The Theme Of Power In George Orwell's Animal Farm

“It is not wisdom but authority that makes a low.” Thomas Hobbes’ quote reveals that the world is all about authority and how powerful people are. In other words, to be able to rule, wisdom is not essential. However, authority is crucial. This quote relates to George Orwell’s Animal Farm as it represents the theme of power by the pigs that use propaganda, intimidation and false informations to take over the farm and to control the animals. Napoleon in the novel is not a wise character. However, he occupies the leader’s position since he is intimidating and authoritative. In contrast, Snowball who is portrayed as the intelligent character, somehow gets expelled from the farm, because he was not as manipulative as Napoleon. To begin with, Orwell uses propaganda as one way of illustrating the theme of power. Napoleon and Squealer both utilize propaganda to brainwash and motivate the animals into following their orders, such as when Snowball teaches the sheep into chanting the slogan, “Four legs good, two legs bad!”(Orwell, page 34). This slogan presents the idea that four legged creatures are

Originally, the commandments were made to create ‘fairness’ and ‘equality’ among the comrades. However, the novel reveals how “all animals are equal, but some are more equal than others” (Orwell, page 134) through the commandments, as Napoleon uses his skillful rhetoric to get away with breaking the very commandments that every animals are suppose to follow, while the other animals are punished for not doing so. For example, in chapter 8 when the pigs purchase a brewery to to produce and later drink the alcohol, even though the fifth commandment says “no animals shall drink alcohol” (Orwell, page 25), which shows that the pigs are hypocrites. Thus, the novel shows the difference in intelligence between the animals that made it easy for Napoleon to manipulate and make them obey