Essay Comparing Niemoller And George Orwell

Both Martin Niemoller and George Orwell tell a story of how one group of power

took control and destroyed another group. The major difference is both how a group

or individual could have stopped it, and the hope, or lesson, on how it could not

occur again. In Animal Farm, the overall fault lies in the group, even if Napoleon

created the rules on how to run their new animal world, it was the overall group

that allowed these rules to go unchallenged. It was the group that allowed the pigs

to break these rules without having to pay for their disobedience, even if the pigs

came up with a clever way to justify their rule breaking, the animals still allowed

this to happen again and again. In reality the physical hierarchy of the farm was pigs

vs horses, …show more content…
Had the representation in Niemoller’s

poem spoken out at any time to help those who were being targeted, then there

could have been help to prevent everyone from being attacked. In the end the

representation kept to himself and thus had to stand alone. The writing style of

Niemoller’s poem is very important, by changing the text so that when the reader is

reciting the poem it feels as if the reader is speaking out on his or her own actions. ‘I

did not speak out, because I was…’ these passages make the reader feel as if it was

their actions or excuses that lead to the overall ending. In Orwell’s story it is clear

that all actions are carried out by the animals, we can say what we would have done

differently but in the end all of the actions had nothing to do with us and thus we

can refrain from any responsibilities from the overall results. In Niemoller’s poem,

the narrative leaves the reader feeling as if it was their specific actions that caused

their own downfall, and leaves them wondering what they would do if a similar

situation became