The Theme Of Power In George Orwell's Animal Farm

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

In Animal Farm, George Orwell proves the quote “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” This quote is saying that power can corrupt anyone, and with all the power complete corruption can occur. Farmer Jones had the power, it began to control him but then he lost it to the animals. He didn’t have control long enough for it to corrupt him.

George Orwell’s novella “Animal Farm” is an allegory of the Russian Revolution retold by the rebellion of beasts over mankind. Through the actions and influences of the pigs in the story, Orwell highlights and mocks various human weaknesses, showing that although humans are thought to be the superior race, they are still flawed. Orwell ridicules man’s hunger for power and the benefits that come with authority. Furthermore, he brings to light the effects of alcoholism, and man’s detrimental and uncontrollable ability to cause physical harm.

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.

Power can change people into the thing or character that said they never would be. Absolute power changes people and creates something new and often times a monster. As Paul Krishner wrote in The Dual Purpose Of Animal Farm “…the commandments are chipped away and the pig-managers increasingly resemble farmers…”3 this demoralizes the majority oppressing them. Spencer Brown quotes Wanda Hale in "Mealymouthed Critics Ignore Animal Farm's Anticommunist Flavor,” Animal Farm is a

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.

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.

During the year of 1945, when George Orwell published his novel Animal Farm, the world was in the midst of witnessing shocking events: the suicide of Hitler, the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, and the surrender of Germany to end the second World War. Coming out of one of the most horrific ages of our time, the common people were shocked at the human potential for destruction; Occurrences such as the Holocaust, Nazi Germany, the widespread bloodshed of World War II, and the atomic bombings revealed a degree of damage thought to be unimaginable to humanity. This shock to humanity fueled a heated debate between the opposing political structures of capitalism and communism. Orwell examines the human greed for power that ultimately defeats the potential

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.

“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

When the animals were under Jones’ rule, they lived a life of misery and slavery. He was a very cruel master; he abused and enslaved the animals and furthermore, he locked away all the food so the animals were left to starve. Jones was a despicable, incompetent and drunken farmer; he was in the position of power on the farm but he did not fulfil his duties as leader, as all he does is drink, as Orwell described it: "Mr Jones, of Manor Farm, had locked the hen-houses for the night, but was too drunk to remember to shut the pop-holes." (Ch.1; P.1). He was a tyrant, as he operated the farm with absolute control, only for the benefit of himself with no cares about how his animals were being treated in the process, which was how Napoleon came to treat his subjects. And as Old Major described him "Man is the only creature that consumes without producing." (Ch.1; P.4). The fall of Jones’ tyranny

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.

If Jones were to come back to the farm and take over once again, the

Farmer Jones puts the animals through mental and physical abuse. He is usually passed out asleep, tired from the night before, forcing the animals to take it upon themselves to keep the farm in shape. During the little time that Farmer Jones is conscious, according to the animals, all he does is yell and whip them. One night Farmer Jones stays out later than usual, and when he comes back he forgets to feed the animals. “When Mr. Jones got back he immediately went to sleep on the drawing-room sofa with the News of the World over his face, so that when evening