Animal Farm: Benjamin Quotes

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“Benjamin was the oldest animal on the farm, and the worst tempered. He seldom talked, and when he did, it was usually to make some cynical remark—for instance, he would say that God had given him a tail to keep the flies off, but that he would sooner have had no tail and no flies. Alone among the animals on the farm he never laughed. If asked why, he would say that he saw nothing to laugh at.”

This depiction of Benjamin, the donkey, in Chapter 1 portrays a character who has been weathered by the conditions on Animal Farm after living there so long. Though intelligent, Benjamin is not invested in the revolution in the same way that the other animals are; perhaps because so much of his life has been effectively spent under a condition of slavery, Benjamin does not hold out hope for the future. His cynicism prevents him from speaking out against the pigs’ tyranny, and later in the novella when he finally does try to speak out and save Boxer, it is too late.

“Old Benjamin, the donkey, seemed quite unchanged since the Rebellion. He did his work in the same slow obstinate way as he had done it in Jones's time, never shirking and never volunteering for extra work either. About the Rebellion and its results, he would express no opinion. When asked whether he was not happier now that Jones was gone, he would say only ‘Donkeys live a long time. None of you has ever seen a dead donkey,’ and the others had to be content with this cryptic answer.”

Chapter 3 illustrates Benjamin’s lack of interest in the success of the revolution. While the other animals seem to be in a state of fervor and excitement, Benjamin does not alter his demeanor. Benjamin is unaffected by the idea of change, and believes it a waste of time and energy to attempt to improve his current situation, be it his life under Mr. Jones or his life under the pigs on Animal Farm. This quote paints Benjamin in an apolitical light; he is someone who prefers to endure whatever comes next, instead of fighting for what he believes is right or against what is wrong.

“Benjamin was the only animal who did not side with either faction. 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.”

When in Chapter 5 the animals separate into two camps, one for Snowball and one for Napoleon, Benjamin refuses to side with either. As Benjamin, always the cynic, sees it, his life will be impacted negatively either way. His refusal to engage in the political conversation remains a choice and does not absolve him from the events that transpire on Animal Farm. Rather than provide guidance or insight, being that he is the oldest animal on the farm and has the most life experience, Benjamin remains quiet and uninvolved, and through his character Orwell points out the dangers of doing so.

“Clover asked Benjamin to read her the Sixth Commandment, and when Benjamin, as usual, said that he refused to meddle in such matters, she fetched Muriel.”

Following the execution of the animals believed to have been in league with Snowball, Clover asks Benjamin in Chapter 8 to read the Sixth Commandment. As is typical of Benjamin, he refuses to do so. However, even though Benjamin does not engage directly, his silence implicates him in regard to the violence that the pigs commit. Because Benjamin is one of the few animals on the farm who can read, he is uniquely aware of the changes to the Commandments that are made throughout the novella. By remaining silent, he allows for the destruction of both Animalism and his fellow animals. His reluctance to speak up illustrates his own selfishness, and mirrors what happened during Stalin’s regime when the intellectuals who recognized Stalin’s violence did nothing to speak out against his tyranny.

“Only old Benjamin professed to remember every detail of his long life and to know that things never had been, nor ever could be much better or much worse—hunger, hardship, and disappointment being, so he said, the unalterable law of life.”

Explanation: In Chapter 10, Benjamin makes this bleak observation about life. If Animal Farm went through a momentary change, culminating in its return to a time similar, if not worse, than when it was Manor Farm under Mr. Jones’s rule, then Benjamin is the only character in the novella who never changes accordingly. From the beginning of the novella until its end, Benjamin does not believe in an existence that is better or worse. After the revolution, Benjamin’s pessimistic views are proven right, especially when it becomes clear everything will return to the way things used to be. Through Benjamin, Orwell presents a character who is cynical in regard to revolution and only sees it as a means of exchanging one master with another, freedom itself being a fantasy that becomes corrupted the moment power comes into play. However, for all of his intelligence, Benjamin appears not to see that the situation on the farm at the end of the novella is actually worse than it has ever been, and that the state of things at Animal Farm—now, once again, Manor Farm—is worse than any other farm in the county.

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