Society in in animal farm and the elephant man novels

An unknown source once said that, “ Literature opens a dark window on the soul, revealing more about what is bad in human nature than what is good.” , this statement portrays that most writings display people as they truly are as well as their true thoughts and not as they may be portrayed as in reality. This interpretation can be seen in two works of literature, Animal Farm in the aspect that the pigs in their hazed envisionment of the future became the past they had feared which is also a portrayal of the authors view of Stalin’s communist rule at the time and in The Elephant Man in the context that doctors like Frederick Treves hypocritically claimed they wanted to help cure diseases, but at the expense of the humility of people like John Merrick which brings the discriminatory Victorian lifestyle at the time into view.

Throughout the novel Animal Farm the author George Orwell use the literary technique of allegory to bring a simple story about animals into a completely different realm of reality with much more meaning. Orwell’s use of allegory back my previous interpretation of the quote,” Literature opens a dark window on the soul, revealing more about what is bad in human nature than what is good.” especially in a particular scene at the end of the book in which the pigs have sat down to make peace with the humans and as the other farm animals spectate this meeting they can no longer tell the pigs from the humans which is a portrayal of Orwells thinking of how during Stalin’s reign he was becoming the very ruler the country of Russia had despised before he had taken over. This scene’s allegorical use supports my interpretation of the previous quote because the whole scene shows what Orwell had really thought about the Russian government at the time which he never would have been able to voice publicly due to the fact he would have been eliminated by Stalin’s secret police.

From beginning to end of book The Elephant Man the author Frederick Drimmer uses the distinct section of the literary element of setting, historical context. Drimmer uses historical context all through his book through the treatment of Merrick, showing how is treated based solely on his appearance. One particular scene where this element supports my interpretation of the quote is when Frederick accidentally leaves an article about Merrick with a picture of him and his daughter sees it, completely enrages his wife because she believes, due to societal norms of Victorian society, that it is unbecoming of a young lady to see such disturbing things. This supports my theory on the meaning of the previously presented because it displays the extent to which the petty hypocrisy of the Victorian lifestyle goes, as to where they were teaching their children to partake in such petty thoughts as well.

Therefore through my analysis of the quote previously stated and the usage of allegory and historical context in the books Animal Farm and The Elephant Man which proves my analysis that people’s writings show who they truly are as well as their true thoughts and not as they may be portrayed as in reality about the quote,” Literature opens a dark window on the soul, revealing more about what is bad in human nature than what is good.”; is true.