Question

How have the pigs completely gone against the ideals they professed to hold at the beginning of the novel?

Answer 1

In Animal Farm, we encounter a group of farm animals who rebel against the human who owns them. In a reference to communism, they decide that they will run the farm in a collective kind of way. They will share the responsibilities of performing all the work, but also all the benefits of it. They will be their own bosses, and only respond to each other.

The rebellion and transition is led by the pigs, as they are the most intelligent animals in the farm. Through a strong campaign of rhetoric and propaganda, the pigs convince the animals of the benefits of making them leaders. And while they claim to lead the animal revolution, the pigs keep trying to find ways to benefit themselves.

By the end of the novel, the pigs have become so capitalistic they can no longer be distinguished from men. They have profit from the other animals' labor and have made deals with the humans. The pigs now live a life of leisure and luxury. In short, the pigs have become everything they despised at the beginning of the novel.

Answer 2

At the beginning of the novel Animal Farm, the animals wanted freedom. They no longer wanted to be slaves to mankind.

By the end of the novel, the animals are no longer slaves to mankind -- now, they are slaves to the pigs. The animals have substituted one master for another and will not get the freedom they once desired.

The pigs went from wanted freedom for all to just wanting freedom for themselves. They are no better than men.

In this way, they have gone against the ideals they professed to hold at the beginning of the novel.