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Abuse Of Power In Animal Farm By George Orwell

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In Animal Farm, Orwell shows us many different points and ideas through the characters and plot. One of the major ideas in the story is that power corrupts those who possess it, and Orwell shows us this through the character Napoleon due to his actions and ways of handling problems and the way he forces things to happen or go into effect. Due to those ways he shares many similarities with many different tyrants and dictators, one being Adolf Hitler. The characteristics that brings out the idea is that Napoleon is abusive, manipulative, and selfish. Selfishness is one of the major characteristics that almost all tyrants have. They strive for power for their own reasons and will not stop until they obtain that power. In chapter V of Animal Farm …show more content…

For example, Adolf Hitler had helped Germany’s economy improve and lowered the unemployment rate along with a small increase in food. The statistics say that Germany started at 6 million unemployed people. But as 6 years pass the unemployment rate went to 302 thousand unemployed people. Napoleon does not help the economy grow that much Animal Farm. After he exiled Snowball off of Animal Farm the food supply gets was a little less for the animals than when Mr. Jones was around. Napoleon had kept majority of the food for him and other pigs to eat. This point goes back to how Napoleon was selfish showing that in Animal Farm power does corrupt those who posses it. In the book Animal Farm Orwell shows us that power corrupts those who possess it through the character Napoleon by showing us he is selfish, manipulative, and abusive. Napoleon likes to do things and worry for his own good and not worry that much about his citizens. He likes to use the fear of his citizens to control what they do and do not do. And he makes sure that nobody opposes him by killing those who have attempted to and show the smallest of signs of going against

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Animal Farm: How Does Napoleon Stay in charge? Power is used in multiple different ways, in this case it was not used in a positive way. Animals on Animal Farm had wanted to be free from their owner, farmer Jones. The pig, Napoleon, comes to power as a dictator since the pigs are more intellectual than the other animals. Napoleon stayed in power by using the methods of Animalism, Fear, and Propaganda.

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Napoleon also makes the animals sing an anthem glorifying himself (Orwell 83). By forcing the animals to sing this anthem it is brainwashing them to think Napoleon is a great leader and that he is helping make their lives the best they have ever been. To rise to power, not only do you need people to believe what you say, but also like your ideas. Like Napoleon, Hitler made people like him by using many different types of propaganda (“Adolf” 4). He tried to influence the Germans with this propaganda as much as he could when he joined the DAP.

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In Animal Farm, George Orwell warns how power will often lead to corruption. Napoleon was placed in a position of power after Major died, and he slowly starts to lavish in his power and become addicted to the lush life of a dictator. When Napoleon first becomes a leader, he expresses how everyone will work equally, but as his reign goes on, he shortens the work hours. At the very end of the novel, the observing animals even start to see that pig and man had become the same. The irony present in the above example, illuminates how regardless of how much a ruler promises to maintain equality and fairness, the position of power that they hold, will corrupt them.

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The pigs took away rights and lives of their own citizens as did the Soviet’s, which helps teach what the book was trying to show that when these political figures gain such power, that they should not use it to only their advantage but to everyone’s. This can be represented at the end of the book when Napoleon has a meeting with humans and starts to resemble the humans exactly. This is because Napoleon used his power for his own well-being like the humans and eventually resembled one. “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.” pg.124 The image of the pigs appearance is tarnished by the way the pig treated his citizen as did Stalin.

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In Animals Farm, there is a pig who’s name Napoleon. This character did not contributed to the society with his actions. In effect, he did not respect the concept of “Animalism” which is the equality of all the animals. He did many actions that broke this conception during the entire story. At the beginning, Napoleon, take the farm with Snowball when the farmer, Mr. Jones, left.

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Animal Farm -the history of a rebellion that went wrong- is George Orwell 's brilliant satire on the corrupting influence of power. It was first published in 1945. According to Orwell, the book reflects events leading up to the Russian Revolution of 1917 and then on into the Stalin era in the Soviet Union. In the book, Mr. Jones, the owner of the Manor farm is so lazy and drunken that one day he forgets to feed his livestock.

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Furthermore, Napoleon gives the other animals the impression he was the sole leader of the rebellion on Animal farm and makes Snowball -a leader who wanted what was best for the animals- seem like an enemy who was in cahoots with Farmer Jones since long before the animals took over the farm. Napoleon and Squealer (another “fat cat” pig.) always put the blame on Snowball whenever something went wrong in the farm to avoid having the blame fall on them. Napoleon is an exemplary example of just how selfish and hypocritical people can be in furthering their own aims because he continued to subtly but purposely change the seven rules put in place as the pillars of animalism. For example, Napoleon and the other pigs move into Farmer Jones’s house and sleep in his bed after commanding “No animal shall sleep in a bed”, so he changes the commandment to read “no animal shall sleep in a bed with sheets”.

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Napoleon made a substantial impact on the way the animals reacted to their new hardships. The pigs, including Napoleon, are said to be the most intelligent animals on the farm, but unlike the others, Napoleon uses it to manipulate the

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Napoleon’s initial desire to rule the Farm grows into a monstrous greed for power which is what brings destruction to the corrupted society of Animal Farm. His foolish pursuit to obtain more increasingly becomes destructive just as the capacity does to increase. The greed has taken over him and tempts him to lie in order to obtain everything he desires. He drives Snowball out of power to keep the power all to himself, separates himself from the commoners to officialise his high status within the Animal Farm, kills Boxer to acquire money for whiskey, and adapts human idiosyncrasies in order to prove that Napoleon and the pigs are more superior and can control the commoners to obtain anything that they

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Some would say power is the ability to control a group and have them become your followers while maintaining a strong leadership role. The two books, Animal Farm and Lord of The Flies use power through the two main chiefs of the novels. The book Animal Farm, by George Orwell, is about a group of animals that declare a rebellion against the owner of their farm. They take the farm over, and make Napoleon, the main character who is also the dictator of the book, take leadership of the farm. On the other hand, the book Lord of The Flies, by William Golding is about a group of boys who are stranded on an island with no adults.

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When somebody receives incredible power, they also receive a large burden of responsibility. Some people, such as Napoleon, disregard these responsibilities and become corrupt. In reality, we have seen this in leaders such as Stalin, who became corrupt once into power. In “Animal Farm”, Napoleon, a totalitarian pig, is a great example of how too much power is equal to corruption.

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Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely” (Lord Acton) This quote is telling us that when people get into roles of absolute power they tend to become corrupt, as a result of that power. This quote can be applied to Napoleon from the book Animal Farm by George Orwell, because at the beginning of the novel Old Major’s words inspired Napoleon. As a result, he believed that humans were evil for forcing animals to work for them and that animals should be able to live freely, not under anyone’s control; however, as the story progresses his belief changed and the animals did not get to live their utopian dream. At the start Napoleon and the other pigs strongly believed that all animals were equal and had the right to live in a place that took care of their well being.

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The second tactic that Napoleon uses is loyalty to the farm. The quote shows that the animals are loyal to the farm by upkeeping the farm in which they do it for themselves, “All that year the animals worked like slaves. But they were happy in their work; they grudged no effort or sacrifice, well aware that everything that they did was for the benefit of themselves…” (Orwell 73). The quote proves that the pigs worked the other animals like slaves.

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Once this extra income of supplies started flowing in, this shortened work times, but also lowered the animal’s morale. A quote that supports this claim, is “From now onwards Animal Farm would engage in trade with the neighboring farms” (76). This supports the claim because it shows how Napoleon violated one of the commandments, in order to better the overall economy. After all the evidence is considered, it seems that Napoleon is the better leader.

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Napoleon also uses manipulation to gain and maintain a firm control by changing the Commandments for the farm in ways that work to his benefit. Squealer, Napoleon’s propaganda department, Keeps the farm animals believing in Napoleon by describing what they hear and see to make it seem harmless. Using effective tactics of fear, convincing propaganda, and manipulation, Napoleon gains and maintains control of Animal Farm. “Animal Farm” has corruption and equality in a way the animals try to succeed and achieve a goal to make the farm better. Power corrupts in “Animal Farm” because the pigs have a goal which is working together and helping one another.

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