The Abuse Of Power In George Orwell's Animal Farm

Soon the original commandments get condemned to a single one reading “ all animals are equal, but some are more equal than others.” Napoleon commits to uniting with the human farmers against the working classes of both humans and animals, and even changes the name from Animal Farm back to Manor Farm. Looking in on the elites through the farmhouse window the animals can no longer tell the pigs from the humans.

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.

Shortly after the Revolution, Snowball comes up with the plan to construct a windmill to make the lives of the inhabitants of Animal Farm easier. Napoleon hides in the shadows per se until the puppies that he has taken and trained are old enough to act as a police force. Once they are old enough, Napoleon has the dogs drive Snowball off the farm. He then takes credit for the idea of the windmill and proceeds to claim that he, not Snowball, won the award at the Battle of Cowshed. Napoleon then informs the animals that Snowball was an enemy and was a threat to Animal Farm. The animals are swayed by his propaganda and are fearful of his police dogs; this is what keeps him in power.

One of the techniques used by Napoleon is, brainwashing the animals. The 7 commandments were expected to be followed by the animals including, Napoleon. Whenever Napoleon broke the rules, instead of feeling guilty, he had Squealer change the commandment to suit his wrongdoings. "Some of the animals remembered - or thought they

One of the many awful things he did was he proclaimed that whoever killed, snowball would be rewarded. He would also kill any animals he believed were working with Snowball, breaking the commandment that said no animal shall kill another animal. He also formed one single commandment after breaking all of the other ones, which was “ALL ANIMALS ARE EQUAL BUT SOME ANIMALS ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS” ( 194). This shows that the pigs finally established dominance over the animals, and no longer believed that all animals were equal. Another action that showed that Napoleon was taking dominance over the other animals was when he took away some of the dreams that at the beginning was once promised to them, such as “The luxuries of which Snowball had once taught the animals to dream, the stalls with electric light and Hot and cold water, and the three-day week, were no longer talked about. He said, lay in working hard and living frugally” ( 185). This shows that the animals were promised great things, but this all changed when Napoleon's desire for power clouded all of his previous beliefs. Lastly, the pigs and Napoleon appeared one day walking in their hind legs and showing qualities of humans until one day in the eyes of the animals they become so human like, it was impossible to tell between humans and pigs. The animals

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.

Napoleon has wanted power over the farm for awhile and will do anything to keep it. He takes Jessie and Bluebells newborn puppies and trains them for the main aspect of his fear campaign. He teaches them to do what is right for the farm and to only think about the Animal Farm’s future. He uses the puppies to eliminate his nemesis. Snowball comes up with the idea for a windmill on the farm, Napoleon opposes it and uses his trained dogs to chase Snowball off the farm. With Snowball gone, Napoleon declares himself the ruler of the farm. “They dashed straight for Snowball… he slipped through the fence and was seen no more. (Orwell, pg. 53 chap. 5).”

With Snowball out of the way, Napoleon’s path to absolute power without accountability is clear. Napoleon enlists Squealer to deceive and trick the animals into anything Napoleon wants them to believe by manipulating the facts and confusing the animals. Some examples of this in the story are Napoleon taking credit for the windmill, Napoleon claiming that Snowball sabotaged the windmill, and ultimately claiming that Snowball was in collaboration with Mr. Jones all along. Napoleon’s skillful use of Squealer proves effective in making Snowball the scapegoat for everything that’s wrong with the farm, and now Napoleon takes his evil intentions to another level by murdering any animal that was thought to be in allegiance with Snowball. One of the most wicked deeds was the sale of Boxer to the knacker for money to buy more whiskey. This evil act was only made worse by the elaborate lie Squealer created to cover Napoleon’s tracks. By the end of the book, Napoleon is seen having a dinner party with other humans, while the other animals are in about the same state they were at the beginning of the book. The pigs have risen to take the place of the humans and run the farm, and all the other animals are no better off for it.

Napoleon stated that he will educate the puppies, and help build the windmill to make life easier in the farm, made the animals think that Napoleon is a hard worker and always right. He uses that advantage to create dictatorship within the farm. By having the support of the pigs by his side, he is able to convince the community that is always right. By creating propaganda of praise by the animals, he becomes a symbol of hope to the community. When Boxer stated Napoleon is always right, so did the rest of the animals since Boxer was seen as a symbol of strength for the

“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

At this there was a terrible baying sound outside and nine enormous dogs came bounding into the barn. They dashed straight for Snowball,” with this ousting of Snowball, Napoleon secured his place as dictator of the animals. After securing his position Napoleon was able to gather a group of pigs together that were meant to help him govern the other animals. The pigs were placed in this position because they were considered to be the most intelligent of all the animals. Further political corruption occurred when Napoleon begins to slowly add changes to the 7 laws or commandments set up by a past leader. Because not all the animals on the farm can read it made it easy for Napoleon to change the rules ever so slightly that the changes were barely noticeable. This parallel in today’s society can be seen when comparing under privileged areas to middle class areas, for example emphasis on education. Those with less education are more easily manipulated than those with higher education. It is

Napoleon uses military force to intimidate the other animals and consolidate his power. In his supreme craftiness, Napoleon proves to be more treacherous than his counterpart, Snowball. At the regular meetings, Snowball often won over the majority by his brilliant speeches, but Napoleon was better at canvassing support for himself in between times. He was especially successful with the sheep. The sheep had taken to bleating “Four legs good two legs bad!” both in and out of season, and they often interrupted meetings with this. It was noticed that they were especially liable to break into the chant at crucial moments in Snowball’s speeches. Also, it was observed that Napoleon had been taking the sheep aside to teach them a new song. After weeks of secret meetings, the sheep started shouting “Four legs good, two legs BETTER” and then the pigs were seen walking on their hind legs. This is a perfect example of how the pigs change the rules and bend the overall concept of Animalism to satisfy them and to make life easier for them. Also, the pigs start executing animals that don’t do what they are told. The other animals recall that it was in fact against the rules for an animal to kill another. The animals go to read over the 7 commandments to confirm their suspicions only to

Napoleon exploit's the animals inferiority complex. When he changes the seven commandments to justify his actions, the animals are doubtful as their memories tell them that the seven commandments were different. However Squealer tells them that they are wrong and it is just a figment of their imagination. The animals think that if napoleon says so then he must be right and so let him get away with it.

The first alteration was a simplification of the commandments by Snowball so that the animals having difficulty remembering all seven could understand the main idea of Animalism. This oversimplification is a huge mistake on Snowball’s part because it allows Napoleon to brainwash the rest of the animals and convince them of whatever he needs them to think. The rest of the alterations are by Napoleon attempting to cover up his human-like actions that break the commandments. As the Seven Commandments are continuously shortened, Napoleon continuously breaks them. First, Napoleon decides to engage in trade with humans, despite the commandment saying, "Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy." (Orwell 43). Then he and the pigs move into the farmhouse and sleep in the beds. To cover it up, Napoleon insists that the commandment prohibiting this was actually, "No animal shall sleep in a bed with sheets” (Orwell 79), and stating that they removed the sheets from the beds. Things like this continue happening, but any suspicions the animals have are snuffed out until there is a bloodbath, and Napoleon has the dogs kill multiple animals who, 'confess' to conspiring with Snowball. Though the causes shock and misery amongst the animals (Orwell 93), Napoleon still gets away with it by claiming that the sixth commandment actually says,

“Those who fight corruption should be clear themselves.” Vladimir Putin. George Orwell’s novella, Animal Farm, is an allegory of the Russian Revolution. Snowball, who is parallel to Trotsky, and Napoleon, who is parallel to Stalin, are two of the three pigs in power on the farm, who fought countless times to battle corruption. Soon enough, a disagreement of ideas caused chaos to occur, which led to the creation a dystopian environment.