The Power Of Greed In George Orwell's Animal Farm

Elizabeth Lee
Mrs. Clarke
English 9 BLOCK
16 March 2015
The Power of Greed As the animals soak in their own sweat, they rest in deep thought on the mounds of dirt in the fields of England, where the dictatorial Mr. Jones had once ruled before he died. A new leader named Napoleon has come into position after his death. 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

After the windmill is destroyed, Napoleon blames Snowball by saying that he is the traitor who is trying "to set back our plans and avenge himself for his ignominious expulsion” (82). Napoleon’s strong desire to keep power drives him to blame Snowball for the destruction of the windmill to make him look good, so he would not be blamed for all the destructions and injuries that occur within the Farm. This impels the animals to assume that Snowball is the victim and consequently the animals would rely on Napoleon to keep Snowball away for their protection. Squealer swindles the animals saying that the windmill was actually Napoleon’s invention and that his opposition towards it is just a fabrication in order “to get rid of Snowball, who was a dangerous character and a bad influence” (71). Napoleon’s only strategy is to make the animals under the impression that Snowball is the source of all destructions in order to keep his power. His final action to extricate Snowball from position is by attacking him with “nine enormous dogs wearing brass-studded collars...bounding...straight for Snowball” (67), which Napoleon stole from their mother while they were puppies in the initial part of the

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