How Absolute Power Corruption In Animal Farm, By George Orwell

Uneducated citizens can allow a corrupt government to succeed because they believe that what the government is doing is the right thing because they are the most educated and that is what they were made to believe since the beginning. This theme can be seen in George Orwell’s novel, Animal Farm. In this novel, the animals start to riot of how they are not being taken care of properly and that their farmer, Mr. Jones, is awful towards them by not feeding them any food and mistreating them. One of the animals, a pig, named Old Major decides to take a stand and gathers all the animals together to kick out Mr. Jones from the farm. Since Old Major ends up dying other pigs, Napoleon and Snowball, end up taking charge of the farm naming it Animal Farm and making amendments for all to follow, putting humans as their

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.

Napoleon was an exquisite character in the book: Animal Farm. He overpowered all the animals, and they followed. He was acknowledged as the leader, and the creator as their “Animal Farm”. No humans, no using human-made items, and never lay where a human has laid. Napoleon’s rules were simple. However he grew to the point where he wasn’t even following them, and was changing them as life went on. Animal farm included many instances where Napoleon was commanding as a dictatorship rather than a democracy.

Meet Napoleon, a pig that tries to act as a human in order to pursue his lifelong dream as a farm’s dictator (not really). Welcome to Animal Farm. Napoleon is a pig in a farm called Animal Farm, after the animals decide to rebel against their farm owner Jones, they change the farm’s name from Manor Farm to Animal Farm. This story goes on to Napoleon deciding to use his intelligence as an advantage to lead the other animals. He writes 7 commandments that the animals need to followed. Napoleon’s power could have been checked after he broke these commandments, by deciding to give the pigs all of the milk and apples, by beginning to sleep in the beds of the farmhouse, and by killing two sheep.

Napoleon being another intelligent pig on the farm believed he could become the leader and have all the power on the farm by scaring the animals. He does so by telling the animals they will work more or there will be punishment “Throughout the spring they worked a sixty-hour week, and in August Napoleon announced that there would be work on Sunday afternoons as well. This work was strictly voluntary, but any animal who absented himself from it would have his rations reduced by half” (Orwell 40). “The animals believe what the leadership tells them—that they are working for their own good now, not for Mr. Jones’s—they are eager to take on the extra labor”

He gave the pigs special privileges. They did not have to work as much and they got to drink alcohol. Napoleon feeds the pigs extra and the rest of the animals on the farm only have enough to survuve.They started acting just like humans and the other animals on the farm could not tell the pigs apart from the men. “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” (Orwell 141). Napoleon only caring about the pigs and himself shows how power corrupts.

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.

His main way of getting people to listen to him is by using his dogs to force people to do the required task or else they will get their heads bitten off along with the sheep saying ¨four legs good, two legs better¨ (Orwell, pg. 134) to help reinforce the idea that pigs are superior to the other animals. Another way Napoleon uses fear to gain the control over the animals at the farm is he threatens them with starvation. Both of these methods used by Napoleon were also used by Joseph Stalin to gain control over the masses. If society gives in to these methods then they are just giving more power and control to the higher power. Napoleon also threatens the animals with saying jones is going to come back and that is a reference back to when Stalin told his people that if they didn’t do what he wanted the old way of living was going to come back to them. With that much power and having all those people listen your commands can make you feel like you are unstoppable and greedy.

“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.

“Remember that all things are lawful to me” (Tranquillus). These words by Gaius Caesar Germanicus, more commonly known as Caligula, epitomize the corruption caused by absolute power. Under his rule, the Roman treasury was emptied, people suffered from seemingly random acts of brutality, and Rome was ruled by an emperor who thought of himself as a god. Similarly, in the novel Animal Farm, the Manor Farm is taken over by its four-legged inhabitants. Their equal government is soon taken over by a power-hungry leader, a young boar named Napoleon. George Orwell’s fictional dictator Napoleon in the allegorical novel Animal Farm and the lavish life of the Roman Emperor Caligula both prove that power always causes corruption.

In George Orwell’s allegory, Animal Farm, the characters portray important people from the Russian Revolution. One of the main characters, Napoleon, has become a tyrant. He suppresses all ideals as a rebellion and makes his own rules. He overthrows fellow animals to become a leader with power. Moreover, with Napoleon as a leader, he has become a unfaithful, cruel, and manipulative pig.

Before Napoleon had even chased snowball away the farm he was starting to become egocentric, Napoleon shows how truly selfish he is when Snowball was no longer apart of the farm napoleon had full control and started spending the money that the animal's had worked hard to get on whiskey. Napoleon committed acts much worse than that in a way he had sowed racism towards the other animal's by changing the seven commandments so that the pigs could be treated like royalty by the animals ''ALL ANIMALS ARE EQUAL BUT SOME ANIMALS ARE MORE EQUAL THEN OTHERS''(Orwell 1945, pg.97). Napoleon turned out to be a very selfish person who was cruel towards anything that was not a pig he was consumed by the power he obtained and lost his humility towards the other animals of the animal

“Power is not a means, it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution. One makes the revolution in order to establish a dictatorship.” George Orwell (Brainyquote.com). Animal Farm is a satire written by George Orwell which uses animals to portray political issues most likely that of Russia under the rule of Joseph Stalin. Mr. Jones is the owner of Manor Farm which is meant to represent Russia and Mr. Jones it’s leaders that were neglectful. He forgets to feed the animals as well as well as beating them and treating them badly. A wise boar “Old Major” gives a speech that pushes the animals to rebel after Mr. Jones goes on a drinking binge and forgets to feed the animals. After Old Major dies, and the animals rebel, three pigs step up to take over. Napoleon, Squealer, and Snowball convince the animals that a strict regime is the only way to prevent to prevent their former life of misery and slavery. The animals fear allowed the pigs the power they were seeking and the more powerful they became the more corruption surfaced. They used manipulation, fear tactics, and propaganda to make the other animals see a false sense of reality. In order to keep the other animals from rebelling Napoleon, a pig and the leader, began to execute any animal that he thought threatened his control. The hens who revolted when required to surrender their eggs were killed along with any pigs that associated with Snowball ( the pig that challenges Napoleon for control). The farm has is now being used for Napoleon’s own agenda which is to make money for him and the other pigs. In turn, this also satisfies his need for power. In the final pages of the book the pigs are walking on two legs and meeting with neighboring farmers to let them tour the farm. In this final scene the it is