Power Corrupts in George Orwell's Animal House

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.

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.

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.

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.

People play an enormous component in our lives and the choices we make. In George Orwell's “ Animal Farm” there are several people that show leadership and guidance. The Leaders of Animal Farm start off with good intentions, but as the story goes on it becomes obvious the leaders have grown power-hungry and have become the 'superior' animals, showing that equality does not exist. This source of power has been used by leaders at the expense of their followers for their own personal gain, like Napoleon, whose first sign of corruption occurred early in the book when he seemed to be the main leader of them all.

The antagonist of the book ‘Animal Farm’, Napoleon was highly emphasized for his cruel tactics that he upheld against his fellow animals. He tortured and tormented them giving himself the title of a cruel leader. This sense of tyranny is why he resembles Mr.Jones the previous owner of Manor Farm. Similar to Mr.Jones, Napoleon has created a caste system in which he is the “farmer” and the rest of the animals are his “slaves”, he has shown that he only uses the animals for his own monetary gain, and that he uses fear and propaganda to control the rest of the animals. In this essay I will compare and contrast the two individuals.

Language is a powerful tool, some abuse it to obtain power and some use it to inspire movements and bring change. I believe that language is more powerful if you use it to control a population via lying, manipulation, and fear. There have been many instances of individuals and groups using fear and language for control.

“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 the beginning, Mr. Jones is an antagonistic study into Czar Nicholas II and his abuse of monarchial power as he rules over the farm with an absolute law. He is drunk, lazy, and decadent, and the animals are not fed often or at all, representing the bread shortage during his reign. The animals are angry, but their

“Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” (John Dalberg Action 1st Baron Action). The more power and person strives to have the more corrupt things they must do to obtain and keep it. The pieces of literature written by British authors Animal Farm, George Orwell, Lord of the Flies, William Golding, and Hamlet by William Shakespeare all portray this idea in different ways.

In George Orwell’s Animal Farm, the power and control over the farm changes from Mr. Jones to Napoleon. Even though Napoleon becomes a great leader, his rule is corrupt. His desires for control lead him to become a dictator. Throughout the novel, Napoleon obtains and maintains power over the animals by using fear, manipulation, and propaganda.

“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

“Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely” (Lord Acton, 1887). This quote explains why Napoleon failed to create the perfect society that he dreamed of. Humans are very weak yet very wicked and corrupt. As the book Animal Farm describes how evil the animals have become, the author, George Orwell, is trying to show how evil the humans had become during the Soviet Union era. When people have the power, people tend to fail to control that power; the effect of power is similar to that of drugs.

Mr. Jones treatment toward the animals keep a less brutal treatment, with less restrictions and care. Mr. Jones often times fell into the “drunk mode" ,meaning the treatment against the animals never mad intention of hurt, for example “the man had milk the cows in the early morning and then had gone out rabbiting, without bothering to feed the animals” (19). The treatment that both Jones and the crew gave the animals wasn’t positive because the animals had to eat daily, but cruelty never met the standard bar, as Jones had an addiction to alcohol, and not power. On the other, Napoleon truly face the need and want of power, that Jones never intended to gain, as running the farm is Mr. Jones job.

George Orwell's allegorical novel ‘Animal Farm’ demonstrates the rapid shift from hopeful Utopian Dream, to reproachful dystopian nightmare as a result of fundamental flaws in human nature, such as avarice, selfishness and the thirst for power over others. In the novel, the animals are promised a better life if they revolt and institute the system of Animalism, then they are promised a better life if they build the windmill and, if all else fails, the raven promises a better afterlife on ‘Sugarcandy Mountain’. However, the animals ultimately never achieve their utopia because of the avaricious and power-hungry nature of Napoleon