The Failure Of Power In Animal Farm, By George Orwell

Throughout history, leaders have proven that power has the ability to corrupt their actions. This is shown through many different leaders: Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, and Saddam Hussein. Occasionally, an unsuitable leader comes to power and uses their control to engage in the wrong behavior for their own benefit. An indistinguishable situation is present in the novel Animal Farm, By James Orwell. This novel tells the story of the animals who live on Manor Farm and rebel against their corrupt leader, Mr. Jones. After a successful rebellion, the pigs take on their role as leaders, but soon take advantage of their power and use it in villainous ways. The only logical reason for this occurrence is the effect that power has on leaders, like the

"Twelve voices were shouting in anger, and they were all alike. No question, now, what had happened to the faces of the pigs. The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which"(Orwell 133). In George Orwell's allegorical novella Animal Farm, a successful rebellion, was held against the Mr. Jones (the farm owner), as he mistreated the animals. After the expulsion of Mr. Jones, the farm lacked a figure of authority, so the pigs stepped up to that position as they were the most literate and the cleverest among the animals. Slowly it progressed to a state where the pigs had absolute power over the lives of the animals and the farm. Which led to a

A quote by Aung San Suu Kyi reads ¨it is not power that that corrupts but fear. Fear of losing power corrupts those who wield it and fear of scourge of power corrupts those who are subject to it. Animal Farm by George Orwell is a long short story, published in 1917 it reflects the events leading up to the Russian revolution and the Stalin era. Characters are portrayed by animals that live on a farm . The character Napoleon in Animal Farm is a clever and sly animal who uses fear and greed to rule the animals around the farm. Leaders who do not care about the welfare of their citizens and rule with fear can ruin a society. Those type of leaders and person and the most harmful to a society.

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.

People respond to control and power differently for various reasons, however, one of the main reasons is based on their personality; their confidence and intelligence. In, Animal Farm by George Orwell, confidence and intelligence is a big factor for why certain animals obtained power and control and why other ones did not. People with confidence and intelligence are likely to gain most of the control and power. People with little intelligence, but lots of confidence are more likely to have some power or work underneath the leader. People with intelligence, but no confidence seem to have no power at all and shy away from it. Both intelligence and confidence are needed for someone to take total power. Therefore, the amount of confidence and intelligence a person has will decide how they respond to control and power.

“Four legs good, two legs bad” (Orwell 34) the sheep kept shouting whenever someone tried to question Napoleon. Before any animal could say their point on what they thought, the animals other than Napoleon were rudely interrupted. Through these outbursts and other schemes Orwell introduces the idea that power can corrupt those with too much control and he shows it through Napoleon. During Animal Farm Napoleon and his side kicks, the other pigs are changing the commandments and doing whatever they please. Napoleon, and the pigs never follow the rules instead they change them up. The dogs are the secret police that Napoleon has formed to protect him. All of the animals are afraid of Napoleon because of his dogs that he has trained to obey only

The sub theme of power corrupting people is very eminent in animal farm. The leaders on the farm - the pigs, were the brains of the farm. The animals let the pigs lead the farm, thereby placing them into a position of power. This power corrupted them as they became more and more greedy and their ideology became more and more corrupted. Also, the pig’s transgressions of the rules of animalism worsen as they grow in power.

In Animal Farm , power is authority which results in absolute power and control over the animals. In the story George Orwell gives an imaginary image of how "power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely"

Everywhere around the world and through history, it is evident that power corrupts. In Animal Farm, this theme is seen throughout the novella. The reader can see the power take over the animals, mainly the pigs, from the overthrowing of leaders, to sneakily changing laws, and finally to the not so subtle turn from pigs to humans. Animal Farm shows how power truely does corrupt because of the recurring events in the book demonstrating the abuse of power.

The theme of the book Animal Farm by George Orwell is power corrupt. In the novel, Mr. Jones the first leader was a corrupt. Mr. Jones would starve his animals and would whip the animals when they would steal food. “The animals were all starving, while Mr. Jones took all the food for himself.

As demonstrated by Napoleon in George Orwell’s Animal Farm, too much power is dangerous and can change an individual to become greedy or corrupt. “There was nothing there now except a single Commandment. It read: All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others” (Orwell 92). In the beginning the pigs, including Napoleon, stood for equality for all animals. In fact, it was the foundation of their revolution. After Napoleon took over, he slowly began to become more and more greedy, symbolizing human nature, until he completely changed his set of morals and beliefs to benefit only himself. “The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it

The largest over riding theme in Animal Farm is the famous quote by Lord Acton and the title of this essay “ power tends to corrupt and absolute power tends to corrupt absolutely.” Animal Farm is the story of a revolution gone sour. Animalism, Communism, and Fascism are all illusions which are used by the pigs as a means of satisfying their greed and lust for power. The book concentrates on whether a focus of power in one person is healthy for society and comes to the overwhelming conclusion that it is not.

Initially, the purpose of building a windmill is to make the animals’ lives easier. Snowball argues of the benefits a windmill would bring the animals, declaring that ‘so much labor would be saved that the animals would only need to work three days a week” (Orwell, 33). Through this declaration, Snowball argues that through the introduction of industrialization on the farm, the amount of strenuous labor the animals experienced would decrease, allowing them to live easier lifestyles. However, as the story progresses, and the animals’ workload only increases in order to build the windmill, readers are able to understand that the benefits of the windmill and a lifestyle of ease will not be attained by all the animals, but only by the pigs.

Animal Farm is a horrible and corrupt place. The pigs in the story, “Animal Farm” by George Orwell do not care for the other animals. The pigs only want to better themselves, and by gaining absolute power over the farm, have created a corrupt system in which they prosper despite doing practically nothing and the others are given little reward despite their hard work. The pigs are living prosperous lives within a farmhouse, where they are surrounded by guard dogs and other pigs that share their greed and selfish desires. Because of the way Animal Farm is run, I believe the quote, “power tends to corrupt, and absolute power tends to corrupt absolutely” by Lord Acton applies well to the story.

Power, a simple word that can either destroy a person or save them. The quote, “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely,” by Lord Acton is demonstrated in Animal Farm perfectly. George Orwell’s Animal Farm, an allegorical novel, is used to define the corruption of the society that comes from absolute power. The story begins with a rebellion, the animals revolt against their master to establish a communist society, and are free to live the happy life Old Major, the pig, predicted they would. Things go smoothly for animals throughout the summer and they find new more efficient ways of doing things. Most animals work hard with their patriotism that keeps them fresh and invigorates, except the pigs. Despite their absence in offering physical effort, the pigs set themselves as the “brainworkers” of the farm. Over time their influence increases, and they gradually abolish the initial ideas of Animalism. Regarding the downfall of Animal Farm, almost every single character in the story is responsible for the corruption. For instance, the lower-class animals acquire the limited level of education and are very lazy in realizing the true quality of their fraudulent society. Taking the advantage of their naive attribute, the pigs thrive upon other animals and slowly demolish the last trace of communism in the farm. Nevertheless, some individuals are more accountable for the downfall, Orwell demonstrates that man’s carelessness and dishonesty lead to the downfall of a society through the characters of Benjamin and Squealer.