Manipulation In Animal Farm By George Orwell

What is power? Power means the strength and the right given of controlling anyone else. However, when too much power is given to someone, dictatorship cannot be avoided. In the book “Animal Farm”, George Orwell used a lot of events happened on the farm to illustrate that how did the ‘animalism’ turn into “totalitarianism” and well defined the sentence “Absolute power corrupts absolutely”, which also reflects how the society was like at that time. Therefore, in order to find out the reason why George Orwell wrote the story, this essay will talk about how power is abused and the effect on other "comrades" by using several events and the examples of language features used in the story.

In the novel “Animal Farm” by George Orwell, the animals take over the farm and develop their own independent society. Just as it happened during the Russian Revolution of 1917. George Orwell underlies the tension between the oppressed and the exploiting classes between the condescending ideals and harsh realities of socialism.

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.

For the pigs to maintain their popularity with the other animals, Squealer secretly paints additions to some commandments to benefit the pigs while keeping them free of accusations of breaking the laws (such as "No animal shall drink alcohol" having "to excess" added to it and "No animal shall sleep in a bed" with "with sheets" added to it). Eventually the laws are replaced with "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others", and "Four legs good, two legs

Societies are built on a hierarchy. There is a leader, an upper class, a middle class, and a lower class. This representation of human society is built by our natural need for a leader no matter how tyrannical. George Orwell firmly exposes and attacks this flaw of human nature in his allegorical novel, Animal Farm. In Animal Farm Orwell displays situations mirroring that of the Russian Revolution, and how it failed to produce the utopia that was promised out of the revolution. George Orwell, before writing the novel, was disillusioned by the Communist revolution, a revolution that promised to provide all its people with a government that owned everything, but in turn was owned by the people. Orwell quickly concluded that all revolutions will fail, as the Russian Revolution did, because those who attain power are then corrupted by it. In this view of revolutionary efforts Orwell presents his views on human nature as a whole, that humans are unable to maintain an utopia, unable to abstain for consuming power, and that humans will subjugate and oppress one another if given the power to do so.

I have decided to explore the theme of how ‘Fear is a powerful motivator’. Different leaders and influential people have various ways of using fear to motivate people. Two of my texts: ‘Animal Farm’ by George Orwell, and ‘The Rise of Evil” directed by Christian Duguay, both show how totalitarian leaders used violence to motivate the public. The other texts: ‘Bowling for Columbine’ directed by Michael Moore, and ‘Who’s for the Game’ by Jesse Pope, both show how two different influential people motivated the public without using violence, instead creating fear using words.

Elie Wiesel in Night and Snowball from Animal Farm are very similar characters because they were victimized by tyrants and used as scapegoats, but they are also unique and individual characters because Elie knew he was being taken advantage of and Snowball did not. Animal Farm is written by George Orwell, and it is about a farm of animals that take over the farm. Napoleon, a large pig, slowly takes away food and supplies from the other animals until he starts walking on two feet and becomes a “human.” Because of him Snowball is expelled from the farm and acts as a scapegoat for everything that goes wrong on the farm. Night is an autobiography written by Elie Wiesel, and in it Elie tells the story of he was taken from his home and put into a concentration camp under the control of Adolf Hitler.

Animal Farm is established with moral intentions. The neglected animals of the farm rise up to overthrow Jones, and imagine a society of fairness based on the experiences of old major, in which all animals will have justice and won’t be demoralized by the people anymore. Old Major quickly establishes that “Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy. Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend” (Orwell 11). He also reminds them that the ways of man are completely immoral, and they must not ever implement any of their habits. Giving the animals a shared enemy is an effective way to control the population. That is the first sign of a totalitarian state emerging in Animal Farm. Instead of the entire farm determining rules together, two pigs frame the rules of Animalism for the supposed utopian-like Animal Farm. They read:

Animal Farm is a masterfully written cynical exploration into the abuse of power through language.c George Orwell's book provides a theory of power structures, equality and the very nature of human character. As a short, ten-chaptered essay, this book has made its mark on the communist and authoritarian societies with the cutting morals and the phrase “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others”

Claim: The society in Animal Farm, by George Orwell and America, in “Of History and Hope,” by Miller Williams, obfuscate history to manipulate memory. However, in Animal Farm, the goal of this change is to manipulate the society into falsely remembering the past to keep them ignorant and under control, and in “Of History and Hope,” the goal is to manipulate America into remembering the sacrifices and struggles in order to continue to learn, grow, and be free.

In the story the animals through symbolism forget and end up going through events like deaths being cast upon their fellow comrades or false events being manipulated to seem true so one person(Napoleon) could seem more supreme than the others.In chapter 8 of Animal Farm Clover says “No animal shall kill any other animal “without cause.” Somehow or other, the last two words had slipped out of the animals’ memory”(Orwell, 80).Symbolism in this story helps us see the animals manipulation through characters like Squealer and Napoleon. Throughout Animal Farm there have been many rules broken but it is okay. You might be asking yourself how is it okay well the animals can’t remember so how could they tell the rules are being broken. The quote mentioned

Wealth plays a big part in manipulation. People or countries with money seem to be in control. This is because they have the best of everything, if its technology, equipment, lawyers, anything you can think of they are going to have it and win. In Animal farm money doesn't play a role but in terms of manipulation to those who don't have power it certainly does! In the books situation the pigs would be the ones with all the money living the high life.The fortunate people with money have access to everything and have the benefits of warm clothes, a roof over our heads, a meal to come home to every night and medicine to help us get better when we are sick. In third world countries such as Africa and the Philippines people only have limited access

Among manipulations and abusing of his powers, Napoleon tells lies to deceive the animals and to favor his reputation as the leader. One of the lies told was, “The windmill was, in fact, Napoleon’s own creation,”(43). The truth was the plans belonged to Snowball, but Napoleon is taking credit to make him look better than Snowball. Another lie told was when the destruction of the windmill was blamed on Snowball(52). The night prior had been a storm with strong winds. The plans to build the windmill were not correctly built, therefore the windmill was not durable and could have easily been demolished by the storm. Napoleon lied about Snowball to make him appear as the enemy. In reality, Snowball would’ve been a better leader than Napoleon; he

The easy manipulation of human nature is illustrated in Animal Farm. Orwell presents ideas about manipulation through Napoleon’s method of gaining power. One of the ways that Napoleon controlled all the animals was by fear. In chapter 5, Squealer reassures the animals that whatever Napoleon is doing is for their benefit and that Snowball was nothing but a criminal. Squealer invented false information to suggest that Snowball was an enemy of the revolution. For instance, he said, “Snowball, who, as we now know, was no better than a criminal. And Snowball’s part in the The Battle of Cowshed was much exaggerated.” He instilled fear into the minds of the animals, describing Snowball as a troublemaker who was out to destroy the farm. And another

In 1945, the world was not shocked at Orwell’s dismal comment on human nature after the mass chaos of World War II. His political and philosophical commentaries are relevant to the issues coming out of the second World War. However, the problems that Orwell addresses in Animal Farm aren’t exclusive to his time. The struggle of oppression is a timeless struggle for humanity. Whether it be tyrannical regimes, the persecution of races, or the injustice of classes, the history of civilization is ridden with similar stories of the Manor farm. Although perfection is unattainable, hope for solving issues of oppressive systems will continue as society progresses and we learn from our past