Abuse Of Power In Animal Farm

Power can change people into the thing or character that said they never would be. Absolute power changes people and creates something new and often times a monster. As Paul Krishner wrote in The Dual Purpose Of Animal Farm “…the commandments are chipped away and the pig-managers increasingly resemble farmers…”3 this demoralizes the majority oppressing them. Spencer Brown quotes Wanda Hale in "Mealymouthed Critics Ignore Animal Farm's Anticommunist Flavor,” Animal Farm is a

George Orwell in his novel Animal Farm explores the reality through the abuse of power using the character Napoleon. In order to gain absolute power, Napoleon eliminates any opposition, uses propaganda, and chances the commandments.

Napoleon made excellent use of his second-in-command Squealer’s abilities at speaking eloquently and convincingly to make propaganda. Squealer would make the other animals think that they were better off

“Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely” (Lord Acton) This quote is telling us that when people get into the roles of absolute power they tend to become corrupt, as a result of that power. This quote can be applied to Napoleon from the book Animal Farm by George Orwell, because at the beginning of the novel Old Major’s words inspired Napoleon. As a result, he believed that humans were evil for forcing animals to work for them and that animals should be able to live freely, not under anyone’s control; however, as the story progresses his belief changed and the animals did not get to live their utopian dream.

People play an enormous component in our lives and the choices we make. In George Orwell's “ Animal Farm” there are several people that show leadership and guidance. The Leaders of Animal Farm start off with good intentions, but as the story goes on it becomes obvious the leaders have grown power-hungry and have become the 'superior' animals, showing that equality does not exist. This source of power has been used by leaders at the expense of their followers for their own personal gain, like Napoleon, whose first sign of corruption occurred early in the book when he seemed to be the main leader of them all.

When a society accepts someone as their leader that means that that society has authorises the person to have power and control over that society. In truman show Peter Weir uses power and control to show that a healthy life can not be obtained from being free, that you need boundaries to have a nice life. This is shown when truman tries to leave at the end of the movie and christof talks to him and says “you can have everything you want in seahaven, but out there, people will hurt you.” In animal farm George Orwell shows that all life needs to be controlled. Without control life will be messy and would not be fulfilling. This is shown when Napoleon takes control over the farm and lies to all the animals that all the plans about the windmill were his, he did this because because Napoleon wanted precedence over the animals and if he didn't have this his life would be horrendous. If Napoleon did not scare away snowball and snowball became the owner of the farm, the farm would be much better because snowball wanted to help the farm and not use it for his own profit and his own gain. Napoleon perpetually wants a gargantuan amount of endowment and this leads to him turning into human even more. Napoleon wanted power for his own good, he didn't want to help others, he wanted to take from others for his own gain. But on the other hand, Christoph wanted to make truman have a nice life and a good job. He wanted truman to have the perfect life. But he also did it for his own gain because they

Last but not least way a corrupt leader advances to power is by possessing aspects of intimidation. In Animal Farm, one aspect is intimidation Napoleon uses is dogs. He recruits 9 puppies who he was suppose to provide an education for but instead Napoleon rears them into fierce, elitist dogs that acts as his security guards. The very first time Napoleon use the dogs is at a meet before Snowball has a chance to stand up and give a counter-argument to Napoleon’s disapproval of the windmill. Orwell asserts “Napoleon stood up and, casting a peculiar sidelong look at Snowball… nine enormous dogs… came bounding into the barn. They dashed straight for Snowball… Snowball was racing across the long pasture that led to the road… he out on an extra spurt

Squealer used these propaganda techniques to give Napoleon’s cryptic actions a justifiable pretext. Therefore, Squealer’s propaganda greatly impacted the events that occurred throughout the book.

(Orwell 58). 2. Due to the oppressive use of intelligence and propaganda, the animals are rendered helpless to understand the current situation. C. Animal farm demonstrates the ease at which dictators can return to power due to strong disparities in intellect and ambition.

After Snowball’s drive off, Snowball was expected to make a lot of changes. Not all of them were of great importance to the others, but Squealer was sent out to explain and justify the new procedures. He glorified Napoleon and his deeds. What Squealer said was that Napoleon’s responsibility was deep and heavy, and that not anyone should imagine that leadership was a pleasure rather than a big burden, but they are, as pigs, set to undertake that responsibility to protect the others, Squealer always turns around this idea to the extent that the other animals were, in no way, able to assume any other truth, actually “twisted

Squealer often tells the animals lies, in hope that the animals do not question the system and Napoleon’s way of doing things. For example, Squealer, claims that Napoleon is the one doing all the work: “I trust that every animal here appreciates the sacrifice that Comrade Napoleon has made in taking this extra labour upon himself…” (Orwell 69) Squealer says that Napoleon is the one doing most of the work. That is not true: since Snowball’s banishment, he has not done anything but boss the animals around and claim Snowball’s ideas as his own. Squealer is using negative Propaganda in order to sell government ideas.

With Squealer and other pigs, and also his dogs in his side, made him to have more power than others in the farm. Napoleon used all his knowledge to control the animal farm, but power that Napoleon had led animal farm to be in crisis. Napoleon had corrupted the whole idea of animalism and the seven commandments. He began to change the commandments that “all animals are equal but others are more equal” which in the first commandment didn’t state that. Because Napoleon was the only leader that led the animal farm, it made him to have an absolute power that can led him to be arrogance.

They ignored their ideals, like the pigs, and never worried about the working class citizens who believed and followed them. The animals don’t see Napoleon as an enemy because he is a animal and not a human. They don’t realize that Napoleon is doing more harm than good for them. Napoleon changes the rules to best fit his needs: “No animal shall sleep in a bed with sheets” (Orwell 67). Every time Napoleon changes a commandment it’s for the pigs benefit and allows them to become more humanlike. This means that the pigs disregard everything they said about not adopting the human ways of life and realize how much they can manipulate the the other animals. By adding “with sheets” to the and of the commandment Napoleon and Squealer can trick the animals into thinking the other animals’ memories were at fault. This is one thing Squealer is notorious for. Another way Napoleon manipulates and corrupts the other animals, is by using Squealer to spread lies and new ideas. This can be proven with this quote because after Napoleon changes a commandment Squealer usually comes around and clears up any confusion with the animals by announcing to them their memories were at

Power is an inevitable part of civilized society, and its responsibility falls on those whom the populace believes to be capable of handling it appropriately. When power is used well, monitored, and possessed by the right people it can be a positive force that can lead people to better society as a whole. However, when power is abused it can lead to dangerous and destructive consequences. George Orwell explores the concept of power’s corrupting influence, in his novel Animal Farm. George Orwell wrote with great insight that is enforced by his own experience from taking part in wars that had power at the core. In the political fable and allegory of Animal Farm George Orwell critiques different forms of power. Arguably the strongest message

You sit in class and always know the answer. People come to you for help and after a while you become cunning. You start to charge people for help. They still keep coming in for help and now you control the school and what goes on. The novel Animal Farm by George Orwell is about a farm that animals took control from the owner lead by intelligent pigs. The pigs rose to power because of their intelligence and are lead by Napoleon. They go through many hardships, but at the end Napoleon makes peace with the humans much to the rest of the farms dismay. A theme that is found in the book is that knowledge is power. This theme comes up many times in the beginning, middle, and the end of the novel.