Theme Of Abuse Of Power In Animal Farm

The quote by Lord Acton, “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely,” is a good example of what is happening in the book Animal Farm by George Orwell. The pigs immediately gain control and leadership of the farm and eventually start to abuse the power. The pigs abuse their power by changing the commandments, living in luxury, and by treating the animals poorly.

First and foremost, the pigs start changing the commandments to fit their acts and desires. In the beginning of the story, the animals decide on fair rules that everyone on the farm should abide by. But as the months go on, the pigs change them to their benefit, giving them more power and luxury. The quote, “when the terror caused by the executions had died down, some of the animals remembered that the Sixth Commandment decreed ‘No animal shall kill any other animal’...Muriel read the commandment for her. It ran: ‘No animal shall kill any other animal without cause’,”(Orwell 98) shows that the pigs obviously change the commandment before the other animals got a chance to read it. This happens more times as the book goes on, and shows the pigs abusing their power by changing the commandments to fit their actions and desires. One such time was when Napoleon kills the traitor animals, and also when the pigs start to drink alcohol. After these events, Squealer writes extra words on the wall to change the meaning of

For example, soon after the rebellion, the pigs keep all the apples and milk to themselves. The quote, “So it was agreed...that the milk and the apples should be reserved for the pigs alone,”(Orwell 53) clearly shows that the pigs use some trickery and reserve the better food for themselves. Later in the book, the pigs also move into Farmer Jones’ house even after they set it aside as a museum. And on top of that, they start sleeping in beds and drinking