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What Is Power In Animal Farm

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“Knowledge is power. Information is liberating. Education is the premise of progress, in every society, in every family,” by Kofi Annan, is a perfect quote to summarize the book Animal Farm by George Orwell. Based on the Russian Revolution, Orwell uses an allegory to explain the corruption that power brings to the citizens of the nation. The story provokes the communist society that was idealized before the revolution. The difficulties these animals face exemplify three different messages; for instance, fear maintains power. Another message that Orwell explains is absolute power corrupts; finally, he demonstrates that the lack of education is disempowering. The first of Orwell's messages is fear maintains power. This is shown when Snowball is chased out of the election by the dogs that …show more content…

One example is when the animals thought that they would be getting food, but instead it was saved for the pigs. The quote states, “The animals sniffed the air hungrily and wondered if a warm mash was being prepared for their supper. But no warm mash appeared” (p.78). This quote is significant because the pigs hold the absolute power on the farm and determine what the animals receive. In this case they decide to give the animals less food, even though they do more work, which shows the corruption in the system. Another example is when the pigs are playing cards with Pilkington and other humans. The author declares, “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” (p.97). This signifies that the corruption that the pigs previously wanted to abolish is present again. It demonstrates how having absolute power changes the mind of the people in charge. This message is important to understand because it is allowing one or a few individuals have the all the power to control your life without your consent and without your say.

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