A good example comes from Boxer, who follows the
Revolution entirely on trust. He works harder than any other animal, and his strength is
vital to the farm's success and to their battles against
humans.
Boxer,
who had now had time to think things over, voiced the general feeling by saying: "If
Comrade Napoleon says it, it must be
right."
His trust is so blind
that he submits to Napoleon's every whim, accepting this abuse as part of his payment
for living in the new, "free" society. However, his trust is betrayed as Napoleon sells
him to a glue-maker instead of allowing him to retire, as the initial plan always
stated.
The
time had been when a few kicks from Boxer's hoofs would have smashed the van to
matchwood. But alas! his strength had left him...
(Orwell, Animal
Farm,
msxnet.org)
The betrayal of
Boxer is one of the final nails in the coffin of the original Revolutionary ideals.
Instead of being allowed to retire and reap the reward for his hard work, Boxer is sold
for enough money to buy the pigs a case of whiskey; Boxer was used, abused, and
discarded when he was no longer useful. In this way, trust is shown almost as a vice; it
is better to trust and verify than to trust blindly.
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