Leaders are not always to be trusted, and this is highlighted in the novel Animal Farm by George Orwell as the message of the text. In Animal Farm, leadership is represented through the actions and personalities of the various characters as a powerful, but easily corruptible force. The Leaders of Animal Farm start off with good intentions but as the story goes on it becomes obvious the leaders have grown power-hungry and have become the ‘superior’ animals, showing that equality does not exist. Propaganda and manipulation play a big part in the novel, stopping the animals from protesting or noticing that their leader was extremely greedy and corrupted. There are excellent leaders as well as awful ones, making it hard to know who to trust in, who to believe and what to do, after all leaders are hard to go against, but a corrupted leader is never a good thing.
George Orwell represents leadership as an easily corrupted and abused power through the characters throughout the novel, Animal Farm. This source of power has been used by leaders at the expense of their followers for their own personal gain, like Napoleon, the other pigs, and even including Snowball to an extent, who‘s first sign of corruption occurred early in the book when they took the milk harvested from the cows while the other animals were working. The pigs' corruption, excluding Snowball, grew worse and over time made life extremely difficult for the animals. In addition to this, the animals were forced to work more hours and rations were constantly being cut, yet the pigs still convinced them that they were living a better life. As well as the pigs, other characters of the book have also abused their leadership and showed signs of corruption. Mr Jones abused his lea...
... middle of paper ...
...rsue the issue any further. The moral George Orwell is teaching us is that questioning leaders is a useful tactic and that leaders are not always so trustworthy.
Leaders are not always to be trusted. George Orwell has made that clear with his book Animal Farm. Leadership is a powerful force that can be tainted, like the pigs that were trusted with the job of making the animals lives better were, despite what were originally good intentions. Equality could not be obtained despite having promised that all animals are equal, and manipulation and lies were used in abundance to hide the fact that their leader was corrupted. Even though some leaders are corrupted, other leaders can be trusted. It is just a matter of finding out which ones. At the end of the day people will always have their own thoughts and opinions and they are more valuable than many seem to notice.
Intelligence should be the primary qualification for leadership. After examining the novel Animal Farm, written by George Orwell, and historical leaders, one may realize that all leaders possess intelligence, and it is often their biggest asset in leading others. First, an analysis of Animal Farm will show that intelligence was the pigs defining quality, and further analysis will show that the pigs intelligence acted as their biggest tool in leading the other animals. Second, one may examine many of history's most famous leaders, such as Winston Churchill or Adolf Hitler, and one may realize that they all utilize intelligence as well.
“A leader must be willing to sacrifice likeability in order to make decisions that are for the good of the people.” This is entirely true. When someone is a leader, their job is to watch out for the people and make the right decisions. Not every decision will be favored, but it’s most likely the best. A leader will understand that.
According to Ken Blanchard, “In the past a leader was a boss. Today’s leaders must be partners with their people. They no longer can lead solely based on potential power”.
Farmer Jones using a combination of strength, fear and trickery initially dominated the animals at Animal Farm. Despite the animal rebellion, the leaders of the revolution become corrupted by their power and in turn dominate their fellow animals using the same traits. As a result the lives of the animals have not significantly changed. George Orwell illustrates how people’s complacency and ignorance contribute to the rise of dictators and allow themselves to tolerate oppression.
The statement, “Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely”, simply means that the more power one has – the more control one has over people – then the more corrupt it is possible for that person to become. This statement is certainly correct if the person with the power has certain proclivities towards corruption. There are many examples in the book, “Animal Farm”, by George Orwell, of power corrupting those in charge because they had these tendencies. In the story, the most powerful animals are the two pigs, Napoleon and, to a lesser degree, Snowball. During the course of the story these pigs used their power to get more power, and in the process their inclinations towards corruption triumphed. When Old Major, the boar who came up with the idea of all animals uniting against humans, died, Napoleon and Snowball saw an opportunity where they could take control and took it. Napoleon used force to get rid of Snowball and take all the power for himself, and he used fear to keep the other animals from revolting. He used scapegoats so that he could not be blamed for anything that went wrong, and propaganda to brainwash the animals into loyal slaves. Napoleon changed and broke the commandments of Animal Farm to benefit himself, and he lacked empathy for all those who worked hard for him, executing those that might cause him trouble.
Abraham Lincoln once said, “Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.” ("Abraham Lincoln Quote"). Lord Acton also said, “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” (“Lord Acton Quotes”). Both of the quotes show that power is not always a good thing, and can sometimes make good people, do bad things. Animal Farm by George Orwell is a novella about animals rebelling against humans on a farm in England. The novella has been said to be directly related to the Russian Revolution of the early 20th century. Immediately after the animals gained power, the pigs took over as the leaders of the animals. The pigs became corrupt with the power, and may have made conditions worse than they were with humans
Leaders have responsibilities to their people; a responsibility to protect and to nurture them. Leaders can reject their citizens needs because they believe that their wants are more important end up destroying the very society they rule. As shown in the novel Lord of the Flies when Jack rejects his responsibility of nurturing and giving the boys a home because he believes his lust for power, which provides him with a sense of security, is more important than the needs of the boys for affection and protection, allowing him to use the boys as objects to accomplish his own desires. This eventually leads to the destruction of society.
Snowball and Napoleon are battling for control of the farm, they both want to be the leader because they know that the leader has the most privileges. The animals that are in charge, the pigs, do less work than the other animals. "All that year the animals worked like slaves." The title of leader is highly sought after, because the leader tells everyone what to do without actually having to work. The pigs not only do less work but they receive more food. "Once again all the rations were reduced, except those of the pigs and the dogs." The fact that the pigs receive more food than the other harder working animals, shows that the farm is full of inequality. This type of governing is wrong, and Orwell wants it to stop. Less power should be given to the leader, so that the leader and his followers can be more equal. Once a group or an individual obtains power, it is impossible to manage it correctly.
Lord Acton, the British historian once said, “Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely.” In the novel Animal Farm by George Orwell, the author gives many examples of how power is used to manipulate and produce fear. In this book the main character, Napoleon, became a master of using various tactics to gain and maintain power over the rest of the animals. Napoleon used propaganda, manipulation and fear to gain more loyalty and power throughout the farm.
What often is overlooked is that the demands on today’s leaders have become incredibly complex broad in scope. Contemporary society is less responsive to the appeal of great man leaders and is less willing to play a docile follower role,...
The pigs in George Orwell’s Animal Farm use specific laws, use unknown vocabulary and excruciating detail, implement scare tactics, and create and manipulate law to successfully attain the other animal’s trust, acquire certain luxuries unavailable to most animal, and establish themselves as the dictators of a totalitarian-like society. Through using detail, unknown vocabulary, specific laws, and scare tactics, the pigs acquire the ability to drink alcohol, sleep on beds, eat and drink the milk and apples, destroy Snowball’s credibility, and establish a trust between themselves and the other animals. From Orwell’s Animal Farm, one realizes how leaders with absolute power use carefully manipulated language to abuse their power.
The novel, Animal Farm, is a well-known allegory written by George Orwell. As a satire of the Russian Revolution, Orwell portrays the rise of a cruel dictatorship and the mistreatment of the general population under it. Like the Communist government in Russia, the government in Animal Farm employs the use of many manipulative tools, especially propaganda. Propaganda was used by the pigs throughout the book, deceiving many of the animals. As this story shows, propaganda can enable governments to bend people to any purpose. By spreading positive messages about Napoleon, persuading the animals that Snowball is an enemy, and convincing the animals that they can’t survive without the pigs, propaganda helped give rise to a vindictive and selfish totalitarian government.
In George Orwell’s Animal Farm, a main theme is that power corrupts those who possess it. A definition of corruption is,“dishonest or fraudulent conduct by those in power, typically involving bribery.” Orwell develops this idea through the character Napoleon in various ways. Looking back in the book, the animal’s rebellion quickly turned political and revolved around, “Leader, Comrade Napoleon (Orwell 81)”. The power Napoleon possed was executed through lies and selfishness, aided by the lack of intellectual ability in the other animals. The corruption of Napoleon’s power is displayed when he favors himself, along with the other pigs, and eventually the dogs, who all get better rations of food compared to the other animals. Another main demonstration of how power corrupts Napoleon is how he separates himself from the other animals on the farm, displaying his feelings if superiority to the other animals. A ceremonial nature develops towards Napoleon. The last way power corrupts Napoleon is how he acts recklessly; killing other animals and lying about
George Orwell’s Animal Farm is a political satire of a totalitarian society ruled by a mighty dictatorship, in all probability a fable for the events surrounding the Russian Revolution of 1917. The animals of “Manor Farm” overthrow their human master after a long history of mistreatment. Led by the pigs, the farm animals continue to do their work, only with more pride, knowing that they are working for themselves, as opposed to working for humans. Little by little, the pigs become dominant, gaining more power and advantage over the other animals, so much so that they become as corrupt and power-hungry as their predecessors, the humans.
Leaders are dishonest. Although some are unintentionally dishonest, it can lead to the deterioration of trust between the leader and his or her followers. An ideal leader is effective when there is trust established between both the leader and the followers. According to Michelle Bligh, trust is an “expectation or belief that one can rely on another person's actions and words and that the person has good intentions to carry out their promises” (21). Leaders gain trust when they are consistently honest and communicate well with their followers. In return, followers respect an honest leader and obey commands without issues. Respect causes a positive environment because authoritative figures and subordinates can rely on each other to achieve the