Theme Of Ambition In Animal Farm

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curriculars you have after school. You have so much work to be done, there are people counting on you, and you’ve so many goals and aspirations you don’t know what to do with them. Sound familiar? Sometimes too many goals or too much ambition can lead you into a downward spiral. In George Orwell’s Animal Farm, the animals of Manor Farm work to rebel against the humans’ neglect, starting a Rebellion called Animal Farm. The main character, a pig named Napoleon, is so focused on his power that comes with being the leader of Animal Farm that he starts to become corrupt, changing the morals of the Rebellion. This describes the main theme of the book, saying that “too much ambition leads to greed and downfall”. A theme that is conveyed in Animal …show more content…

If Napoleon had ambition, shouldn’t it have been directed towards Animal Farm, not against it? If his actions were against Animal Farm, there would be no ambition. He did it for personal gain, not for the success of the Rebellion, which means the theme would not apply. Instead, one theme that can be applied is “greed leads to corruption”. One instance of this is shown in the beginning of Animal Farm. According to George Orwell, “‘Never mind the milk, comrades!’” cried Napoleon, placing himself in front of the buckets. “‘That will be attended to. The harvest is more important. Comrade Snowball will lead the way. I shall follow in a few minutes. Forward, comrades! The hay is waiting.” This scene in the book depicts Napoleon pushing his fellow comrades to begin the harvest. He may seem like he is eager to get to work to further the Rebellion, but he isn’t as ambitious about it as thought of. Orwell then writes, “So the animals trooped down to the hayfield to begin the harvest, and when they came back in the evening it was noticed that the milk had disappeared.” This implies that the pigs/Napoleon had used the milk for themselves and himself while the other animals were out working. This does not show that Napoleon showed ambition to encourage Animal Farm, it only shows that he used the other animals for his own good. Instead of showing that Napoleon was ambitious for the good of all of the animals, he instead makes the other animals work while he benefits from it, hence the milk being gone and presumably taken by the pigs. However, Napoleon does offer an idea later that will benefit Animal Farm. George Orwell also writes, “That evening Squealer explained privately to the other animals that Napoleon had never in

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