Ted Nugent once said, “The government is so out of control. It is so bloated and infested with fraud and deceit and corruption and abuse of power.” In George Orwell’s novel Animal Farm he writes of a society in which animals take over to obtain complete power. However, the most intelligent animals take over, gaining control, and, in the end, their power leads to the animals conforming to their ways. The intelligent animals abuse language in order to do so, which leads to the corruption of ideals on the farm, and the power that these bright animals carry corrupts them. The reigning leaders, Napoleon and Squealer, take control of the other animals minds in order to make them think otherwise about decisions and changes that were made. “...Muriel,
George Orwell uses power corrupts as a theme for Animal Farm. Orwell defines “power corrupts” as a distortion of ideals and practices to legitimize the power of a particular group or person. Orwell uses the pigs, and specifically Napoleon, to show how power is gained and then corrupted. “By the time he (Snowball) had finished speaking, there was no doubt as to which way the vote would go… Napoleon stood up… uttered a high-pitched whimper… and nine enormous dogs wearing brass-studded collars came bounding into the barn.” (52,53) George Orwell’s message that power corrupts is shown through pigs rise to power, Napoleon’s takeover, and Napoleon’s dictatorship.
Throughout the book Animal Farm, by George Orwell, the protagonist Napoleon emerges as an active political member in a utopian communist society after the animal revolution with the intention of benefiting society as a whole. Napoleon eventually turns into a ruthless dictator without any political opposition. Napoleon’s Transition from political activist, to unitary political figure, to ruthless dictator brings a whole new meaning to the statement, “power corrupts”.
George Orwell (1903-1950 ), whose real name was Eric Arthur Blair, was born in 1903 in Motihari, Bengal, India. His father, Richard Walmesley Blair was a civil servant for the British colonial government. In 1904 he moved with his mother and sister to England and was educated at Eton. He began to write at an early age, and was even published in college periodicals, but he did not enjoy school.
In George Orwell’s Animal Farm farm animals drive their cruel owner out to have independence. After this rebellion, the pigs being naturally smart take the role as leaders. The pigs are able to keep their rule because they take advantage of the animals’ horrible memory and lie about the past in order to benefit themselves and sustain a better rule for the future.
In George Orwell’s novel Animal Farm a fable is told of one pig who is there to conquer and stay. Napoleon is a young slightly intelligent pig who has found himself in the heart of Manor Farm looked upon by others, but in order to gain his people's’ respect, animals’ respect, he must use tactics to conquer Manor Farm some of his different tactics include using the power of trust and betrayal, manipulation of words and pasts, and fear. Through these three tactics he withholds the power of corruption, we see different examples in the novel of his valor and his ruthlessness used in order to achieve what he wants.
I personally thought animal farm was a really good book. It was a simple, easy to read story. The analysis of this book is pretty easy to figure out. Animal farm represents
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.
Pigs walking on two feet, horses and sheep talking. This is how George Orwell satirizes human nature in his classic novel Animal Farm. Animal Farm is an allegory of the Russian Revolution of 1917. The title of the book is also the setting for the action in the novel. The animals in the story decide to have a revolution and take control of the farm from the humans. Soon the story shows us how certain groups move from the original ideals of the revolution to a situation where there is domination by one group and submission by all the others. The major idea in this story is the political corruption of what was once a pure political ideal. Orwell uses satire to ridicule human traits in his characters such as Napoleon and Squealer. There are several different characters in the novel utilizing animals as symbols of people in real life during the Russian Revolution. Napoleon is the leader of the pigs that ultimately come to dominate the farm. The characteristics that we associate with pigs , lazy, greedy, and pushy are meant to symbolize the characteristics that the leaders of the Russian Revolution exhibited. Napoleon is admired by all of the animals because he is their leader. All of the animals believe that their leader wants to fulfill all of their needs. They also are convinced that Napoleon’s decisions are made the best interest of the animals. Napoleon’s piglike qualities are shown throughout the story. He exhibited greediness when he sold the dying horse, Boxer to a slaughterhouse for money so that he and the other pigs could purchase whiskey. Orwell ridicules human nature through Napoleon in the sense that he is trying to show how the greedy and power hungry eventually end in corruption.
By first using propaganda to persuade the animals that Snowball was an enemy, Napoleon’s rise to power began. Snowball was Napoleon’s only real threat to assuming leadership. In the story, the two pigs always disagreed with each other. The other animals were divided equally in supporting either Snowball or Napoleon. By spreading the rumor that Snowball was a traitor, Napoleon was able to drive Snowball from the farm and become the leader of Animal Farm with no one to oppose him. Napoleon, with the help of Squealer, turned all the animals against Snowball. Squealer, who was a masterful manipulator, played an important part in convincing the animals that Snowball was an enemy. Naming Snowball as a “traitor”, Squealer played on the animals’ fear of humans and told them that Snowball had been a spy for the humans. The animals believed Squealer and thought that Snowball was only trouble on the farm. They later suspected that S...
Napoleon often used his main sidekick, Squealer, to help in is manipulation efforts. Napoleon knew that the animals looked up to Squealer. He was very well spoken and talked in a hypnotic voice. For example, when the farmers begin to attack the farm, Napoleon yells out, "Impossible!" cried Napoleon. "We have built the walls far too thick for that. They could not knock it down in a week. Courage, comrades!" (Orwell, ch7). Napoleon convinces the animals to attack and keep Napoleon safe from danger. He would use his words to hearten the animals in doing what he says. Napoleons words really made them forget about fear and keep fighting. The animals had a lot of trust in him already so it wasn’t hard for them to be convinced. Before the battle had started Napoleon announced, “in a terrible voice pronounced the death sentence upon Frederick. When captured, he said, Frederick should be boiled alive” (Orwell, ch6). At the beginning Napoleon uses his speeches to convince the animals that Frederick is their friend. Now, Napoleon gives Frederick a death sentence and they now believe that he is the enemy. Napoleons words made them convinced to fight even before the battle had actually happened. Napoleon was a master manipulator. Whether it was through the use of his sidekick or through his own lies, he knew how to manipulate the truth to gain power over the animals, yet Napoleon uses one
Squealer constantly manifests the idea into the animals that Napoleon has sacrificed everything for them, that he loves all of them deeply, and that he would never lie about the commandments.
Absolute power leads to the corruption of government. In Animal Farm, when a group of mistreated animals rebels against their cruel farm owner, two intelligent pigs on the farm take it upon themselves to lead the animals jointly. However, due to the animals' greedy co-leader Napoleon who dominates that power, the pigs' leadership turns into a corrupt power-hungry government that causes the entire farm system to collapse. In order to secure a life of luxury for Napoleon and his fellow pigs, Napoleon (with Squealer as his spokesman)uses language that intimidates, language that distorts the truth, and language that appeals to the emotions of the animals in order to manipulate gullible animals of Animal Farm.
As Lord Acton once said “Absolute power corrupts absolutely” (1887). As we look back into history we find that leaders tend to change after taking power. All they need is one little spark to light up something bad. One little change here, one little change there is all it takes. Napoleon, in George Orwell’s Animal Farm changes one rule after another to fit him and Squealers needs, thus corrupting them in the end. Napoleon and Squealer show that power corrupts leaders through their actions and attitudes toward the society and the animals that work to do the best they can to improve the Farm.
In every society there are leaders who, if given the opportunity, will likely abuse their power. Napoleon takes over the farm but in the process he becomes exactly like the humans by mistreating the other animals and actually becoming friends with a human that owns a farm nearby. He breaks the laws that the animals made for everyone.
Animal Farm is set on the Mannor Farm, during the chaotic time of an animal revolution.