The Post-colonial Era: Nation Building

Nevertheless, independence is not the last word in a nation’s life. Instead, it is hard to sustain freedom rather than achieve it. Decolonisation and making a post-colonial nation mean ‘a fundamental change of outlook and attitude, of heart and mind. […] a bush clearing’.11Raymond F. Betts, Decolonization (New York and London: Routledge, 2004), 88. Independent people require to learn to live and represent their world differently.22Boehmer,Colonial and Postcolonial Literature ,179. That is why Mahatma Gandhi emphasises redefining selfhood in terms of native origin, culture, and history and rejecting White men’s values to achievepurna swaraj (complete independence).33Ibid,.177-179.
The liberated animals reject men’s values, deleting all ‘traces of Jones’s hated reign.’44Orwell, Animal Farm , 13. For example, they destroy tools such as bits, nose-rings, dog-chains, knives, reins and whips that Mr Jones utilised to yoke them. They burn the symbol of slavery—ribbon—and the part of human culture of dressing—a small straw hat. They bury white meat, as cannibalism is a vice. Finally, they turn the wine barrel upside down to show their commitment to being non-drinking animals.
The pigs then solidify their notions of roots and home translating traditional symbols into modern rituals and practices. Eric Hobsbawm focuses on the use of cultural signifiers to invent a nation and identity. He argues that
Entirely new symbols and devices came into existence as part of national movements and states, such as the national anthem […], the national flag […], or the personification of ‘the nation’ in symbol or image, either official, as with Marianne and Germania, or unofficial, as in the cartoon stereotypes of John Bull, the lean Yankee Uncle Sam or the ‘German Michel.’55McLeod, Beginning Colonialism, 69.
Snowball and Napoleon rename the farm as Animal Farm and print the new name on the main gate in the first instance. They then inscribe the Seven Commandments on the white wall of the big barn. Next, they make a flag with a hoof and horns against a green background to symbolise the animal state on green England. Next, they declare the ‘Beasts of England’ as the national anthem and invent various prizes and titles for war heroes and martyrs. Next, since Major has been the father of the animal nation, the pigs invent a Sunday ritual (march around Major’s skull) to commemorate him. Next, they introduce the custom of blank firing from Mr Jones’s gun on two national days—the day of their Rebellion and the day of the Battle of the Cowshed. Finally, they warn of all the ills of a luxurious lifestyle, declaring the house a museum to remind them of colonial suffering.
Nevertheless, building a nation based on some authentic cultural signifiers and remaining culturally loyal is challenging. Orwell draws attention to this concern, stressing a deficit in animals’ personal and political agency under the sway of cultural hegemony. As the narrative shows, the newly liberated animal farm is not an isolated area in rural England. It is one of many farms and the only farm ruled by animals. Animals transcend the base societal structure and construct an independent state. However, liberation does not mean the farm is something outside . Nor it means that animal farm can become autonomous in every sector. The farm and the animals must depend on the broader social structure and acknowledge the connected flow of historical events that landed them in a new era. They need to be interactive within that structure to run their farm.
In this sense, the farm is under men’s indirect influence from day one of their revolution. Men are the foreign dominant group, and the pigs are the locally dominant group under the foreign powers. Men’s language, knowledge, business, and culture are deeply rooted within and outside their perimeters. Men are culturally superior, financially overpowering, and structurally domineering. They are proprietors of knowledge, education, science, and progress. They have money, news broadcaster, and production means. So, the pigs can form their authentic cultural identity, educating the animals, forming committees, developing institutions, and dreaming of building windmills. They can even train pigeons as activists and preach the anti-men ideas among neighbouring farms.
Still, the animals cannot ignore men. Men are an absent presenceof which animals must take care. The pigs must notice men’s unease over animals’ freedom and operation of a farm. They must rely on men’s knowledge for scientific developments, buy things, such as nails, from the men-led market and seek their advice for economic changes. They need to address men’s propaganda about cannibalism, corruption, and moral debauchery on the farm. They even are careful about animals like Snowball, who collaborates with foreign powers and betrays the farm.
Thus, men and animals constantly ‘meet, clash and grapple with each other often in highly asymmetrical relations of domination and subordination.’66Mary Louise Pratt, Imperial Eyes: Travel Writing and Transculturation (London: Routledge, 2008), 7. This uneven social dynamic undermines Napoleon and his followers’ cultural agency. They fail to build workable relationships with men, retaining their identity. Instead, they become mentally subservient and mimic men and their cultures without any active persuasion or coercion. The pigs claim their and pro-pig citizens’ superiority over common animals. They begin to lead luxurious life and fall for sex, drinking, smoking, and gambling. Napoleon trades with men and makes them the farm’s inspectors. He feels overwhelmed with men’s propaganda about Snowball and commits political mistakes. Finally, he and his followers dress like men and walk on two legs, carrying a whip in their trotters.
Under such circumstances, the farm begins to lose cultural authenticity. Napoleon finds animal cultural signifiers stupid and strange. He denies the origin of these signifiers and forfeits Major’s rightful place as the dreamer of animal nation. Moreover, Napoleon describes the decolonising movements as petty misunderstandings between men and animals. He offers to mitigate these gaps by modifying the address comrade, the flag, the commandments, and the nationalist anthem. He replaces some symbols with new such as a national song, and restores the farm’s original name—Manor Farm. Orwell illustrates the nationalist leaders’ cultural evolution, stemmed from hegemonic domination, through a fluid image of identity:
But as the animals outside gazed at the scene, it seemed to them that some strange thing was happening. What was it that had altered in the faces of the pigs? Clover’s old dim eyes flitted from one face to another. Some of them had five chins, some had four, some had three. But what was it that seemed to be melting and changing? […]. Twelve voices were shouting in anger, and they were all alike. No question, now, what had happened to the faces of the pigs. The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again, but already it was impossible to say which was which.77Orwell,Animal Farm, 84-85.
The expressions ‘melting and changing’ and ‘it was impossible to say which was which’ show how hegemonic culture crumbles a nation’s cultural fortress. Both men and pigs are indistinct from each other. They keep shifting from men to animals and vice versa. The onlookers cannot say who they are—men or pigs. This is transculturation—the reciprocal process of accepting the other and a continuous becoming.88Alessandra Renzi, “Identity and Transculture in Vice Versa,” Collegium Antropologicum 28, no. 1 (2004): 111. It is “a phenomenon of the contact zone”99Pratt, Imperial Eyes , 7. when various cultures reciprocally reconstitute within unevenness and gaps. Both men and animals form asymmetrical social relationships and, at the same time, pick up their respective cultures. They meet and fight, cohabit and quarrel and, in the process, cultures and identities become chaotic and unstable.
However, cultural hegemonism works in the case of the subaltern animals differently. While the leaders’ change is unifacial, the animals’ ones are multifacial. All the worker animals form a cohesive group of subalterns at the beginning of the nationalist rule. They doubt, falter, and sometimes struggle to understand the notions of slavery, liberation, and animal life. Still, they pose themselves as loyal. However, the more time progresses, the more they become divided and culturally ambivalent. Boxer, Clover and many animals remain culturally genuine. However, Benjamin, Mollie, Moses the raven, Cats, dogs, and sheep prove cultural inauthentic, diverting their commitment towards men and pigs and even betraying the nation.
While Boxer works hard to hardest for the cause of the farm and Clover spreads a spirit of love and fraternity, Benjamin remains indifferent and cynical. He does not show any commitment towards the nation, men or pigs. He leads a self-concentrated life, untouched by misery and sadness. Cats are carpetbaggers in behaviour and action. They do not participate in the work and hardships of the animals. They disappear at the time of work but return at mealtime. They also hide their greed for birds under the façade of fraternity and seek a chance to devour them when at hand. Therefore, they represent culturally static personalities in a post-colonial nation.
However, Moses, the raven, dogs, sheep, and Mollie represent culturally evolved personalities. Moses does not care about the animal farm and its events. Instead, he vanishes from the farm and returns with the restful tale of the Sugarcandy mountains. Although Moses’ activities appear innocuous, they darken animals’ consciousness. The sorrow-ridden animals become escapists, forgetting their role in changing their lives.
By contrast, the sheep and dogs become pro-Napoleon power on the farm. Dogs have lost their ethics and morality and become cultural brutes whose only work is threatening, torturing, and killing animals. Although the sheep are not monsters, they become clever interferers in animals’ resistive desire. At the very moment of serious discussions, they start bleating until all lose their interest in question. Thus, they help sustain Napoleon’s regime and his cultural evolution.
However, the white mare, Mollie, proves herself xenophile. In the post-colonial era, she yearns for Mr Jones’s love and his gifts of sugar and ribbon. Moreover, the luxurious farmhouse with Mrs Jones’s clothes and ornaments mesmerise her. Therefore, Mollie has secret affairs with men and eventually elopes from the farm. She betrays Clover’s motherly words and love without a bit of regret. Instead, she becomes a man’s companion in the national fair and enjoys displaying her beauty.
This split of the subalterns into heterogeneous groups mystifies the Boxer, Clover, and the animals’ conscience. Boxer and Clover become ambivalent over their roles in the prevailing situation. They observe the unwanted change in their leaders and the behaviour of Benjamin, Mollie or Moses, or dogs and sheep. They feel betrayed and have an urge to fight for their rights. However, the animals cannot uprise against them because they cannot deny the role of the pigs in the anti-men movement. The pigs planned, led and fought against invading men. Doing anything against their leaders means leading the farm in the hand of men, the colonial rulers they hate most. Boxer and Clover also do not decipher the root cause of their misery. Why do the leaders hijack their liberty, keep them hungry and kill the dissenting voices?
These contradictory queries trouble Boxer, Clover, and many animals. However, they do not find any word or exact expression to voice their feelings. Sometimes, Boxer ‘set his ear back, shook his forelock several times and tried hard to marshal his thoughts; but in the end, he could not think of anything to say.’1010Orwell, Animal Farm , 33. Likewise, Clover watches the trial scene and ensuing fear and horror among animals. However, she is mute and sad: ‘Such were her thoughts, though she lacked the words to express them.’1111Ibid,.53. The same feeling manifests among some animals after the expulsion of Snowball and Napoleon’s stop of debates. They feel they need to protest, but they cannot utter a single word due to their inability to find ‘the right arguments’1212Ibid,.33-34.Word count : 7595.Disclosure Statement : I donot have any conflict on interest over the publication of the article.Bio: Umme Salma is a casual academic at the School of Historical and Philosophical Inquiry, the University of Queensland, Australia. She also works as a casual research assistant at the School of Languages and Cultures, in the same university, from where she achieved her PhD. In addition, Salma worked as a graduate digital research fellow at UQ Digital scholars’ Hub in 2018-2019. Previously she taught English at the International Islamic University of Chittagong, Bangladesh. Salma published articles and book reviews in peer-reviewed journals and presented papers in high-quality conferences. Currently, she works on her first research monograph,Entrapment and Breaking Free: Representations of Bengali Migrant Experiences in Bangladeshi Novels in English . or surpass the sheep and dogs voices.
Failing memories accompany this linguistic inability. Sometimes animals try to compare between men’s or animals’ reign and understand in which reign they are happier. However, they cannot clearly remember the past. The animals cannot be sure about some commandments in the animal codes of conduct that the pigs violate. Pigs graphic stories surpass animals’ integrity and plunges them into doubt and confusion. Hence, the animals become passive tools to sustain the corrupted regime. They become silent and ambivalent onlookers of a damaging nation.