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Jillian DiBlasi English 0701 Professor Gayle 16 Nov 2013 A Corrupted Class Structure In any given society, there is some type of class structure. Class structure is when a society is divided up and put in order depending on class. In other words, these structures are basically just a hierarchy of status. Class structure is still present today and can also date back to early human civilization. An example of a famous class structure that is often taught is the Egyptian class pyramids. The pharaoh is at the peak, which is followed by the descending classes, eventually leading to the slaves and servants. The pharaoh ultimately rules everything, thus nobody else has a stronger say. A similar situation happens in George Orwells Animal Farm, which portrays a class structure on Manor Farm. The pigs on the farm abuse their power by forcing the other farm animals to conform blindly. Subsequently, the animals obtain a form of class structure, but it is unseen to everyone but the conniving pigs. What the animals think they are working towards is a utopian, when really they are just being blinded by the pigs time after time. Just because there is class structure in a society, does not always mean that the order of classes are fair. Blind conformity and the misuse of power can corrupt a class structure. Class structure is supposed to define class as a whole and provide order or rank among a society. A normal class structure would be divided up into upper class, middle class, and

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lower class. A class structure may have other names for those particular phrases depending on the society they live in. For example, working class would be a term used for the people who typically share the same job, income, or educational value. According to Gregory Mantsios, the director of the Murphy Institute for Worker Education and Labor Studies, he states that the United States tries to steer clear of phrases that deal with class divisions and how class distinctions are largely irrelevant today (Mantsios, 699). It is assumed by most people in the United States that everyone has the same amount of chance and equal opportunity to be successful in life, but this is not always the case. Orwells Animal Farm exhibits class structure in a more demeaning way. It starts off with old Major, apparently the eldest and wisest animal on the farm, making his last and final speech that changes Manor Farm forever, but before old Major even begins his speech, Orwell introduces his characters in a peculiar fashion. He announces the more important animals that play some sort of role in the novel and provides the reader with a description, making his way down the list of animals. The method that Orwell introduces his characters with is his way of setting up some kind of hierarchy structure of class among the farm animals. Orwell does not even name some of the animals. He just groups them by animal class, much like the Egyptian class structure, where only the most important people in the hierarchy were referred to by name. As soon as old Major passes, supposedly the more intelligent animals act on old Majors speech about taking a rebellion against humans because they are the main reason why the animals lives are considered miserable, laborious, and short (Orwell, 5). Assumed that the pigs were the cleverest among all the other animals is because they were one of old Majors kind. The pigs of Manor Farm take matters into their own hands and claim that they

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will lead the farm to a victorious rebellion where all animals are equal as stated in their seventh commandment (Orwell, 19). The pigs make a set of commandments so that all of the animals are treated equally fair. Ironically enough, the farm is already divided up between the intelligent animals and the diligent ones who did not really grasp the whole concept of the rebellion. Ultimately, the pigs intelligence and cleverness was their chance to manipulate in order to gain power and success, and lets just say they know to do this well. As far as blind conformity goes, there are several examples throughout the novel. Four legs good, two legs bad and the anthem Beasts of England are two prime examples (Orwell, 26). The class structure in Animal Farm is flawed in many ways. Ultimately, the goal that the pigs are socalled trying to reach is equality, when in reality they are just creating another hierarchy to be dictated. Once class structure formed on the farm, the more misuse of power and blind conformity took place. Blind conformity takes a toll on Dalton Conley in his novel Honky. Dalton was not your average middle-class white male. His family was considered to be middle-class, but were not financially strong as the typical middle-class family. As Dalton was tossed from school to school as a child, he was exposed to some other types of class. He was not quite sure where he fell on the class structure chart, and was eager to find out. Dalton wanted to know all about class and what it meant to be in each class: upper, middle, and lower. His experiences in different schools accordingly led him to conformity. In the chapter Learning Class, Dalton attends Greenwich Village School, where the kids were predominantly white and by New York standards, middle class - but rich by the norms of the rest of America (Conley, 65). Right off the bat, Dalton picks out certain characterizations about some of the kids in his new class. He

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realizes that even though this school seemed to be a middle class, did not mean that they were any different than him. One day at recess, Dalton participated in one of the political rallies. He was trying to fit in as best as possible, despite his physical appearance. When his classmate he went up against, Ozan, was being swayed by donuts yet still stood his ground with his opinion, Dalton was quite moved. He learned a thing or two from Ozan about class that day and how it is okay to go against the crowd as long as you stand up for what you believe it. Suddenly being white was no longer the marker that set *him+ off from everybody else, but defined who he was. Also, talk about the chapter where they are telling jokes and the one kid conforms to laughing at the other kid just because. REFER BACK TO THESIS Trial by Twitter and how the football players, town, and school thought they had more power and class structure than the victim of the rape case. REFER BACK TO THESIS Teachers and how the TFA program abuses the power of teaching. TFA thinks that it is okay to teach without a degree, which is misusing power in a way. The way class structure works is that the better teachers go to the better schools, and then the worse schools end up getting the TFA teachers who did not meet all the credentials for teaching over a teacher with a degree who actually did. REFER BACK TO THESIS Class structure can easily be corrupted and flawed when certain factors come into play such as conformity and power. Because there is class structure in every society, there is by no means ever going to be an equal society. Although many would like to believe that everyone is created and should be treated equal, it is not true and will most likely never happen. Whether it is people or animals, nobody *shares+ the same life chances as those in the social class above them (Mantsios, 709). In other words, no matter what class you are categorized in, you

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will never have the equal opportunity that a person in another class has. They could have it far better or worse, but the point is that they will always have something different to set the two classes apart, unless they fall into the same class structure.

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Works Cited Bullock, Richard H., Maureen Daly. Goggin, and Francine Weinberg. The Norton Field Guide to Writing, With Readings and Handbook. 2nd ed. New York: W. W. Norton, 2010. 697-716. Print. Conley, Dalton. Honky. Berkeley: University of California, 2000. Print. Levy, Ariel. "Trial By Twitter." The New Yorker. The New Yorker, 2013. Web. 15 Oct. 2013. <http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2013/08/05/130805fa_fact_levy>. Orwell, George. Animal Farm. New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1954. Print.