In Animal Farm, we see the sinister theme of abuse of power and corruption displayed throughout the story. The epitome on how the pigs abused the power was how they manipulated the 7 commandments to their own benefit. The 7 commandments were inscribed on the wall and they would form “an unalterable law by which all animals on Animal Farm must live for ever after”. Ironically, the 7 commandments were changed one by one to suit the benefit of the pigs. For example, when the pigs discovered a case of whiskey and got drunk, they got attracted to the taste of alcohol. Napoleon ordered the field originally designated as the grazing plot for retired animals to be ploughed up and planted with barley. The fifth commandment now read “No animals shall …show more content…
Napoleon had all the privileges and rights to amend the rules to fit his needs but there were severe consequences for those who questioned his authority or broke the rules he had established. The four pigs who had protested when Napoleon abolished the Sunday Meetings were singled out to be colluding with Snowball and pressured into confessing their crimes. The dogs “promptly tore their throats out” in front of all the animals. The hens that took part in the rebellion confessed that they were incited by Snowball appearing in their dreams and they were duly slaughtered along with a string of other animals. Along with power, corruption seeps into the farm. At the start of the rebellion, Manor proclaimed that “Even when we have conquered Man, we must not resemble him or adopt his vices”. However, at the end of the novel, there is no real difference between man and pigs. The pigs dress in Jones’s clothing’s, subscribe to Daily Mirror and even drink with the neighbouring farmers. Napoleon even confirms that the “title-deeds were owned by the pigs jointly”. It finally dawned upon the animals that the utopian life that they envisioned was only a