Laura N. Hooker
Doctor Teuton
Accelerated English 2
3 March 2019
Orwell’s Animal Farm. One of the characters, Benjamin, notices the direction Animal Farm is
taking during the course of the book, but does nothing about it, preferring to sit back and watch it
happen. This raises a moral question. Is this type of behavior wrong? Is inaction in the face of the
oppression of others morally right or wrong? This essay will argue that this type of pacifism is as
Benjamin simply does not care about the outcome of Animal Farm, at least until it effects him.
He says on page 16, “Windmill or no windmill, he said, life would go on as it had always gone
on−that is, badly” (Orwell 16). This highlights his pessimistic and dismissive attitude, showing
that he does not truly care for the other animals around him. Morality is based on empathy for
others, so the argument could be made that a pessimistic attitude like Benjamin’s is morally
wrong. This is why standing by and watching destruction is wrong on a ethical level.
Even if someone is afraid to speak out, their inaction is still wrong. This circumstance is
well documented, and often called by the Kitty Genovese Effect or the Bystander Effect. Kitty Hooker 2
Genovese was murdered right outside of her apartment building, within sight of long time
neighbors and friends, but several of these neighbors ignored her cries for help, and even closed
the door on her while she lay on the stairs into the apartment building bleeding out. Even though
the myths around the murder of Kitty Genovese have been debunked, her case is one of the most
famous for claiming a whole thirty-seven witnesses who did nothing to help Genovese while she
was being murdered. An entire psychological theory is based on this case. One of the witnesses
to the crime summarizes the phenomenon well with his statement of “I didn’t want to get
involved” (Editors 1). This idea is based on self preservation, and most importantly, selfishness.
It is inherently selfish to sacrifice someone else to their suffering (or in Genovese’s case, death)
Others may argue that standing by and doing nothing is a completely neutral route. They
may argue that this inaction takes no one’s side. However, this is completely wrong. In the case
of Kitty Genovese, when one neighbor did not react to the murder outside their windows, it
became acceptable for another neighbor to ignore the problem, then another, and another, until
this complete silence in the face of a crying young woman was normalcy. In Animal Farm,
Benjamin realizes that his “neutral route” could be harmful to others at the death of Boxer. It is
the first time where Animal Farm’s descent into dictatorship directly affects him with the death
of his friend. Those who ignore tragedy often turn a blind eye to the oppression and look back
Those who are bystanders to the oppression of others are always taking the side of the
oppressor, whether they realize it or not, and this action is most certainly morally wrong.
Inaction comes from a lack of regard for others, and is supportive of oppressors. The only way Hooker 3
for a person to combat this effect that can seize anyone is to be aware of their tendency to blind
eye, and to work to fight injustices, even those that don’t affect them directly. Hooker 4
Works Cited:
Editors, History.com. “Kitty Genovese.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 5 Jan. 2018,
www.history.com/topics/crime/kitty-genovese.
Orwell, George. Animal Farm: A Fairy Story. New York, NY : Signet Classics, [1996. Print.
