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George orwell animal farm essay power and corruption
George orwell animal farm essay power and corruption
Example of power in animal farm
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In the satire, Animal Farm by George Orwell, the theme is that selfishness can lead to corruption. These bible verses have a correlation to the book Animal Farm like 2 Peter 2:19, Philippians 2:3, and Proverbs 29:4 The first reason selfishness can lead to corruption is in 2 Peter 2:19. “They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity—for “people are slaves to whatever has mastered them.” My first piece of evidence is “Almost overnight we could become rich and free”.(p9)
Throughout the book, Napoleon works the animals until they’re exhausted and hungry. He fools them into thinking that everything was fine on the farm and that they were prospering. Only the pigs were benefiting from the efforts of the others. Napoleon shows no regard for the animals that work hard to make the farm prosper. Joseph Stalin had a similar attitude towards the proletariat.
In George Orwell's Animal Farm, Napoleon, a pig leader that represents Stalin from the Russian Revolution plays a big role in the book as the pig leaders are a superior group among the population of Animal Farm. In the story Napoleon is representing Stalin in Animal Farm as the main leader after Mr.Jones is ran out of the farm and Old Major died, resembling how Stalin took over rising to power in Russia. Napoleon started as a seemingly good leader but that soon changed… Napoleon, just like Stalin started to have problems with citizens of their own community and tried to hurt people and take things away. Both leaders can be shown using their superiority and power to their advantage to get everything they wanted and felt was necessary.
Taking this into account, however, I can affirm that Napoleon, a main character in George Orwell’s Animal Farm is not an efficient leader for three reasons. First of all, Napoleon oppresses the animals by force and fear. Some of the animals question his way of governing, but no one can declare so because they are afraid of his crucial punishments. Cunning Napoleon establishes a formidable army which consists of nine dogs. He himself raises these dogs from puppies, separating them from other animals so that they will be his obedient soldiers.
Just like Stalin, Napoleon takes advantage of the animals' uprising against their masters to eventually become the dictator 'President' of the animal farm. He creates his own 'secret police' by kidnapping the puppies and raising them for his own purposes (as did Stalin). Like Stalin, Napoleon uses propaganda to his advantage (example the Wind Mill incident). He changes the rules to suit his own purposes and to benefit himself (apples and milk in the pigs' mash). He also starves most of the population of the farmyard, while he and his closest affiliates grow fat.”
Luxury, power, and control are the fruits of one’s labor, but corruption terminates our efforts and hard work. These examples are shown in “Animal Farm” a novel written by George Orwell. The novel is about an animal farm that has rebelled against its farmer Mr. Jones, the farm earns its freedom but is lacking leadership. Two pigs Napoleon and Snowball arise who use their wits to gain support from the animals. Napoleon’s cleverness grants him the leadership status of Animal Farm, ultimately leading to a state of tyranny where Napoleon rules over the animals of Animal Farm with the help of Squealer as his spokesman.
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.
Napoleon, A Natural Pig Dictator In the novel, Animal Farm, written by George Orwell, where there is one specific character, Napoleon, who took a role in this book whom was a natural leader for the sake and future for Animal Farm. Napoleon is a pig who takes upon leadership for all animals, makes roles and differences as before Mr. Jones or Snowball lead the farm, but also acts as if he was a dictator. From these facts about Napoleon, it shows how animal farm will be under circumstances of his actions and his personality that the farm will face. Napoleon is known as the antagonist in story, and as for the quote ‘’Napoleon took no interest in Snowball’s committees’’ (Orwell 34).
When thinking about Animal Farm, one of the most prominent and main characters of the story is Napoleon. Napoleon is a pig and in their society, pigs are the most intelligent and are basically at the top of the ladder and the other animals often depended on their cleverness. As the story goes, “Sometimes the work was hard; the implements had been designed for human beings and not for animals, and it was a great drawback that no animal was able to use any tool that involved standing on his hind legs. But the pigs were so clever that they could think of a way round every difficulty” (Orwell 45). Out of all the pigs, Napoleon is particularly clever and opportunistic.
Napoleon’s system of ruling is no different, if not even more dictatorial, than that of Mr. Jones because he can never be appeased by his starving desire for more power. He shows that there is no guarantee of satisfaction to greed because it never ceases to grow. Orwell illustrates this visualization perfectly through Animal Farm by using Napoleon’s unceasingly growing desire for power to bring upon destruction to the social
Manipulation is the most deceitful way for us to achieve the things we desire the most. Throughout George Orwell’s novel, Animal Farm, language and the use of persuasive language lead to the accumulation of power. Language and the disappearance of Mr.Jones is where Napoleon dictatorship is made possible. The powerful rhetorical and their smart manipulations skills of language for any situation was what controlled the farm of its entirety. Pigs manipulated the Seven Commandments,Napoleon dictating, and the deceitful lies told by the Pigs were all methods for them to gain more power.
Having “power is [the] authority and strength,…ability to act, or control” (“Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutly”) which motivated the pigs to corrupt an attain Dictatorship government. The novel Animal Farm, by George Orwell, is demonstrating how the pigs are corrupt in Animal Farm. Old Major’s speech began a rebellion, but ultimately the pigs corrupt to become human into their own advantage by removing the principles of Animalism. Becoming human required the pigs to use propaganda to manipulate the other animals to corrupt their power in ‘Animal Farm’. As the pigs corrupt Animalism using lies, they careless about the other animals’ mental well-being.
Lord Acton, the British historian, once said, “All power tends to corrupt, absolute power corrupts absolutely.” In the novel Animal Farm by George Orwell, the character Napoleon puts himself in charge. But, not only that he allows another pig, Squealer, to do his dirty work. And also uses dogs to chase his enemy, Snowball, away . In which leads to other animals not knowing that the farm is being ran the same way as when under Mr. Jones, the old farmer 's, control.
Back in history, many leaders are overthrown and killed because corruption of power. Due to the fact, power was not distributed properly to the people they often feel uncomfortable and leads to rebellion. Yet, power corruptions are common these days, it is proven that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely by history and in modern days. In George Orwell’s Animal Farm, Lord Acton’s statement, “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” applies to much of the rulers in Animal Farm that show dictatorship and violence.
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.
