Examples Of Abuse Of Power In Animal Farm

George Orwell once said “Now I will tell you the answer to my question. It is this. The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power, pure power. What pure power means you will understand presently. We are different from the oligarchies of the past in that we know what we are doing. All the others, even those who resembled ourselves, were cowards and hypocrites. The German Nazis and the Russian Communists came very close to us in their methods, but they never had the courage to recognize their own motives. They pretended, perhaps they even believed, that they had seized power unwillingly and for a limited time, and that just around the corner there lay a paradise

The first example of abuse of power is illustrated on chapter 5. In this chapter Napoleon and Snowball are debating on the building of a windmill on a knoll. Snowball is in favor of the building of the windmill because he believed that it would save the amount of labor on the farm. Napoleon, however, argues that the windmill would be a waste of time and a waste of effort. During the debates Napoleon uses the sheep to interrupt Snowball during his speeches, but with Snowball’s ability of being inveigle the animals start to side with Snowball. Napoleon and Snowball also argue on what strategy should be used to protect the farm. Napoleon believed that the farm animals should arm themselves while Snowball believed that they should send more pigeons and cause other farms to rebel against their owners. Right before the ending of the debate Napoleon released nine enormous dogs after Snowball, and he was chased off the farm. With Snowball no longer on the farm, Napoleon was able to obtain the position of being the leader of the farm. In this position he was able to ban the debates, instill a military image on the farm, make the animals fearful, and pass the windmill idea as his. In this book Napoleon's actions of abuse of power are exemplified by the text. In the text it states, “At this there was a terrible baying sound outside, and nine enormous

He announced that from now on the Sunday-morning Meetings would come to an end. “ Based on Napoleon’s actions it is quite clear that the assertion of abuse of power is existent in the means of his ideologies and his persona in general. We see that Napoleon knows he can’t beat his adversary, Snowball, in the debate, so he advises a plan to use the sheep to interrupt Snowball during critical moments in the debate. When that fails he comes to a realization that the only way he could gain power is to abuse the power he already holds, and the only way to gain full power is to get rid of Snowball. We see that in earlier chapters Napoleon already had prepared for this moment by taking the puppies away from the two dogs Jessie and Bluebell and storing them in a loft until many of the farm animals forgot their existence. Although he claimed to take the puppies in order to educate them, the animals were too ignorant to realize Napoleon’s real motive. When the time came he was now ready to invoke fear on the farm eventually leading to Snowball getting kicked off the farm and taking control of the farm’s management. By banning the debates it is clear that Napoleon wants the power on the farm to be focused on him rather than in the hands of the other animals. Because of this, the animals have now lost their rights to have a say on animal farm