Power Corrupts In Animal Farm

Animal Farm

In the novel Animal Farm by George Orwell, each character corrupted the farm, and one another's mindsets. The corrupted power the “higher” authority received led to a world of inequality and dictatorship with some having benefits and others working harder to make up for the others’ slack. The character who ran this dictatorship was Napoleon, the boar who made decisions for all the animals. The power he gained throughout the book caused others to follow him and their world to be corrupted. As power corrupted the animals, their mindsets changed, the gap between equality and inequality was lengthened, and death was probable.

When Napoleon first came into power as a leader, all the animals looked up to him because he was strong-minded

Death was always present in the society due to its extremities and because animals did not follow Napoleon’s rules. Many characters in the farm found themselves punished because they disagreed with Napoleon’s laws and ideals which in most cases, led to death. Not only did death occur as a punishment for the animals that opposed him, it also occurred as the characters fought for land. The land the animals worked for was always under attack or not considered theirs which made Napoleon unhappy and eventually, more angry than he already was. With his anger, punishment was a common occurance and when Napoleon assembled all the animals, he ordered the dogs to strike multiple animals. After confessing to “crimes” that were committed or relating to Snowball, many animals were still punished by death. With the hierarchy in place and many animals being favored, the pigs and dogs were never killed because of their rule over the rest of their underclassed society. Even after the assemblies ended “... the remaining animals, except for the pigs and dogs, crept away in a body. They were all shaken and miserable” (Orwell 84). This not only showed the power that one or more animals could have over their society but also the corruption of their minds. Before Napoleon’s rule, the 7 commandments said animals must never kill for no reason but due to the overwhelming power the animals had to face, they were taken over and had no purpose in their