Pigs Corruption In George Orwell's Animal Farm

Napoleon adjusting the commandments in his favor helps him gain power. Napoleon changes one of the seven commandments to “four animals good, two legs better” (134), when the “pigs [start] walking on [their] hind legs” (132). Napoleon then changes another commandment to “No animal shall sleep in a bed with sheets” (67) so he can benefit from it and not look like a bad guy. The major commandment that changes is “All animals are equal” (25) to “All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others” (134) to show Napoleon has majority of the power. By changing the commandments, Napoleon gains

In Animal Farm, the pigs used their superior knowledge to persuade the other animals into thinking whatever they say is true. The first example of this in the novel is when the pigs are caught sleeping in beds. Clover remembered a rule against animals sleeping in beds, but when she went to check, she found “...herself unable to read more than individual letters...”(47) When she finally finds someone that can read the rules, it seems as though it has changed. This lack of education shown in Clover allows the pigs to change one of the Seven Commandments. Yet another example of the pigs changing history is just a few chapters later. Originally, the sixth commandment stated that no animal shall kill another animal, however when the animals checked after the massacre put on by Napoleon, “It ran: "No animal shall kill any other animal without cause." (63) This once again goes to show that without education, these animals are susceptible to deception. The pigs realize the power they have and use it against the unintelligent animals in order to cover up their

“They explained that by their studies of the past three months the pigs had succeeded in reducing the principles of Animalism to Seven Commandments” (Orwell 24). This passage from the book suggests that the pigs are completely in charge of Animal Farm, and they use their intelligence to create the Seven Commandments, and rule the farm This moment is the beginning of the pigs’ reign over Animal Farm. Although it may look like Orwell shows the pigs using their intelligence for the well-being and prosperity of Animal Farm, he is actually using techniques like simile, metaphor, and imagery, to portray that they are using their intelligence incorrectly.

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 animals you can tell, are easily manipulated by the “intelligent” animals, namely the pigs. This is shown when the pigs trick the other animals into thinking that they deserve the milk, apples, and food because they need it.This is quite a reflection of how Mr. Jones used to run his farm and take the objects, but the animals don’t see it because they believe the pigs when they Squealer says, “‘You do not imagine, I hope, that we pigs are doing this in a spirit of selfishness and privilege? Many of us actually dislike milk and apples. I dislike them myself. Our sole object in taking these things is to preserve our health’”(23). Significantly proving that the animals are manipulated easily. This is important because the pigs know this and use it to their advantage, becoming like the leadership that they had rebelled against. Because of this, I do not think they will continue to run the farm in later chapter because the animals will come to a realization that they are similar and will rebel again, breaking the rule of the two legged enemy.

“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.

An example of this is when the pigs decide to sleep in beds. This in fact was against the commandments. According to the fourth commandment “No animal shall sleep in a bed, with sheets,” (Pages 17-18) Clover had not remembered that the fourth commandment mentions “sheets” In this way the pigs violated the original commandment, but altered it to fit their needs. They did this not only by writing all of this on the barn, but also squealer went around and used his powers of persuasion to reassure the animals of the pigs’ “noble intentions”. In fact, the animals had witnessed this the night the pigs drank too much. They caught squealer adding to the fifth commandment in the middle of the night, but didn’t fully understand what was happening. Another example of this is when animals were killed because of connections to the traitor Snowball. After the confessions the animals “crept away in a body. They were shaken and miserable… until today, no animal had killed another animal.” (Page 61). This was not only a violation of the original sixth Commandment but it was also a display of oppression. Napoleon demonstrated that any animal that contradicted him would be slaughtered. In this way, Napoleon slowly developed a near-tyrannical rule over Animal Farm. This leads me to my final

Squealer and Napoleon are known throughout the story to change the original seven commandments, that they implemented after the rebellion, to fit their own agenda. For example, when Napoleon first took power he did not let Mollie wear her ribbons which lead to her leaving the farm, but the pigs change this rule, “and also that all pigs, of whatever degree, were to have the privilege of wearing green ribbons on their tails on Sundays (114).” This shows the rewriting of laws, because they said before that you cannot wear ribbons, however when a pig wants to wear a ribbon it is acceptable. Another time when the pigs change rules to get their way is when the pigs go to the seven commandments and add to the fourth one. The original law is that no animal can sleep in a bed, nevertheless when then the pigs are sleeping in beds they add the word “with sheets” so they can get away with it.

To fully exert their power over the animals, the pigs took absolute control over rations. In some cases, when animals protested, such as when the hens did in chapter seven, Napoleon “ordered the hens’ rations to be stopped,” and did not mind when a large amount of them died off rather fast (Orwell 76). The rest of the population suffered as well, and since the pigs kept most rations to themselves, “for days at a time the animals had nothing to eat but chaff and mangels. Starvation seemed to stare them in the face” (Orwell 74). The animals, under the impact of Squealer’s lies, trusted that this sacrifice was surely better than their fate with Jones, and that nothing could be greater than their lives now, despite the

they were what they were doing was for the good of all the animals and not just

The sixth commandment states that no animal is allowed to kill any other animal. Napoleon breaks this commandment when kills the chicken because according to his ideals they were contradicting the teaching of Old Major. The chickens were not really contradicting anything that Old Major had said they were actually just following it because Old Major told the chickens to use their eggs to hatch children not to sell the eggs to humans. Napoleon actually committed a wrong by lying to the animals and covering up that lie by changing a

Corruption happened throughout the book many times, and most of the time it was Napoleon’s doings. One of the most common ways Napoleon and the pigs corrupted the other animals was when they would make changes to the commandments. They ended up making small changes to some of the commandments and not following others; they also tricked the animals into believing they had always been that way. In the beginning, the seven

Animal Farm is a novel by George Orwell, a socialist in the 1930's, about a farm of animals taking over from the humans and creating their own world. The story reflects the idea of communism and it's political views, in this case the pigs resemble leaders of the communist government. As the animals form the government with their laws and regulations they decide on these final seven commandments, "1. Whatever goes on two legs is an enemy. 2.

Tyranny has always been present in human history from Joseph Stalin to Adolf Hitler they have all taken advantage of the public and used them to their own advantage and personal needs. In the story Animal Farm by George Orwell this tyrannical, totalitarian, and corrupt form of government is seen. In the story the tired animals organize a rebellion against their owner and drive him out. They create their own government, with the pigs assuming control. But the corrupt pigs take advantage of this power entrusted to them, and oppress the animal for their own benefit. Even though the pigs abused the power they had, The naive and gullible animals themselves were the ones responsible for the pigs’ quick rise to power and control because the animals were tricked into supporting the pigs evil plans, they were too braindead to organize and execute a rebellion even after they realized the pigs were up to no good, and they were so foolish that they even supported the expulsion of snowball, the only good pig that worked for the good of the other animals.

The commandments were set rules to be followed for the revolt. They were in place to make sure animals stay animals. Napoleon slowly throughout the book became human like, as well as pigs. This is because he changed the commandments, though just slightly, it was for his liking to make his life easier. Showing the commandments were a very important thing, but when broken, gave Napoleon unfair treatment. Squealer made sure everyone agreed to Napoleon’s way because, Napoleon is always right. Napoleon had so much more freedom compared to the rest of the animals because he broke the rules.