Manipulation By Pigs In George Orwell's Animal Farm

When one acquires a position of extreme power, it is only a matter of time before it is maliciously abused for personal benefit. As socialized power, the power used to benefit others, transitions to personalized power, the principle of morality is lost as the leader becomes unable to discern from right and wrong.

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.

The undeniable greed Napoleon possesses can only be fulfilled by giving the other animals the illusion of bettering themselves by not questioning his logic: “Boxer, who had now had time to think things over, voiced the general feeling by saying, ‘If Comrade Napoleon says it, it must be right.’ And from then on he adopted the maxim, ‘Napoleon is always right,’ in addition to his private motto of ‘I will work harder’” (Orwell 60). Because Animal Farm’s audience predominantly consists of working class citizens, they begin to feel sympathy for Boxer since he cannot recognize Napoleon is exploiting him exclusively for his personal goal of becoming a puissant leader; therefore, animosity towards Napoleon develops in the audience. Considering the animals promptly welcome Napoleon’s promise of a better life, they work towards exhaustion, unknowingly fueling Napoleon’s greed: "All that year the animals worked like slaves. But they were happy in their work; they grudged no effort or sacrifice, well aware that everything that they did was for the benefit of themselves and those of their kind who would come after them, and not for a pack of idle, thieving human beings" (63). Although the animals working for Napoleon are unaware he is gradually becoming more human and willfully betraying his fellow animals for his own benefit, it is evident to the audience that Napoleon is corrupt. As Napoleon cunningly achieves power, his greed continues to grow, the same as a totalitarian leader’s:

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.

In George Orwell’s Animal Farm, the pigs are in control. Napoleon became the official leader after Snowball was chased out by the dogs. Squealer, Napoleon’s sidekick, now has social control over the farm animals. Squealer uses language to confuse and persuade the animals into thinking the commandments did not change, humans are allies and not enemies, and that some animals are more equal than others.

As the saying goes, “Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely.” This text is an allusion to the Russian Revolution. After the rebellion the animals are left with two leaders, Snowball and Napoleon, that cannot agree on a single thing. Snowball was chased off by Napoleon’s dog and was left with all the power. 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.

The stories display the characteristics of a tyrannical governments through its underlying themes. Both stories show the implications of media manipulation as being instrumental to the abuse of power. Just before the announced attack on the Parliament Building in V for Vendetta, Adam Sutler releases to the public, “Our enemy is an insidious one, seeking to divide us and destroy the very foundation of our great nation.”(McTeigue). With his hopes to maintain his status and position, he attempts to turn the population against V using lies, although this does not succeed. This method does succeed in Animal Farm, and the animals believe all the fake media that is posed to them through Napoleon and Squealer. Once the people believe all that is fed to them, governments use this as an opportunity to corrupt the ideals

The next few chapters of Animal Farm by George Orwell begin to settle the roles the animals fall into after the rebellion. They band together and complete the tasks required of the farm in a timely manner. The pigs easily take control over the farm and the animals follow their orders. They do successfully harvest the crops however, they ruin into problems quickly.

“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.

Pigs' Role in Animal Farm by George Orwell At the start of the novel Orwell describes the pigs to be the "cleverest of the animals. " This is clearly an advantage and so leads to the pigs taking over the farm. There is a sense of leadership very soon after Old Major's death as the three pigs, Snowball, Napoleon and Squealer arrange meetings with the other animals and already begin to give orders. "You do not need sugar," says Snowball.

Throughout the book, Boxer is always the hardest working and is always trying to do his best for Napoleon. Napoleon, seen as the leader of Animal Farm, is never helping to gain what he wants. All he is doing is directing the other animals on what to do. At the beginning of the book, he was not always the leader. Old Major, the leader of the animals, always believed in an ideal way to live on the farm, called Animalism. Animalism was condensed into seven laws, known as the seven commandments. These were created by Napoleon, Snowball and Squealer, the three pigs. At the beginning of the book, Napoleon is trying to gain the other animal’s trust and their loyalty. The other animals were doing the same for him. Throughout the book, Napoleon is slowly taking over the farm and is slowly changing the rules of Animalism. After the expulsion of Snowball, Napoleon takes charge and changes some of the seven

George Orwell's Animal Farm is an overview of the Russian Revolution, Orwell uses the animals as the allegory for the major Participants of the Revolution. Animal Farm depicts the themes that are a prime factor in the Russian Revolution, it shows Orwell's view on the revolution through the manipulation, lies and corruption that is throughout the whole book which allegorically happens in the Russian Revolution. In the majority of the Animal Farm, there is a lot of manipulation that occurs throughout the farm. Orwell specifically made this a more important theme in the book to help readers understand how deceiving Stalin (Napoleon) and his 'trusty' army (dogs and pigs) actually were in the duration of the revolution.

“People shouldn’t be afraid of their government. Governments should be afraid of their people.” V, from the 2005 film V for Vendetta, preached the truth about ultimate power. Similarly, George Orwell, in his novel Animal Farm, unraveled the reality of the Russian Soviet Union, and its slow but steady spiral into an oppressive dictatorship, using an ordinary country farm and a group of typical farm animals. These animals successfully overthrew the humans that tyrannized them but could not stop the eventual corruption of power within their new government. The readers come to know that this corruption of authority was inevitable, however, due to the overpowering human attributes Orwell buried deep within his character’s cores. Their very souls

Singh, Bhagat. “A rebellion is not a revolution. It may ultimately lead to [the] end.” At the beginning of the novel, the animals rebel against the humans and overtake farm. They then create the seven commandments which the animals are supposed to live by. These were created to keep peace on the farm, but the pigs slowly changed them in their favor over the course of the story. These changes represent and symbolize how governments slowly change ideas to help the upper class of any nation. The changes in the first, sixth, and seventh commandments show how the pigs represent a corrupted and totalitarian government.

Once upon a time I lived as a fearless wolf, with phenomenal ideas of expanding my land to become a powerful leader. I had always known I was born to be a dictator and needed to gain land in order to create a dominant nation. Recently three quite capable but weak pigs moved into the area. My corruptive but brilliant mind led myself into thinking that these pigs were the perfect target in order for me to expand my empire. Watching from a safe distance I observed these pigs build 3 houses from the raw materials located in the area. Devising a plan of destruction I watched the 1st pig build a house of straw, the second build a house of sticks and the third build a house of dung, clay, and creeper vines made into bricks.