'Absolute Power Depicted In The Giver'

The Greater Good
“Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” (Acton) Lord Acton once said. Therefore, no one can have total power over anything, or else they will become completely evil. If a leader is with absolute power, then not only will the leader become corrupt, but the society will also become destroyed. If a society does not have individuality then no one will get what they deserve and will instead be cheated out of their work. If a society does not have morality, then there will be many rules that hurt people and would be seen as damaging if the people had morality. This is why a society must be free and power given to many people, instead of one person. The idea of a ruling government has been explored many times

For example, in The Giver it says, “‘I’d be happy to kill them….’ ‘Listen to me, Jonas. They can’t help it. They know nothing.’” (Lowry 153). When Jonas complains that people are killing innocent people, his mentor, the Giver, tells him that they don’t know any better. People who are not individuals will do whatever they are told to do. If they do not have any feelings as an individual then they will do many corrupt things. If the people were individuals with individual feelings and memories then this would not have happened. Also, in Animal Farm it is stated that “Once again all rations were reduced, except those of the pigs and the dogs.” (Orwell 33). This is saying that the animals get their food reduced even though they are doing the same amount of work. The animals will not get the same food they had before even if they work all day. This takes away from all of the animals and will make them not want to work as hard since there will be no extra

This can be shown through T̲h̲e̲ ̲G̲i̲v̲e̲r̲, where it is said that Jonas “...was a little dismayed that his schedule left no time, apparently, for recreational activities.” (Lowry 69). When there is absolute power there is little to no free time as compared to a free society. Your role is assigned to you whether you like it or not. If there were freedom, the society would be much happier. When people are overworked then they will become angry at the society and revolt. This relates to the second point as in A̲n̲i̲m̲a̲l̲ ̲F̲a̲r̲m̲ it is shown that the animals on the farm “...are forced to work to the last atom of our strength” (Orwell 7). The animals then revolted against the farmer, Mr. Jones. They did this because they were overworked. This happened because Mr. Jones had absolute power over the animals. The animals were under complete control under him, until they revolted. After this, when there was no one leader in power, they were overwhelmed with