Power In George Orwell's Animal Farm

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George Orwell’s Animal Farm was published in the 1940’s and is an allegory for Stalin’s Soviet Russia. Orwell’s construction of the novel represents leadership and the notion of power. Orwell positions the readers to see that power corrupts, but absolute power corrupts absolutely. The corruption of power can be seen in Napoleon’s use of fear, propaganda and ideology. In the novel “Animal Farm” by George Orwell, Napoleon uses fear to manipulate and threaten the animals. This is evident when Napoleon commands the dogs to attack those who stood against him. After witnessing their friends have their throats ripped out, the animals become extremely frightened, “trembling, with guilt written on every line of their countenances.” (Ch7, pg 56) The…show more content…
Squealer’s use of propaganda can be seen in his speech denouncing Snowball’s apparent betrayal. Using the animals’ lack of intelligence to his advantage, Squealer tells a twisted version of the events during the “Battle of the Cowshed.” Squealer explains that Snowball was planning to “leave the field to the enemy” (Ch 7, pg 54) and continued on to say “He would’ve succeeded if it had not been for our heroic leader, Comrade Napoleon.” (Ch 7, pg 54) by spreading propaganda, Squealer is controlling the information that the animals receive. This demonstrates how Squealer used propaganda to manipulate the animals’ memories. By spreading propaganda, Squealer is controlling the information that the animals receive and hear. George Orwell has used the character Squealer as an allegory for Vyachaslav Molotov, who was Stalin’s propaganda minister. Like Squealer, Molotov was used to spread propaganda to the Russian public. Another form of propaganda is demonstrated by the pigs. After Napoleon’s executions, the pigs change the sixth commandment that read “No animal shall be killed by any other animal” (Ch 2, pg 15) to “No animal shall be killed by any other animal without cause.” (Ch 8, pg 61) This led the animals to believe that they had learned the commandments wrong. As a result, the animals were tricked into believing that Napoleons executions were necessary. The pigs have demonstrated
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