Power Corruption In George Orwell's Animal Farm

691 Words3 Pages
“Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely”. This is a concept explored in great detail in George Orwell’s novella; Animal Farm. The story is an allegory of the Russian Revolution, represented by talking animals who take over their farm. The leader, a pig called Napoleon, who supposedly represents Joseph Stalin the second leader of the Soviet Union, finds himself in complete power over the other animals on Animal Farm after driving out his rival, another pig named Snowball, who many believe represents Leon Trotsky. Though the story focuses on the events of the Russian Revolution the concept portrays revolutions and political ideas in general and how too much power can create a dictatorship in which all decisions are made by one authority.…show more content…
He is arguably the main character of the story, as he takes it upon himself to be the leader of the revolution. After disposing of Snowball, Napoleon finds himself in power and by removing the meetings and thus the democracy of Animal Farm, places himself in complete power. To begin with, he appears to have the animals’ best interests at heart, however as the story progresses he becomes more and more corrupt, gradually changes the seven commandments set up when the rebellion was achieved, and eventually removes them altogether. The whole idea of the rebellion, as provided by Old Major, was to achieve a farm where all animals are equal, all work to the extent of their ability, and rations are the same for all. Napoleon eventually destroys the commandments altogether, replacing them with the phrase “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others”. Orwell created this phrase to explore the idea of the gradual corruption of people in power, leading to the whole idea of being superior to others. The other animals work below the pigs and dogs, who don’t work at all, and receive far greater…show more content…
The power that the three pigs obtained had corrupted them and, when Napoleon received absolute power, corrupted the society as a whole. The first sign of the pigs’ corruption was when the pigs took all the milk and apples for themselves, on the pretence that “It is for your sake that we drink that milk and eat those apples”. Squealer was going out and spreading Napoleons lies and propaganda, spinning untruths in a way that made Napoleon look good or another person/animal look bad. The Germans dropped propaganda pamphlets over Britain during World War II to cause disquiet amongst the population and uncertainty and fear, and George Orwell may have used ideas such as this in creating Squealer as a character. Napoleon used Squealer to blanket people and influence the animals in a way that either undermined their courage or made them believe these lies. The propaganda in this novella is done in a way that outlines the exploitable habits of people, in this case, the animals’ stupidity and trust in the pigs’ good
Open Document