When Science Meets Literature: Reframing George Orwell’s Animal Farm with Four Quantum Concepts

Abstract

This paper pioneers the application of Quantum Narratives, a novel theoretical framework inspired by quantum mechanics, to George Orwell's Animal Farm. Drawing on such quantum concepts as uncertainty, entanglement, superposition, and wave-particle duality, the study reveals the underlying meanings within the text's coexisting narratives and paradoxical realities. Unlike traditional literary analyses, which often fail to capture the novella's multifaceted nature, the paper employs a meticulous close reading methodology to scrutinize the text with a precision akin to examining the subatomic world. The findings reveal that, like quantum particles, the narrative elements in Animal Farm exhibit indeterminacy, interconnectedness, and the coexistence of multiple realities. This approach not only deepens our understanding of the novella's timeless themes but also contributes to the growing debate on interdisciplinary methods in literary criticism. Therefore, by spanning the gap between quantum mechanics and literary analysis, the study opens new paths of investigation into complex works of literature.

Highlights:

1. It introduces Quantum Narratives as a new interdisciplinary framework for reading Orwell’s Animal Farm.
2. It applies four quantum concepts, namely uncertainty, entanglement, superposition, and wave-particle duality, to explain the novella’s shifting power relations and contradictions.
3. It shows that Animal Farm is not only a political allegory, but also a text marked by coexisting realities, unstable meanings, and paradoxical structures.
4. It rereads major narrative elements, especially Napoleon’s rule, Boxer’s loyalty, Squealer’s propaganda, Snowball’s expulsion, and the changing commandments, as examples of uncertainty, entanglement, superposition, and wave-particle duality.
5. It contributes to literary criticism by bridging science and the humanities, opening new possibilities for interdisciplinary readings of complex literary works