Orwell’s purpose in making a character like Mollie is to show how not every animal was happy after the revolution, this eventually leads to Mollie leaving the farm for good. Mollie did not want to abide by the way she was living on the farm. Mollie holding the ribbon across her shoulder is similar to beauty pageant attire. Like Mollie, these girls at pageants are spoilt and overly extravagant. Mollie wants unnecessary luxuries and does not want to share with the rest of the farm.

Animal Farm can be interpreted differently by different people depending on their values. With the variety of personalities on Animal Farm, it is undoubtedly going to have an array of opinions and feelings about the novel. There are characters like Mollie who could either be viewed as narcissistic and unsympathetic or as a powerful individual who gets what she wants no matter what it takes. A character who has a completely different personality to Mollie is Boxer. Boxer works hard and always put others before him. “Boxer was the admiration of everybody. He had been a hard worker even in Jones’s time, but now he seemed more like three horses than one; there were days when the entire work of the farm seemed to rest on his mighty shoulders.” This shows how Boxer always works hard for the farm and is a completely different personality to Mollie. Orwell’s purpose in making his novel easy to be interpreted differently is to create conversation amongst readers. Every reader of the text would have a slightly different opinion on who they think is a ‘good’ character and who is a ‘bad’ character. Another place this approach is seen is in movies like Get out. Get out shows the underlying racism in American society this is like George Orwell wisely showing communism and revolutionary movements in Animal Farm to create diverse feelings. The movie is highly appraised and can make a variety of opinions on what is right in the film. Like Animal Farm, Get out also causes many conversations. George Orwell made Animal Farm open to different interpretations by creating many different personalities.

Mollie is an essential character in the novel animal farm although I dislike her. Mollie is portrayed by Orwell as a Narcissistic, poor working horse that believes she deserves more luxuries than the rest of the farm. However, Mollie does help me understand the novel on a deeper level due to her distinct personality and how the text can be viewed differently by people depending on their values.