Benjamin is a steady as a rock. Benjamin's remarks are
significant in that he understands that it is not wise to believe in a perfect world.
While the other animals are thinking that life is better without Mr. Jones, Benjamin is
the same old donkey. He does not change. He is steadfast. He does not work harder or
less. He is dependable no matter the circumstances.
Truly,
wisdom comes with age. Things are not always what they seem. Benjamin has insight from
all his years of experience. He does not get overly excited about the changes and
rightly so. He does not take on more than his work load as Boxer does. Benjamin will not
get let down when the changes occur. He will not be disappointed or confused because he
does not allow his expectations to be more than what they should be. He does not expect
things to be better. It is what it is. That is Benjamin's
attitude.
Benjamin lives a long time because he does not
over work himself. He paces himself and gets the job done. He realizes that he will not
be appreciated any more or less for his work ethic. In many ways, he is probably more
content because he does not raise his expectations to an unrealistic
level.
In his cynicism Benjamin
survives:
He
is a sad cynic who believes that whatever the animals do, conditions on the farm will
remain equally as
bad.
Benjamin is right.
Things on the farm never change for the better. He rarely gets disappointed. Only when
his friend Boxer is taken away to be slaughtered does Benjamin seem upset. If only Boxer
had adopted Benjamin's attitude, he would possibly still be
alive.
According to old Benjamin, things never would change
on the farm:
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.
Perhaps, Benjamin knows
best. None of the other animals had ever seen a dead donkey.
No comments:
Post a Comment