...Absolute Power and Corruption in Animal Farm Idealistic leaders can become corrupt because of the influence that absolute power can have on one’s morals. This pattern constantly repeats itself throughout history because of mankind’s ignorance to the past. Animal Farm represents the Russian revolution and the events and actions that took place. As Napoleon, Snowball, and Old Major evolve and show the effects of having power, is it obvious to see how absolute power corrupts potentially great leaders. Napoleon, an overall strong leader, lets power take over his views and morals for ultimate corruption. After Old Major dies, Napoleon is fortunate to be one of the next renowned leaders for the farm and soon to be a leader for the rebellion. As time passes, Napoleon experiences the luxuries and the benefits that come with having power— the power is now beginning to go to his head. He begins eating much food, sleeping on a bed, and wearing clothes (all of which the animals swore never to do in animalism). Napoleon is beginning to think of himself above all others rather than as still an equal. At one point in the book, Napoleon sell the loyal and hardworking boxer to a factory for alcohol. This goes to prove that he only cared about what he wanted, not his hard working citizen. By many events and actions done by Napoleon, it is easy to see how Napoleon represents Joseph Stalin. “Stalin was the undisputed dictator of USSR.” As Stalin did, Napoleon disposes of anything...
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...“No animal must ever live in a house, or sleep in a bed, or wear clothes, or drink alcohol, or smoke tobacco, or touch money, or engage in trade” (Orwell, 8). These were the fundamental ideals stated by Major, which started the Animal Revolution. One major theme throughout George Orwell’s Animal Farm, was corruption due to power and manipulation; a seemingly childish tale of animals taking over a farm that teaches students about the possible evils that can come from corrupt leaders, which is why it is also an excellent classic for many high school students. From the moment Napoleon ran Snowball out of the farm, he started to break the commandments one by one. It began with simple rules, as to not trade with humans, deal with money, or take...
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...Corruption of Pigs, Leaders and Modern Day Life Corruption is a provoking issue for many societies around the world, impacting multiple generations and at various degrees. Corruption is defined by Merriam Webster Dictionary as, ‘dishonest or illegal behavior especially by powerful people’. It is displayed by Hitler in the Holocaust, George Orwell’s book Animal Farm, and even in our modern day. George Orwell conveys a powerful message that applies to all three situations, supporting Orwell’s compelling message. Orwell’s political message about corruption of the government and leaders abuse of power is depicted in the way Hitler led Germany, the current U.S. government and George Orwell’s portrayal of the Russian Revolution in Animal Farm. There are many examples of people taking advantage of power in our country today. In a New York Times Article titled “ "Officials Push to Bolster Law on Wiretapping", author Charlie Savage informs readers of the government’s new push for an increase in surveillance. Recently, phone companies and networks have updated their software, causing it to be additionally difficult for the government to spy on them and take the customers personal information(Savage 1). As the U.S. government continues to wiretap and collect information from large phone carriers such as AT&T and Verizon(Savage 1), it will become an extreme and impactful invasion of privacy. This push will extend the laws to companies like Gmail, Facebook and Skype(Savage 2). Savage...
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...Introduction Animal Farm, written by George Orwell, is a novel presenting a fictional world where animals can communicate with each other and act like humans. Animal farm is a book concerned about the politics of leadership and the rise of fall of great leaders; also the events surrounding the Animal Farm are mirrored to the events that took place during the Russian Revolution. There is also a relevance and resemblance of the occurrences in the book with the operations of a business and business communication. Within the content of the book, there were many parallels identified that existed with business communication, such as the various methods used to communicate with the animals on the farm such as meetings, written communication, debates and committees. Also, the communication channels used to communicate externally between the animal farm and the outside world, such as the use of word of mouth from Mr. Whymper as the messenger and the receiver, also the pigeons was used as messengers to spread news to other farms in England. Furthermore, technology was witnessed to prevail at the end of the story, as a source of progress in Animal Farm such as installing a telephone and subscribing to magazines. Animal farm also portrayed a comparison between the leadership approaches of human with that of the pigs that controlled the farm. In Animal Farm, old Major the boar on the Manor Farm, called the animals for a meeting and made a speech, Major explained to the animals that they are...
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...novella, Animal Farm, the farm animals are restricted and mistreated. They have an overseer named Mr. Jones who is not only a drunk, but is slowly losing his ability to take care of Manor Farm. Gradually the animals are moving toward the idea of revolution against their dictator. Lois Lowry once said, “The life where nothing was ever unexpected. Or inconvenient. Or unusual. Is a life without colour, pain or past.” This quote can be interpreted as a life without problems, surprises or consequences, is a life with no originality or vitality. George Orwell uses a large variety of literary elements such as, symbols, dramatic irony and conflict...
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...two satirical texts ‘Animal Farm’ written by George Orwell and ‘The Trials of Brother Jero’ by Wole Soyinka both possess similarities and contrasts relating to certain concepts. A certain concept that can be investigated is how the texts mock society through the employment of literary techniques. The literary techniques portrayed throughout irony link to the mockery within the two texts. Satire is the use of irony, sarcasm, ridicule, or the like, in exposing, denouncing or deriding human folly. ‘Animal Farm’ and ‘The Trials of Brother Jero’ both satirize a concept of society. ‘Animal Farm’ satirizes the corruption of Communist power during the Russian Revolution whilst the ‘The Trials of Brother Jero’ satirizes the Religion in the modern Nigerian Society. Irony is a component of satire and the literary techniques found in both texts can affect the meaning of the texts. There are different types of irony found in both texts. The irony in ‘Animal Farm’ is found in chapter 3, page 23. The pigs take the milk and apples away from the other animals for their own needs and manipulate them to believe that it is for their ‘own good.’ A literary technique included in this irony is diction. In Squealer’s speech to the animals discussing that the milk and apples contain ‘the necessary substances to the well-being of a pig’, he claims that ‘it has been proven by science.’ The use of diction by claiming that it has been ‘proven by science’ can manipulate the animals to believe this claim...
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...The pigs become ambitious because they have so much more power over the other animals which allows them to do whatever they want without question. The hard work of Boxer the cart horse and the extra hours he contributes to the farm believing that it will benefit the revolution, before his injury he adopted the motto’s of “I will work harder” and “Napoleon is always right” (Pg. 41). He used these mottos to express how much he wants the Animal Farm to succeed and maintain a good life, due to his low unintelligent he “Tries with all his might” to learn to read but unfortunately, he “Could not get beyond the letter D” (Pg. 21). The pigs are related to human nature by using the power that they acquired from all the animals, in a bad way, which lead to becoming corrupt. Therefore, the pig's successful reign over Animal Farm was due to ambition and power over the other animals....
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...George Orwell’s novel, Animal Farm by the means of why government is necessary. The concept of the necessity of government is brought up in the beginning of the novel when Mr. Jones is ran out of his farm due to nationalist uprising brought upon by Old Majors speech and song. When the animals rebelled against Mr. Jones there was no standing army to put them down. There wasn’t any laws or rules for the animals to follow so this led to anarchy due to no government or authority to enforce them. The novel Animal Farm demonstrates a lot of ideologies and themes that are similar to our politics today. In Animal Farm we see a repetitive theme of the consequences...
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...The novel Animal Farm, written by George Orwell, tells a story about the irony of the Russian Revolution-how the people traded one cruel form of government to another. The lives of the animals in Animal Farm symbolize the lives of the Russian citizens before, during and after the revolution. The problem with the government before and after the revolution was corruption. All of the animals ultimately suffer, because of the corruption of the pigs. This essay will cover the people, their actions and decisions throughout the book Animal Farm. Mr. Jones was the owner of Manor Farm; he is cruel to his animals by under feeding them and over working them. During Mr. Jones's rein over Animal Farm the animals felt that they must do something so that they can be free of the Tyrant Mr. Jones. The animals of Animal Farm are symbolically representing the lower class Russian people during the reign of Czar Nicholas II. Mr. Jones was corrupt with power, because he had control over all of the animals. He controlled how much food they received and how much and how hard they were forced to work. The way Mr. Jones controls the animals on the farm parallels how Czar Nicholas II controlled the Russian people. There was an old pig called Old Major, who symbolizes Karl Marx, in that, Old Major convinced all of the animals to rebel. Before the rebellion took place Old Major died, the same as Karl Marx. In the Battle of Cowshed which parallels the Russian revolution, one pig named Snowball stood...
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...In the novella Animal Farm, George Orwell explores the augmentative nature of power and its susceptibility to corruption through his fable allegory of the Russian Revolution. Orwell exposes his audience to the inevitable escalation of power, especially in socialist societies where the motives of individuals are tainted with a lust for power. Through the symbolic character of the pigs, in particular Napoleon who symbolizes Joseph Stalin, power is initially seized through the corruption of food rations amongst the animals. When Squealer, representing propaganda, notifies the animals that ‘milk and apples contain substances necessary to the wellbeing of pigs,’ dramatic irony is used to great effect. By reasoning that ‘it is for your sake that we drink the milk and eat those apples,’ the audience can see, as the animals cannot, that this is the turning point whereby the pig’s leadership gradually befalls to corruption. Power continues to be augmented up until the denouement of the novella where, ‘the creatures looked from pig to man, and from man to pig…but it was already impossible to say which was which.’ Though satirical in nature, this symbolism is demonstrative of the pigs’ ever-increasing demand for power, which inescapably resulted in a more corrupt government than the one it overthrew. Orwell urges his audience to pay cautious attention to, and be critical of; the decisions made by their leaders and ensure they too are not corrupted by an infatuating desire to gain political...
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...again. For instance, corruption, abuse, and propaganda heavily influence the animals on the farm. Within chapter 7, the pigs have the authority to kill or punish anyone who disagrees with their orders. According to Orwell, he writes, "One Sunday morning Squealer announced that the hens, who had just come in to lay again, must surrender their eggs. Napoleon had accepted, through Whymper, a contract for four hundred eggs a week" (33). In other words, the hens have to give up four hundred eggs to pay for grain and meal. Because the hens refuse, Napoleon cuts the hens' rations, therefore, declaring that if any animal were to feed the hens, then they were to be killed. This reflects how manipulation is used to make the animals believe that the pigs are defending Animalism, while instead they are enforcing abuse and overworking the animals to give up their work to pay for the farm. Likewise, Napoleon begins to incorporate...
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... And how it made you understand a theme in the text. Napoleon is a very manipulative, very clever and sly animal character. He changes a lot in terms of his traits and interaction with others throughout the novel. His appearance reflects the changes occurring in his behavior. When Napoleon becomes the sole leader of Animal Farm, he seizes power and becomes more and more like a human. He uses several methods to take and maintain control of the farm. His primary methods are by using fear, by exploiting the animal and by bending the rules. Napoleon uses his intellect to good effect as far as self-interest is concerned. Napoleon instills fear as a way of giving the animal no chance to argue about what he says. This allows him to run the farm in his own manner and gives him a more comfortable life than the other animals. Early on in Animal Farm, Napoleon takes Jessie and Bluebells nine newborn puppies. These puppies become his little army of fear. He uses them to gain power by eliminating his enemies, Snowball "They dashed straight for Snowball...he slipped through a hole in the hedge and was seen no more." Also, Napoleon used the dogs in the public forum he created by setting an example of what would happen to those animals who chose to disobey him. The Russian Revolution is an example that absolute power often corrupts society. In the novel Animal Farm, author George Orwell shows through Boxer’s faithfulness to Napoleon that absolute power can control one’s mind. This...
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...ANIMAL FARM George Orwell Important Quotations Explained 1. “Four legs good, two legs bad.” This phrase, which occurs in Chapter III, constitutes Snowball’s condensation of the Seven Commandments of Animalism, which themselves serve as abridgments (abbreviations) of Old Major’s stirring speech on the need for animal unity in the face of human oppression. The phrase instances one of the novel’s many moments of propagandizing, which Orwell portrays as one example of how the elite class abuses language to control the lower classes. Although the slogan seems to help the animals achieve their goal at first, enabling them to clarify in their minds the principles that they support, it soon becomes a meaningless sound bleated by the sheep (“two legs baa-d”), serving no purpose other than to drown out dissenting opinion. By the end of the novel, as the propaganda needs of the leadership change, the pigs alter the chant to the similar-sounding but completely antithetical “Four legs good, two legs better.” 2. Beasts of England, beasts of Ireland, Beasts of every land and clime, Hearken to my joyful tiding Of the golden future time. These lines from Chapter I constitute the first verse of the song that Old Major hears in his dream and which he teaches to the rest of the animals during the fateful meeting in the barn. Like the communist anthem “Internationale,” on which it is based, “Beasts of England” stirs the emotions of the animals and fires their revolutionary idealism. As...
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...communist society, the state controls the profits and equally distributes them throughout the nation. It would seem that under a communist society, every member of society is taken care to the extent that there is no poverty of any sort. Canadian American John Kenneth Galbraith said, “Under capitalism, man exploits man. Under communism, it’s just the opposite.” This corruption of communist ideals is shown in George Orwell’s novella, Animal Farm. When communist ideals are corrupted for the benefit of one person or party, people are left to fend for themselves. Communist ideals give the assumption that all people are equal. This system makes sure that not one person or party becomes more powerful and important than the other. After a day’s work, people receive rewards for their work. In an ideal communist society, the government takes care of the masses. These ideas incite the starving masses of Russia because it ensures the well being of the Russian people, just as the animals believe all the unrealistic promises the pigs make. In Animal Farm, Old Major, the old show pig, envisions a perfect world in which all the animals are free from the oppression of Mr. Jones and his men. It seems as though there is no flaw to a communist society. Unlike a communist society, a capitalist society places people in situations where they work extremely hard to supply for their livelihood, and some make more than others, which in turns creates a class system. With this system, some people soon...
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...retain power by twisting the truth in their favor. This is what the character Napoleon does in Animal Farm, by George Orwell. Corruption of power leads to the exploitation of the weak through fear and manipulation. Snowball was a perfect leader, with excellent ideals and did everything for others. Napoleon, on the other hand, was a diabolical leader who sought power. To do this, Napoleon directs his ‘right hand man,’ Squealer, to spread rumors and lies to make Napoleon seem perfect. After Napoleon took charge, Squealer said, “I trust that every animal here appreciates the sacrifice that Comrade Napoleon has made in taking this extra labour upon himself” (50). Napoleon...
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