Corruption Of Power In Animal Farm, By George Orwell

Throughout history, leaders have proven that power has the ability to corrupt their actions. This is shown through many different leaders: Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, and Saddam Hussein. Occasionally, an unsuitable leader comes to power and uses their control to engage in the wrong behavior for their own benefit. An indistinguishable situation is present in the novel Animal Farm, By James Orwell. This novel tells the story of the animals who live on Manor Farm and rebel against their corrupt leader, Mr. Jones. After a successful rebellion, the pigs take on their role as leaders, but soon take advantage of their power and use it in villainous ways. The only logical reason for this occurrence is the effect that power has on leaders, like the

Animal Farm begins on Manor Farm, where overworked, tired, and hungry animals are unhappy in the conditions that they are in, but when an old boar named Old Major introduces the idea of a rebellion and encourages the animals to take control over the farm, the animals begin an uprising against the humans, taking control over the land and renaming the farm “Animal Farm.” However, greedy and corrupt leaders rise to power and turn a once prosperous farm, into a nightmare. In Animal Farm, George Orwell asserts the idea that absolute power results in corruption. Napoleon and the other pigs, interested in remaining superior, persuades the other animals by using intimidation and emotional appeals in order to keep control of the gullible animals.

George Orwell’s ‘Animal Farm’ is the story of the animals on ‘Manor Farm’ uprising and taking over to create an equal society within the farm. Napoleon, the self appointed leader of the farm uses manipulation and relies on the naivety of the other animals, in order to take full control of the farm. ‘Animal Farm’ is an allegory of the Russian Revolution which George Orwell displays through his novel ‘Animal Farm’. Throughout the novel George Orwell demonstrates the themes hypocrisy, dominance and manipulation.

The imagery used in Animal Farm is very powerful and descriptive, it shows the characteristics of the allegorical life and individuals. Mr. Jones, is a horrible leader and the animals can not take it anymore, so a meeting is assembled, but is abruptly broken up by Czar. Before the death of Old Major, “He seized the gun which always stood in a corner of his bedroom, and let fly a number 6 shot into the darkness. The pellets buried themselves in the wall of the barn and the meeting broke up hurriedly” a meeting is adjourned because of the raising suspicions of the animals (Orwell 10). Mr. Jones or Czar, is becoming more suspicious of the animals because of the ruckus they keep making through the night. Little does he know that the animals are planning to rebel against Mr. Jones, also at this time the propaganda used by the pigs is beginning to deceive the animals. After Snowball was driven away, Napoleon came out of the barn standing upright like a human with his dogs or the KGB, alongside him. It can be inferred that Napoleon has turned into a communistic leader with full power of the farm as “He carried a whip in his trotter”(Orwell 91). Napoleon has influenced the animals so much that the sheep changed the maxim to “Four legs good but two legs better”, the animals still see him as more of a dictator rather than a communistic leader. The animals also change the commandments to say that some animals are more equal than others, this conveys the development of communism from dictatorship is growing exponentially. While Orwell’s incorporation of imagery throughout Animal Farm has its importance, language has an immense impact as well.

John Dalberg Acton once said, “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” This seems similar in the case of Animal Farm, a book by George Orwell. In the story the tired animals rebel against their owner and set up their own government, but the pigs assume control and abuse their power which corrupts the whole system by oppressing the other animals and exploiting them. Even though the pigs abuse their power, the naive animals are the reason why the pigs rose to control because the working animals were tricked by the pig’s corruption of language, persuaded by their propaganda, and were naive time and time again.

Power can have the persuasive action in undoing the moral ethics of one’s character. This can be seen throughout history, such as World War II and proven by the actions of Napoleon in the allegory, Animal Farm, by George Orwell. As Lord Acton said “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” In history what was viewed as a villain or wrong doer is never the same as the perception. A leader does not begin wanting to do wrong, they start with the best intentions, but power is a tricky thing, showcased in Animal Farm as Utopian ideals but with failed practices.

When thinking about pigs, you generally associate them with being dirty, repulsive and gluttonous. Well, that's Napoleon. In the novel, Animal Farm, by George Orwell Napoleon is a pig on Manor Farm who slowly exerts power over others and begins his reign as a dictator. Napoleon takes over and renames the farm Animal Farm while being completely deceptive and unfair. Napoleon is a prime example of how absolute power corrupts absolutely because he is unjust and doesn't care for the wellbeing of any of the other animals on the farm but himself.

Theme Analysis The theme of Animal Farm is not difficult to understand. Orwell intended to criticize the communist regime he saw sweeping through Russia and spreading to Europe and even the United States. Though he agreed with many Marxist principles, Orwell was unable to accept the communist interpretation of socialism because he saw many similarities between the communist governments and the previous czarist regimes in old Russia. Communism, he thought, was inherently hypocritical.In his self-proclaimed “fairy-story,” Orwell uses his allegorical farm to symbolize the communist system. Though the original intention of overthrowing Mr. Jones (who represents the Czars), is not inherently evil in itself, Napoleon’s subsequent adoption of

Power is one of the most desired things in the world, and is often hard to attain, but once it is gained it can often corrupt a person. Corruption due to power is shown in many instances in the book, Animal Farm. In the book, there is an opening for someone to take control of the power, and the animals that do are the pigs. The pigs gain the power for many reasons. When power is gained there are many things people can do with it, either bad or good. The pigs’ actions in animal farm show the different ways that power can be used by those in charge.

It was once when an animal was a slave and just an animal, but with a little bit of rebellion, things are turned upside down. Animal Farm shows an important point that it is easy to take advantage of those who are feeble, or less intelligent. Napoleon uses his power to keep the sheep working who follow along with the rest of the animals, and also exploits characters like Boxer who helps. In Animal Farm, George Orwell uses personification and detail to show a leader and followers viewpoints in an environment to prove how leaders and followers contributes to the loss of freedom and equality.

“No animal shall drink alcohol” (Orwell 25) was the 5th commandment, but Napoleon didn’t let that stop him. After he got drunk he had Squealer change the 5th commandment to “No animal shall drink to excess” (Orwell 109). Having that much power can be used for self-interest instead of thinking about the common good. No man or animal should have that much power or they will abuse it, just like Napoleon. Napoleon starting to think that the pigs were more superior. Orwell seemed to be stating that if Napoleon was the only one who knew what was right or true, then Napoleon could convince the animals that he and the pigs needed more of the resources, like milk and apples. Simultaneously Napoleon later on state that “All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others” (Orwell 134) Napoleon is literally saying all the other animals are less than the pigs. Because they are using tyranny as their style of government they can say whatever they want without having to prove it. From the start Napoleon is gaining control by having a better education, having apples and milk, drinking alcohol, wearing clothes, walking on two legs, and manipulating the animals to think they are dumb. Power is corrupting the farm and all of the other animals besides the pigs are losing control. From the start the pigs only did what they wanted to benefit themselves, by pretending to have the other animals

Why did 1917 Russia have flaws with its government and politics so much so that it started a revolution? Within the novel Animal Farm by George Orwell, there are many examples of leadership and corruption such as in the Russian revolution. There are many examples within the novel for this theme like the way the pigs deceive the lower animals with their lies is one example of this. How Napoleon persuades the animals in his decisions by abusing the force of the attack dogs. Banning practices from the animals like the song Beasts of England and at the end Napoleon changes a commandment to say that all animals are equal but some are more equal than others.

George Orwell, in his novel ‘Animal Farm’, develops an idea through Napoleon. The boar grows more thirsty for power and inevitably corrupts his nature and well-being. This idea is emphasised through his manipulating control over the animals, arrogance in his leadership and the major unequal differences between himself and the other farm animals.

In the novel Animal Farm by George Orwell, the animals in a farm start a revolution against Jones, the farm owner, since they felt that they have a lack of freedom. When the animals take over the farm, they began to create their own society with the seven commandments and Napoleon and Snowball as their leaders. However, Snowball was kicked out of Animal Farm by Napoleon and Animal Farm ran into some problem like when the windmill broke for the 2nd time. As a result, many animals on the farm died. This shows that power can easily be corrupted, because of the selfishness of Napoleon, the benefits the pigs have over all the other animals, and the amount of rights given to the other animals by Napoleon.

Animal Farm is a novel by George Orwell. It is an allegory in which animals play the roles of Russian revolutionists, and overthrow the human owners of the farm. Once the farm has been taken over by the animals, they are all equal at first, but class and status soon separates the different animal species. This story describes how a society’s ideologies can be manipulated by those in political power, to cause corruption by those in leadership.