Power, a simple word that can either destroy a person or save them. Society today thrives on power, whether it is good or bad. George Orwell’s Animal Farm is used to define power and the corruption that comes from absolute power. Orwell used animals to portray humans to prove how power leads to corruption. The quote, “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely,” by Lord Acton is demonstrated in Animal Farm perfectly, and concisely as the characters, plot, and themes show how power can absolutely corrupt.
The other animals are powerless beneath him. This shows that Napoleon is power hungry by stating “the puppies wagged their tails to him in the same way that the other dogs had done to Mr Jones.” This indicates that Napoleon has raised the puppies to be his secret weapon and to do all the appalling deeds that Napoleon; himself
The use of the dogs begins the evil use of force, which helps Napoleon maintain power. Later, the dogs do even more immoral things when they are instructed to kill the animals labeled “disloyal.” Stalin, too, had his own special force of “helpers.”Really there are followers loyal to any politician or government leader, but Stalin in particular needed a special police force to eliminate his opponents. This is how Trotsky was killed. Like Stalin using his secret police force to
This also alludes to the historical destruction created between Russia and the Soviet Union under Communist Party rule. Another example of power and exploitation can be seen when Napoleon takes 9 puppies away and raises them to become his potential bodyguards in order to protect his life regardless of the safety of the dog. This can be seen through visual imagery “it was noticed that they wagged their tails to him in the same way as the other dogs had been used to do to Mr. Jones.” Like how Napoleon abuses his power, many people such as dictators use their power for their own interests instead reinforcing ideas of peace. The desire within a community to have a higher social class and increased status can result in conflicts and destruction within the community. Orwell’s use of “animal farm” stands for a human society whether a capitalist or communist.
Since the pigs were the ‘brainworkers’, they start to gain more and more power subsequently through leadership which then corrupts them. Firstly, one of the messages George Orwell expresses is that absolute power builds to corruption. Orwell’s point is that power tends to corrupt but absolute power, where all power is given to you, corrupts completely. But when all the power is given to you, you will always want more which builds to corruption and this is demonstrated throughout the Animal Farm. One of the quotes said, “You do not imagine, I hope that we pigs are doing this in a spirit of selfishness and privilege?
One of Major’s maxims that rallied the animals to action was “Man is the only real enemy we have. Remove man from the scene, and the root cause of hunger and overwork is abolished for ever.” It is fairly easy to work out how true and accurate Major’s prophecy is because he makes a cause and effect prediction. The animals achieve the first point of Major’s formula for success by driving out the men, so they should therefore look forward to a life together where hunger and overwork are only memories. Of course no such utopia is created; by the end of the tale the majority of the animals are probably more miserable and oppressed than ever before. Major’s philosophy therefore fails its practical test.
In his self-proclaimed fairy story, Animal Farm, George Orwell has clearly shown that absolute power corrupts absolutely. In order to get this theme across, he has used fable to replace human beings with animals and show the process of power corrupting, allegory to draw parallel between Animal Farm and the Russian Revolution and satire to expose the corruption of the leaders. In order to demonstrate that absolute power corrupts absolutely without being defensive to anyone, Orwell has created Animal Farm as a fable, where all animals think, talk and fight like human beings. He has effectively used Napoleon, the leader of Animal Farm as an example, to show the process of power corrupting. Although Napoleon seems to be a good leader at first, he becomes very corrupted when he has gained absolute power, that is, when he has exiled Snowball from Animal Farm.
These texts show that satire can be used to portray places and events; satire can be used to portray people, and satire can be used to portray ideas Satire can be used to portray places and events. In Animal Farm the Russian Revolution is satirised through old Major, who starts a rebellion with the animals against Mr Jones. This is seen in the lines, “All men are enemies. All animals are comrades”. The use of juxtaposition between the animals and the humans highlights the extent of the rebellion and the harsh mentality that the revolutionist animals possessed against the humans.
In Animal Farm, the story begins with Old Major, the elder and diplomatic pig gathering the animals of the farm to listen to his speech about his ideals and vision for a perfect society where animals are free from man’s tyrant. The animal’s struggle at this time is to endure man’s abusive reign and his oppression. Old Major seems to have claimed a false brotherhood with the other animals in order to garner their support for his vision (deception is a one of the motifs in both works) but it is effective because after he taught them the national anthem, “Beasts of England” and died, the animals are united under the leadership of Napoleon and Snowball, who are also pigs. Immediately the irony is that people with superior intelligence are left to run and control the affairs of lower, unsophisticated (naïve), working classes and asserts their power over their subjects. In Childhood’s End, the Overlords appear in their spaceships and hover above earth when the Soviet Union and the United States have been in a race to create the first spaceship with a nuclear drive.
The dark deference of fear and slavery, my friend," observed the Marquis, "will keep the dogs obedient to the whip, as long as this roof," looking up to it, "shuts out the sky." (Dickens 128) This quote represents the how the French government in this time period was so controlling over its’ people, to the point where they thought of them as “dogs to a whip” as the Marquis stated. The controlling state of government shaped this time period because it is what caused the killing of the Marquis, the birth of La Guillotine and all the killings done by it. When one looks at this quote it is very evident to see how the French revolution was started, because of the very little effort going into trying to get the poor lower and middle class citizens the bare minimum necessities of a meal and clothing. Which then resulted in the madness of the two classes to change and fix how France was being governed.