Animal Farm Essay

In George Orwell’s novel Animal Farm, a major turning point in the novel was when Napoleon used his secret police force, his dogs, to exile Snowball. Snowball had previously been trying to improve the animal’s lives for the future by building a windmill. After Snowball was exiled, Napoleon became leader and everything immediately went amiss. Orwell stated that: "Somehow it seemed as though the farm had grown richer without making the animals themselves any richer- except, of course, for the pigs and the dogs" (p.86). In other words, no one was benefiting from the animal’s labours apart from the pigs and the dogs because the amount of authority the dogs and the pigs, especially Napoleon had, was corrupt. Frighteningly, if Snowball had been declared leader and Napoleon had been exiled, the result would have been no different because power is corrupt; education is power and intelligent leaders use propaganda to persuade innocent citizens.

Like Lord Acton said: “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Acton meant that the more power a leader or a government has, the more selfish he or she gets. Power is strength, greed and authority. Before Snowball got exiled, life was neither perfect nor equal for the animals, except for the pigs that had absolute power. For instance, “the pigs did not actually work but directed and supervised the other animals. With their superior knowledge it was natural that they should assume leadership” (p.17). This indicated the beginning of how the pigs were corrupt by power. The pigs represented the influential higher class and government, while the other animals were the hard-working lower class. Furthermore, the pigs were also breaking their own laws. The pigs wrote the Seven Com...

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...of sound has always been greater than the power of sense.”

Although, it is not for certain, had Snowball taken control of Animal Farm as leader and Napoleon been exiled, the consequences would have been identical. Snowball would have had absolute power which would be destructive to society. In addition, the majority of the animals were uneducated. Thus, creating a situation where animals were easily manipulated. The uneducated animals were unaware of the policies of the government, resulting in corruption taking over the vision of a better society. Furthermore, all intelligent leaders used propaganda techniques to effectively persuade others. Any leader in Animal Farm would be corrupted because the citizens do not care, nor know about politics. As Kofi Annan said “Knowledge is power.”

Works Cited

Orwell, George. Animal Farm, London, England: Penguin Group, 1945.