Official Essay

Power

The corruption of power in the novel “Animal Farm” by George orwell is hugely memorable. It shows how the animals use power to gain more power for luxuries and leadership. Power was envied by many characters in the book and was misused by using fear, manipulation and selfishness.

Napoleon, a deceiving pig, used fear to manipulate and lead animal farm. Benefiting Napoleon hugely he took Jessie’s dogs. This allowed him to use the aspect of fear to control the other animals, while eliminating any threat of his power. With the dogs by his side the other animals were frightened. Betraying Napoleon, came with life threatening consequences. This idea of manipulation is very powerful as the leaders took away the human aspects of people and animals and turned them into slaves. Napoleon had the ability to control the animals because they could not disagree. The amount of fear that Napoleon spread made him very powerful.  Looking back on the novel I remember fear as the most powerful theme because it was used to create extremes. The amount of fear that is in animal farm and in the real world is unbelievable. There is no other theme that is used to such extremes and this is why power is so important. He used the element of fear in brutal ways that are very unforgettable. It was a huge aspect of the novel as it was a main source for controlling the animals. Fear was used all throughout the book and to great extremes. Joseph Stalin, like napoleon, both used cruel methods to accumulate fear. Stalin uses the Moscow purge trials, Napoleon did the same with animal farm.  These trials were brutal and harsh. The emotional aspect that comes with these trials is highly memorable in the novel. It shows the gruesome side of autocracy that Napoleon and Stalin portray. There methods of leadership were incredibly cruel and had many losses of lives due to there thirst for power. Napoleon and Stalin, gained strength from using fear and Snowball and trotsky became much weaker. Another way Napoleon and Stalin used fear, was fear of consequences. Not only did Napoleon put the fear of death on to the animals he also used other subtle but effective techniques. “This work was strictly voluntary, but any animal who absented himself from it would have his rations reduced by half.” This quote was ironic because Napoleon’s work was not voluntary as it had consequences.  Napoleons ways were very memorable because they were incredibly ruthless. I find it unbelievable how Napoleon and Stalin got away with leading anyone like they did. There methods were harmful to many people as they were greedy. It shows how power can be misused for more power. 

Another aspect of napoleon’s power was his ability to manipulate the animals. To do this Napoleon used squealer. Squealer spoke of propaganda and persuasion. A quote that squealer spoke many times was “Comrades, you don’t want Jones back” Overemphasizing Mr Jones horrible ways, made Napoleon’s ideas much better. He was looked at by the animals as a hero instead of a villain. The reason why this is so important is because it gives the animals faith that Napoleon would make the right decisions. Without this faith the animals may doubt Napoleon therefor he would not receive respect. Manipulation was how Napoleon controlled the animals and therefore, very important. Without Manipulation I do not believe Napoleon could keep his power. Another example of Squealers manipulation was the many times he blamed snowball. In the russian revolution Leon trosky was assassinated. We can infer that Orwell meant for snowball to be assassinated as the book is an allegory of the revolution. This gave Napoleon and Stalin someone to blame. “ he stole the corn, he upset the milk-pails, he broke the eggs , he tramples the seed-bed, he gnawed the bark of the fruit trees.” These were all accusations that squealer claimed snowball caused. This was an incredibly important idea because manipulation made Napoleon always right. The animals had hope in Napoleon without doubts of his mistakes. It shows how people listen to what they want to believe. This makes this theme stand out because manipulation is very powerful and can be easily misused. This was important In the novel because it made Napoleon make many decisions without thinking of the consequences. He knew that if he did something to disadvantage the farm it could be blamed on Snowball. With this knowledge Napoleon didn’t make all the best decisions he should have, Meaning he lost money and food for the farm. 

Selfishness is an effect that power has on leaders. Throughout the book characters that gain power lose the reasoning for equality. A real world example is Adolf Hitler. before adolf hitler was a leader his intentions of leading were much less violent than when he actually lead germany. Once he had a sip of power his thirst grew and he wanted more. Dictators that become selfish forget about what’s best for there country and only do what benefits themselves. This outcome of selfishness is a big part of animal farm as it shows the change that characters have because of power. Before Napoleon was the leader of animal farm his intentions were based of Old Major’s words. Old major’s speech was the beginning of the rebellion and was what the animals wanted. Napoleon also wanted this but he changed. The idea that power changes people is definitely shown in the novel. “All animals are equal” This quote was one of the original seven commandments. It was powerful and meaningful to every animal. Napoleon did not respect this, he wanted to be the most powerful. It was changed to “all animals are equal but some are more equal than others.” This was very essential to the novel because the amount of selfishness that Napoleon shows is remarkable. After reading animal farm I have realised the horrible person that Joseph Stalin is. His selfishness was so strong that it completely took over his humanity. 

Power was a strong part of animal farm and was shown many times in the real world too. From learning about animal farm I have learnt the consequences of having power. I would like to think that the method of leadership that Joseph Stalin used will not be used again. In the novel, power has a very strong emotion effect on the book, it was shown in great amounts and often misused. The idea of power played a huge part in Animal Farm and the Russian Revolution.