Power in Animal Farm by George Orwell

Throughout the story of Animal Farm the one who is in the position of power changes. Depending upon who is in power at that time they may abuse their authority more or less in comparison, or even trick their comrades by twisting the facts of history. Power is abused differently throughout the book, ranging from taking without producing, to giving certain groups of animals special privileges. As the book progresses it turns out that the dream of living a utopian life only cycles right back the dystopian lifestyle that they had started with. This is much like starting with the Russian Revolution with the overthrow of Tsar Nicholas II, to the revolutionary leader, Vladimir Lenin to the tyrannical rule of Stalin.

In the beginning of the story Jones, the owner of the farm, is the person who is in control. He abuses his power by indulging himself while his animals suffer with very small rations are no food at all. Jones, as all other humans were looked down on by the animals because they abused their power, as said the the animals, “Man is the only creature that consumes without producing”. Mr. Jones has no regard for his animals as he lets them starve. He also would slaughter his animals, not allowing them to life out their natural lifespan. Lastly, he would sell the animals young, breaking up families for the sake of sale. Mr. Jones represents Tsar Nicholas II, who was the last emperor of Russia, just as Mr. Jones was the last human to take power on the farm.

Old Major is the next character to be in power. Old Major’s key to power is to eliminate man. As he says, “Remove man from the scene, and the root cause of hunger and overwork is abolished forever … the produce of labor will be our own”. But it turns out that even before the r...

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... better!”. This was the last piece of evidence that Napoleon had completely changed the ideals of animal farm, which previously was to unite the animals together and prevent them from following the humans' evil habits. Lastly, the name of the farm gets changed back to Manor Farm.

In the end, their life is just as bad as it was before they began the Revolution. Everything they had worked for went against everything Napoleon was doing. Their utopian life was shredded by the selfish acts of Napoleon, as he was just as bad as a human. This is comparable to the Soviet government revising history in order to exercise control over the people's beliefs about the Soviets and their society. In conclusion, abuse of power contributed to the revolution being corrupted and Animalism becoming rotten, comparable to the political system of the Soviet Union by the Communist Party.