Benjamin, a donkey, is the oldest animal on the farm. Orwell uses him to transmit the same message the Who so famously conveyed: "Meet the new boss, same as the old boss." Benjamin doesn't for a minute believe in the ideals of the revolution. As the narrator puts it:
He refused to believe either that food would become more plentiful or that the windmill would save work. Windmill or no windmill, he said, life would...
Benjamin, a donkey, is the oldest animal on the farm. Orwell uses him to transmit the same message the Who so famously conveyed: "Meet the new boss, same as the old boss." Benjamin doesn't for a minute believe in the ideals of the revolution. As the narrator puts it:
He refused to believe either that food would become more plentiful or that the windmill would save work. Windmill or no windmill, he said, life would go on as it had always gone on—that is, badly.
Benjamin is proven right: except for a brief time of joy and solidarity right after the revolt, life does goes on as it had—badly, sometimes even worse than before.
Benjamin remains loyal to his friend Boxer throughout the book. He is the one who takes care of Boxer as much as he possibly can when Boxer is old and sick.
Benjamin is also the animal who exposes the fact that the pigs are sending Boxer to the glue factory. He rouses the other animals, runs with them to the cart that is taking Boxer off and reads on the side of it:
"'Alfred Simmonds, Horse Slaughterer and Glue Boiler, Willingdon. Dealer in Hides and Bone-Meal. Kennels Supplied.' Do you not understand what that means? They are taking Boxer to the knacker's!"
Benjamin is an intelligent animal who won't take sides in quarrels and steadily sticks to the routines he started before the Revolution. However, he does read to other animals the slogan that has replaced the Seven Commandments on the side of the barn:
ALL ANIMALS ARE EQUAL
BUT SOME ANIMALS ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS
Through Benjamin's steady, unchanging eyes, we see how the pigs have betrayed the revolution. Orwell uses Benjamin as an animal the reader can trust, because he has no agenda and no interest in politics.
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