Abuse Of Power In Animal Farm By George Orwell

Cavan J. Brady

April 29, 2023

Mr. Hardwick

61,911,000. That was how many people died due to the Soviet Union. Between the years of 1917-87, the communist party of Russia ruled over the lower and middle classes with an iron fist, striking fear into both its citizens and the Western world. In George Orwell’s Animal Farm, written as an allegory for the Russian reorganization of power, a swine named Napoleon, written to resemble Joseph Stalin, seizes control of an Animal-controlled farm and begins to abuse his power, all the while keeping power through the use of Fearmongering, gaslighting, and the distortion of statistics.

To Begin, Napoleon was a simple swine during the book’s early stages. He was described as being a “Fierce looking Berkshire

The former of the two is observed in the opening year of chapter six, where it is noted “All that year the animals worked like slaves. (...) Throughout the spring and summer they worked a thirty-six-hour week, and in August Napoleon announced that there would be work on Sunday afternoons as well. (Orwell, #59)”. Napoleon immediately began forcing the animals to work longer hours than before, beginning to rival that which they worked with Mr. Jones. All animals on the farm worked near to death, unable to catch nearly any breaks, all while Napoleon began the altering of commandments. Again in Chapter Six, Boxer; the famed workhouse of Animal Farm, notices an alteration in commandment number four, previously stating “No Animal Shall Sleep in a Bed”, now changed to “No Animal May Sleep in a Bed With Sheets.”. When this discrepancy is brought to light, propaganda artist Squealer explains “You did not suppose, surely, that there was ever a rule against beds? A bed merely means a place to sleep in. A pile of straw in a stall is a bed, properly regarded. The rule was against sheets, a human invention. (Orwell, #67)”. Squealer’s explanation of the changed rule furthered the abuse of Napoleon’s power in two ways: It gaslit the animals into believing the rules never changed, and it guilted them into not questioning the commandments further, rendering them

However, it would make more sense to believe that they were constantly kept in fear and gaslit to the point they were unable to do anything about Napoleon. The fearmongering began nearly immediately with the introduction of Napoleon’s bodyguards/secret police in the form of Bluebell’s puppies; grown up and trained by Napoleon, However, the most notable piece of fearmongering comes in the form of the phrase uttered by Squealer throughout the book: “Surely, none of you wishes to see Jones back? (Orwell, #67)”. The phrase was used often by Squealer to strike fear into the animals- making them believe they were constantly in danger of returning to their old lives, therefore instilling fear within the opposition, and controlling the population through fearmongering. The fearmongering, however, would not have been complete without gaslighting the animals into believing the only safe place was the farm. The gaslighting aspect was incredibly prominent within the winter when concerning the supply of food. In Chapter Seven, it was detailed that Squealer had been annually reporting the production of food, indicating “Production of every class of foodstuff had increased by 200 percent, 300 percent, or 500 percent, as the case may be. (Orwell, #92)”. This, while the animals were shown to be