Abuse Of Power In Animal Farm By George Orwell

Power and entitlement can often be used to one's own advantage. It can be used to achieve great things to bring a community together, or used for absolute evil to create a rebellion. In the novella Animal farm the hierarchy, being the pigs and Napoleon use propaganda in many instances to manipulate, and constantly twist the truth to the other oblivious animals on the farm to gain power.

Abuse of power is demonstrated in many areas of Orwell’s novel and it clearly indicates that Orwell is not a Marxist. This is shown through manipulating all the animals, altering the commandments, and it is distinctly visible when almost all the animals fear the pigs. As days go on, there is always something different about the farm yet no one ever says a word, “Curiously enough, Clover had not remembered that the fourth commandment mentioned sheets; but as it was there on the wall, it must have done so,” Orwell, pg.79. Some animals recognize the changes and adjustments but because of the deficiency in education they all have, it becomes difficult for anyone to say anything. Clover, the motherly mare, notices that the pigs are sleeping upon beds which according to her were breaking one of the commandments. Although she knows this is a violation of the rules, she stays quiet and silently questions all the actions the pigs continue to take. This is an internal conflict that Clover is experiencing who mentally observes all the manipulating and controlling the pigs do with all the farm animals. She realizes this is all wrong but does not want to get involved. The pigs, specifically Napoleon, change the commandments knowing that not all the animals get fully educated enough to comprehend what each means and in result he, therefore, gets to manipulate the animals into doing anything he wants. The pigs see that all the animals will accept any changes made without arguing because in

One example of this would be in the middle of the book when Winston states “They can make you say anything-anything-but they can’t make you believe it.” ( Orwell 166). In other words, the government, the antagonist, in the book 1984 forced the people of the society into saying things that not everyone necessarily believed to be true. With power, anyone can make people do whatever the person with power wants, not necessarily make the person believe it but at least be able to make them say it. To put it another way, the government in 1984 had power over the whole society, this allowed the government to control what the people did and said, but this did not mean that it altered how they thought. The previous shows one illustration of how the government controlled the people in

A good illustration of how conflicting the government or society can change or influence one's actions is the characterization of Winston’s rebellious thoughts. He did not like the rules of the government even though he worked for them. But at first his actions were no rebellious, only his thoughts were. As the story went on then his actions began to follow his thoughts. He kept all of his thoughts written down on paper which shows how much he was ready to rebel against what the government said. Winston gets a thought to go against the government by creating this diary. “It was, he now realized, because of this other incident [accused for thought crime] that he has suddenly decided to come home and begin the diary

An obvious example would be Stalin, or Hitler, both who claimed to be helping their countries to break off from oppression, but they themselves became the oppressors. Orwell wants to show that if a leader is always allowed to do whatever he wants, or if he is not kept in check, the leader will start to get corrupted.. This is a vicious cycle as the more power the leaders amass, the more corrupted they become. The more corrupted they become, the more power they amass.

Thus these situations serve as government examples. In 1984, O’Brien, the antagonist. and Winston Smith, the protagonist, compete in a power struggle game. Even though Winston accepts the rules of this game, the Party and Big Brother have already won (Fortunati 144). There is no point of rebellion as even the Party controls rebellion. The game itself is simulated and controlled. In A Clockwork Orange, the government publishes a newspaper article detailing the conditioning technique it uses when curing Alex of his destructive habits and changing him into a peaceful law abiding citizen for the State. “Here was the first graduate from the new State Institute for Reclamation of Criminal Types, cured of his criminal instincts in a fortnight only, now a good law-fearing citizen and all that cal. Then I viddied there was a very boastful article about this Ludovico’s Technique and how clever the Government was” (Burgess 149). The government uses Alex’s experience of an example of how its ability to reverse bad behavior. In Brave New World, Bernard and Helmholtz Watson realize their incompatibility with the system and how this appears as a threat to the government. “A mental excess . . . the result of a physical defect . . . what the two man shared was the knowledge that they were the individuals” (Huxley 67). Once these two men realize their individuality, they become exiled to an

Leaders around the world are taking advantage of their power and repressing those who disagree. Greed and the need for power cause them to become tyrants and disrupt their country, using fear to rule the country. They control the media, social classes, use military to control and punish the country’s people, and ignore the concept of checks and balances. Animal Farm can apply to practically every period of history. Power can corrupt people to do the worse.

George Orwell “1984” is a great example of utilitarianism material in which the government known as the “party” abuses their power and brainwash their people to surrender all freedom and abide their rules. This book clearly gives us a warning about how a utilitarian government can control and monitor our everyday lives. The National slogan from the book “War is peace, freedom is slavery and ignorance is strength “ introduce us about how the propaganda has produces fear to the people because there is no democracy in the system and the people have very little power over the government action. The main character in the book “ Winston “, realizes that the whole system is wrong and he hated about how his life is being monitored the entire time, but his resistance are futile and through a simple act of torture, they are able to use fear as a motivation to drastically change Winston belief.

One example is when the animals thought that they would be getting food, but instead it was saved for the pigs. The quote states, “The animals sniffed the air hungrily and wondered if a warm mash was being prepared for their supper. But no warm mash appeared” (p.78). This quote is significant because the pigs hold the absolute power on the farm and determine what the animals receive. In this case they decide to give the animals less food, even though they do more work, which shows the corruption in the system. Another example is when the pigs are playing cards with Pilkington and other humans. The author declares, “The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which” (p.97). This signifies that the corruption that the pigs previously wanted to abolish is present again. It demonstrates how having absolute power changes the mind of the people in charge. This message is important to understand because it is allowing one or a few individuals have the all the power to control your life without your consent and without your say.

Firstly, Weir and Orwell explain how power can be abused through different stories. In ‘The Truman Show’ Truman decides that he wants to escape his town Seahaven, but Christof uses his power to ‘protect’ him from the real world. Weir shows through Christof that some leaders can start to mistake protection with control when Christof starts a storm so Truman would die, rather than him entering the real world. In ‘Animal Farm’ the pigs start to manipulate their power for their own benefits such as when they

The actions a person takes effect, one's past, present, and future, like stated in Murphy's law “ anything that can go wrong will go wrong.” In the book, 1984 by George Orwell talks about a society that has very similar attributes to a totalitarian society. In this society are in a place called Oceania, and within this society there are parties. Parties are referred to as government officials such as inner and outer party members. And the three most valued phrases in this society is “War is peace, Freedom is slavery, and Ignorance is strength”. The slogan emphasizes that the party made the citizens senseless in a way, that people will not betray or rebel against the government. It is a very grueling and difficult task to make every citizen

An ideal example is the Nazi régime. Hitler created and based the Nazi party off of the hate he inspired the German people to have for the Jews. He convinced them to hate not only the Jewish but anyone who was not German. The society that Germany previously had was destroyed and in turn created into a cult. Just like “Big Brother” the people of Germany basically worshiped Hitler and viewed him almost as a god. He had convinced them that they were above everyone and were divine. Much like they people of "1984" the Germans would do anything for Hitler and gave their lives to him. Because of this their society was destroyed along with their humanity. They indulged in sadistic activities like murdering, raping, and pillaging Jews. It turned into a cult of people following the whim of a sinister man. Such hate caused the downfall of Nazis in less than 13 years which is a minuscule amount of

shows that children learn to think a certain way, as they are educated. For instance, Parsons, a man who strongly supports Big Brother, is turned into the Thought Police when his own daughter convicts him of saying “Down with Big Brother” in his sleep (Orwell 233). This demonstrates that the education children receive manipulates their minds into thinking the way the government wants. Parsons’ daughter learned to turn in people who did not support Big Brother even if it was a family member. The Party also uses the Ministry of Truth to manipulate its population with skewed history. Winston’s job is to change records of history so people only know the history that the government wants them to know. Through these lies, the government is able to control people’s thoughts and how they think. Orwell shows that people have lost their thoughts without even noticing since they have been taught to always think like so. He uses this to demonstrate that “if man [does] not become aware of the assaults on his personal freedom,” he will lose his right of thought (Bossche). Therefore, Orwell establishes that the government can be too powerful when they manipulate people without anyone noticing.

Often times in a communist society, a leader’s use of language can lead to abuse of power. In George Orwell’s Animal Farm, the farm leaders, the pigs, use unknown language, invoke scare tactics, and create specific laws, thereby enabling them to control other animals, to suit their greedy desires, and to perform actions outside their realm of power. Because of the pigs’ use of broad language, implementation of scare tactics, and creation and manipulation of laws, they are able to get away with avoiding laws and convincing other animals into believing untrue stories and lies that are beneficial to the pigs.

For example, in the case of Boxer, Orwell shows that even the ones who work the hardest and follow every order they are given are not rewarded in the end. Boxer worked harder than any animal on the farm, and he was ultimately Napoleon’s greatest asset on the farm. However, this didn’t stop Napoleon from sending him away to be euthanized as soon as he was no longer of any use to him. Orwell’s whole book exposes the truth about tyranny, and he proves that rhetoric is everything when it comes to