Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Animal farm corruption
Symbolism and Literary Techniques in George Orwell's
How does napoleon use his power in animal farm
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Animal farm corruption
Sabreen Shaik
Mrs.Donahoe
Adv. Freshman English
5 December 2013
Power Corrupts Even the Brightest Minds
The quote “Absolute power corrupts absolutely” (Martin) by John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton describes the main topic of Animal Farm. This quote basically means unlimited power can corrupt the minds of who possesses it. In Animal farm, a book written by George Orwell about the Russian Revolution, Napoleon was the one who became corrupted by the end of the book. In the Russian Revolution it was Stalin who became corrupted therefore Napoleon best represents Stalin.
After the rebellion, the pigs took over; they were the leaders and guided the other animals. “As a result, the American desire to promote democracy abroad has often conflicted with the support of dictatorships that promised stability, protected American trade and investments, and aligned themselves with Washington against enemies of the United States.” (Schmitz 1) Dictatorships seem like the better choice but in the long run, they never workout because someone will always become jealous of you and try to overthrow you from the leading position. “Napoleon expels Snowball from Animal Farm.” (54) When the animals didn’t know what to do with the extra apples and milk, the pigs advised the animal it would be taken care of. Napoleon proclaimed “I shall follow in a few minutes.” By the evening the milk had disappeared (Orwell 26). It was assumed the milk was consumed by Napoleon, because he thought he was better than everyone else and deserved to drink it. “It came to be widely, though by no means universally, accepted that the very possession of these weapons, regardless of their actual use, made the two nations immensely more powerful than any other.”(Mastny 1) The pigs...
... middle of paper ...
...ase Finder. N.p.,
1995 Web. 3 Dec. 2013.
Mastny, Vojtech. "Superpower Diplomacy." Encyclopedia of American Foreign Policy. Ed.
Richard Dean Burns, Alexander DeConde, and Fredrik Logevall. 2nd ed. Vol. 3. New
York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2002. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 3 Dec. 2013.
Orwell, George. “Animal Farm” New York: New American Library, 1946. Print.
Schmitz, David F. "Dictatorships." Encyclopedia of American Foreign Policy. Ed. Richard
Dean Burns, Alexander DeConde, and Fredrik Logevall. 2nd ed. Vol. 1. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2002. 493-503. World History in Context. Web. 8 Dec. 2013.
Vidican, Sergiu. "All Dictatorships Are Evil." Dictatorships. Ed. Tom Lansford. Detroit:
Greenhaven Press, 2013. Opposing Viewpoints. Rpt. from "On Dictatorship, Power, and
Corruption." 2011. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 3 Dec. 2013.
The novel Animal Farm, by George Orwell, was an allegory about the Russian Revolution in which the author used a farm and it’s members to symbolize major characters and their actions. In this composition, I will reveal to you many of Joseph Stalin’ s important contributions and how they relate to the actions of Napoleon from Animal Farm. I will break this topic down into the following three parts, their rise to power, Stalin’s Five Year Plan, and their use and abuse of authority.
Duiker, William J., and Jackson J. Spielvogel. World History. 3rd ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Thomsom Learning, 2001. 374-438.
In George Orwell’s Animal Farm, the pigs take over Manor Farm and dominate the weaker animals by using a combination of strength, fear, and trickery. This book is an allegory to the Russian Revolution, which led to Josef Stalin’s rise to power and the beginning of his dictatorship. In the novel Farmer Jones symbolizes Czar Nicholas II and Napoleon symbolizes Josef Stalin. The animals overthrow their dictator, Farmer Jones, and eventually end up replacing him with another dictator, Napoleon the pig. Napoleon demonstrates how the other farm animals’ weakness can be dominated by strength, fear, and trickery, revealing one of George Orwell’s themes.
Animal Farm teaches about communism because of its characters. Napoleon was based on a famous Russian dictator named Joseph Stalin. The next character is named Snowball, who is based on Leon Trotsky because he was another Russian leader. Between these three characters I, will show the relationship to the animals and real life communism. Napoleon has an obvious relationship between the famous Russian dictator, Joseph Stalin. Joseph Stalin was the dictator of the Soviet Union who is known from the mid 1920’s to 1953. Just like Napoleon, he was a cold heartless dictator who would kill anyone who did not agree with what he had, to say just like napoleon in the book animal farm. Napoleon used lots of violence in order to keep and maintain his leading position in Animal Farm. An example of this can be seen when Napoleon is training the puppies but he is not doing it not for their own education but instead so that they could protect him and eliminate anyone who stands in his way. Another trait of Joseph Stalin that can be seen in Napoleon i...
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.
Ellis, Elizabeth Gaynor, and Anthony Esler. World History: The Modern Era. Boston: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2007. Print.
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.
One of the main characters of Animal Farm is an allegorical parallel of Joseph Stalin. Napoleon is the pig that emerges as the leader of Animal Farm after the Rebellion. He represents the Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin in Animal Farm, but can easily stand for any of the great dictators in world history. Napoleon seems at first to be a good leader, but he is eventually overcome by greed and becomes power-hungry. Stalin was the same in Russia, leaving the original equality of socialism behind, giving himself all the power and living in luxury while the peasants suffered. While Stalin’s national and international status flourished, the welfare of Russia remained unchanged. In Animal Farm, Orwell writes a similar thing: “Somehow it seemed as though the farm had grown richer without making the animals themselves richer – except of course the pigs and the dogs.” In the novel, Napoleon openly seizes power for himself by using the dogs he trained to chase Snowball off Animal Farm. He banishes Snowball with no justification and rewrites history in order to further his own ends. Similarly, Stalin forced Trotsky from Russia and seized control of Russia. Stalin used his secret police ...
In George Orwell’s Animal Farm we get a glimpse of a strange switch in totalitarian rule. From Mr. Jones a cruel farmer who feeds his animals to little and works them to hard, to Napolean a pig that will have you killed for a bottle of liquor. Through stupidity, narrow mindedness and pure cowardice of some animals we view the inevitable as the farm animals become ruled by pigs. Old Major probably not the first animal to think of as an animal to ruin a utopia for the farm, is in most cases not a favored example to contribute to the pigs takeover. This pig finally near the end of his better than average life chose to create a rebellion against the then in power Mr. Jones. A truly justifiable act executed in a time to late, for Major died to soon to lead the farm. If Old Major had summed up an ounce of courage in his closer to piglet years further and earlier then his dying days the animals might have had a chance of a better life. Old Major can be seen as him being a late coward having what is thought on the farm to be a good life trying to end it a false legend or maybe Old Major was a slow hero wanting to leave a better life for his friends. Still though we should agree that for Old Major’s failing action or neglect was the time he chose to start a rebellion, in the few days before he died.
Animal Farm by George Orwell is a satire of the Russian Revolution that took place during the late 1930s. Orwell uses vibrant characters such as Snowball, Old Major, and Napoleon to represent some of Russia’s horrific past. While Old Major represents the idea of revolution and Snowball represents the idea of industrialism, Napoleon represents the totalitarian dictatorship in Russia. Animal Farm is a good example of what happened to Russia during this time period. While Animal Farm could represent any dictatorship, it more specifically represents the totalitarianism brought on by Joseph Stalin through communism.
This story Animal Farm by George Orwell is a novel about an animal revolution over an oppressive farmer. The irony in the story comes when the pigs turn into the very thing revolted against. They exhibit the same cruelty by treating the other animals the same or even worse than previous owners. This cycle of cruelty is shown in the Russian revolution by Joseph Stalin who is represented by Napoleon in the story. Cruelty in animal farm is shown by the human’s treatment of the animals, and the animal’s eventual treatment of each other and the ironic characteristics of the two.
Throughout the novel the pigs get more and more corrupted. Snowball would be a perfect example of someone who had the social outlook on power, until he got absolute power. Napoleon however would in my opinion be someone who always had the personal outlook on power. Animal Farm itself is a great example of the corruption of power in many shapes and forms. The main sources for power corruption are not only found in Animal Farm but in real life instances every day. No matter where you look you see people with the different character traits, ways of using power, and outlooks. Power corrupts for many reasons, it could be because of low morality, how they used power for the same things, or maybe just because of their outlook on power, but one thing is for certain, absolute power corrupts
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
From a political perspective, this intriguing satirical novella greatly uses symbolism by carefully modeling the characterization of the animals to fit its target whilst avoiding stepping on the toes of the intended personage. By modeling each character in their place, you will stumble upon Napoleon, a direct replica of the Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. Napoleon is the main antagonist of George Orwell's Animal Farm. He is a large fierce-looking Berkshire boar and t...
Duiker, William J. , and Jackson J. Spielvogel. World History . 6th. Boston, MA: Wadsworth Pub Co, 2010. print.