Abuse Of Power In Animal Farm By George Orwell

George Orwell’s satirical novel, Animal Farm is based on animal's desire for freedom which leads to the abuse of power and knowledge that results in inequality, unfair treatment, and misery for a farm run by animals. Power and change is often associated with positivity, however ironically absolute power does not result in change that serves the common good in Animal Farm. In the novel, several examples of irony occur and man is the only enemy of animals. As things progress the lines between animals and humans are blurred. In the novel, hard work does not apply to everyone on a farm run by animals; where rules are broken, changed, and reduced to one.
Man is the only enemy of the animals; however the animals became friends with their own enemies.

One of the Commandments included: “No animal shall drink alcohol”. The animals find a case of whiskey in the farm house. The next day “Squealer came out to make another announcement. As his last act upon earth, comrade Napoleon had pronounced a solemn decree: The drinking of alcohol was to be punished by death” (Orwell 72). The following day Napoleon was so very ill that the pigs feared he would die, although by the next day he was feeling much better, this shows that Napoleon was hung over from drinking alcohol. Although the animals had agreed never to drink alcohol, Napoleon not only drank, but drank to the point of the drunken crazy behaviour. The Commandment was changed to “No animal shall drink alcohol to excess” (Orwell 73).The Commandments are no longer valid and become one reflecting the reality of the animals. In the end, the pigs started to walk on two legs in the yard and this represents that all rules being disregarded. Benjamin speaks to clover, “and he read out to her what was written on the wall. There was nothing there now except a single Commandment. It read: All animals are equal but some are more equal than others” (Orwell90).Now that every Commandment is broken, the farm is a mess, animals are dead, the pigs and the dogs are the only ones prospering. The commandments are meant to be followed to create order and equality amongst the animals, however only a few

Boxer is the hardest working animal on the farm. Boxer had injured his leg but still decides to persevere and work even harder. In one of Napoleon’s speech, he reminds the animals “of Boxer’s two favourite maxims, ‘I will work harder’ and ‘Comrade Napoleon is always right’ (Orwell, 84).this shows that Boxer did not give up and wanted to contribute to the success of the farm. Boxer was the strongest animal, but was never considered the leader of the farm. Late one summer evening Boxer was pulling heavy loads to the windmill by himself and because he was working so hard and was past the age of retirement, he fainted. In the book Orwell mentions, “Somehow it seemed as though the farm had grown richer without making the animals themselves any richer-except, of course for the pigs and the dogs” (Orwell, 86).Boxer is used and abused for hard work and in the end he gets sick and the author alludes to him being sold for a case of whiskey. Hard work should lead to a reward, however Boxer’s hard work was never rewarded,but rather he was abused and treated unfairly in spite of his hard