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Animal farm question on corruption
How napoleon corrupted animal farm
Brief explanation of animal farm by George Orwell
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Can you imagine what life would be like living under the rule of a dictator pig? The animals in Animal Farm by George Orwell unfortunately experience this first hand. In the novel, the farm animals rebel against their owner and drive him out, and thus Manor Farm is renamed Animal Farm and the animals begin to govern themselves. They all agree that the smartest animal should be considered the leader, therefore Snowball and Napoleon, both pigs, are put in charge. However, as the story goes along, Napoleon exiles Snowball and becomes corrupted with power, and despite claiming that everyone is equal, Napoleon lives in luxury while the rest suffer under his rule. In reality, the animals should be the ones blamed for allowing Napoleon to rule over them. …show more content…
To start, passiveness to Napoleon’s tyrannical power prevents the animals from taking action.
First of all, Napoleon inflicts fear in the animals. He is able to cut all of the hens’ rations when they rebelled, and publicly execute fellow animals free-of-charge. To clarify, an excerpt from the book states: “…there was a pile of corpses lying before Napoleon’s feet and the air was heavy with the smell of blood” (p. 84). If the animals attempt to rebel, Napoleon can easily retaliate with his guard dogs, and if he decides not to kill them, he can abuse and neglect them afterwards. Secondly, a few animals are smart enough to react, but do nothing. Characters such as Benjamin, Clover, and Muriel are shown reading multiple times throughout the story. For instance, Benjamin yells, “Fools! Do you not see what is written on the side of that van?” (p. 122). The smarter animals are obviously capable of coming up with a plan, yet do nothing due to their fear of Napoleon and his reckless behavior. To conclude, because Napoleon rules Animal Farm with an iron fist, the smarter animals are unable to rebel, as they are too passive and
afraid. In addition, ignorance and fierce loyalty to Napoleon prevents the smarter animals from receiving help from the less intelligent animals residing on the farm. To begin, Boxer, for one, is possibly the most loyal and naïve. He views Napoleon as a heroic figure and will listen to Squealer whenever he mentions him. “His two slogans, ‘I will work harder’ and ‘Napoleon is always right’ seemed to him a sufficient answer to all problems” (p. 61) shows just how ignorant Boxer is. He is the only one who can kill a dog, but he is obviously not intelligent enough to realize Napoleon’s antics. Other animals may catch on along the way, but none of them are as strong as Boxer is to be able to fight a dog, let alone multiple dogs. Moreover, animals are willing to listen to and believe anything Napoleon has to say. In fact, Boxer is attacked for questioning him, so afterwards, animals would listen to him unquestionably. For example, they believe him when he claims Snowball knocked the windmill over, as the book says: “It seemed to them as though Snowball were some kind of invisible influence…” (p. 79). The animals, because they fear him, are willing to believe anything Napoleon has to say, no matter how absurd it may sound. Napoleon does not even have to include factual evidence in his claims, because Squealer and the dogs are enough to drive the farm animals into believing him. In conclusion, because of Squealer’s propaganda, everyone was following Napoleon like baby ducks, so therefore it would have been difficult to convince them to rebel. Obviously, the ones receiving the blame should be the farm animals, and not Napoleon for his tyrannical rule. Much like in our world, in the Russian Revolution, the common people had the power to overtake Czar Nicolas II, and yet they didn’t do much about Joseph Stalin, who remained in power until his death from natural causes. In this case, if the animals were able to drive out a gun-bearing human, why did they not at least attempt to overthrow Napoleon?
Abraham Lincoln once said, “Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.” ("Abraham Lincoln Quote"). Lord Acton also said, “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” (“Lord Acton Quotes”). Both of the quotes show that power is not always a good thing, and can sometimes make good people, do bad things. Animal Farm by George Orwell is a novella about animals rebelling against humans on a farm in England. The novella has been said to be directly related to the Russian Revolution of the early 20th century. Immediately after the animals gained power, the pigs took over as the leaders of the animals. The pigs became corrupt with the power, and may have made conditions worse than they were with humans
Absolute power leads to the corruption of government. In Animal Farm, when a group of mistreated animals rebels against their cruel farm owner, two intelligent pigs on the farm take it upon themselves to lead the animals jointly. However, due to the animals' greedy co-leader Napoleon who dominates that power, the pigs' leadership turns into a corrupt power-hungry government that causes the entire farm system to collapse. In order to secure a life of luxury for Napoleon and his fellow pigs, Napoleon (with Squealer as his spokesman)uses language that intimidates, language that distorts the truth, and language that appeals to the emotions of the animals in order to manipulate gullible animals of Animal Farm.
Next, Orwell uses hyperboles to demonstrate why the animals submitted to Napoleon, even when the animals were abused by him; thus, mimicking the followers of Stalin during the Soviet Union. The animals of Animal Farm were exceedingly obscured, believing that their leader, a boar named “Napoleon is always right” without strictly observing Napoleon’s actions (Orwell 70). As if it were hypnotism, the animals on Animal Farm willingly believed that every demand or law made by Napoleon was a perfect decision; thus, Napoleon looked as if he was some sort of government guru. However, if the pigs had not muddied the waters as much, the animals would have been able to look through Napoleon’s deceptions. They would have been able to see that Napoleon
The saying “history repeats itself” is used quite often, but how many times have you actually seen it happen? The book Animal Farm portrays the idea of history repeating itself. The character Benjamin and the pigs in the story show history repeating itself throughout the book. In addition to these characters within the book, North Korea displays history's repetition outside the book.
Everyone knows at least one dictator, whether it is Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, or Napoleon Bonaparte, but all of these leaders ruled before the 1950’s. Nicolae Ceaușescu was in power for about thirty years, 1948 to 1989, and he reigned over Romania, putting the country into debt, oppressing women, and using scare tactics to keep his opposers quiet. Ceaușescu appointed close family members into power, which helped in manipulating the country into supporting him and understand his reasoning behind his ideas. In George Orwell’s Animal Farm a group of farm animals run their farmer out and run the farm on their own with a pig named Napoleon as their leader. Napoleon put the farm into debt by industrializing it. He also starved the other animals
Often times in a communist society, a leader’s use of language can lead to abuse of power. In George Orwell’s Animal Farm, the farm leaders, the pigs, use unknown language, invoke scare tactics, and create specific laws, thereby enabling them to control other animals, to suit their greedy desires, and to perform actions outside their realm of power. Because of the pigs’ use of broad language, implementation of scare tactics, and creation and manipulation of laws, they are able to get away with avoiding laws and convincing other animals into believing untrue stories and lies that are beneficial to the pigs.
There is a substantial amount of conflicts that occur in this satirical story. Often these conflicts are between the pigs and the rest of the animals. Only a minute portion of the animals didn’t really have some sort of conflict with Snowball, Napoleon, Squealer, or the rest of the dominating pigs. Overall, Snowball was a better leader than Napoleon, yet the animals reacted differently to Napoleon than to Snowball.
In the novella, Animal Farm by George Orwell, an aged prize white boar, Old Major dreams that all animals live together with no human beings to control them. He tells the animals that they must work hard and teaches them a song called “Beasts of England”. After Old Major dies, three young pigs; Napoleon, Snowball, and Squealer create a theory called Animalism. All the animals dominate the owner, Mr. Jones in a battle and chases him away from the farm. Later, the animals rename the property to Animal Farm. When the other Animals choose to be on Snowball’s side ,Napoleon chases him away from the farm, making Napoleon the new leader of the herd. Napoleon then starts to quickly change everything including the
Power can have the persuasive action in undoing the moral ethics of one’s character. This can be seen throughout history, such as World War II and proven by the actions of Napoleon in the allegory, Animal Farm, by George Orwell. As Lord Acton said “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” In history what was viewed as a villain or wrong doer is never the same as the perception. A leader does not begin wanting to do wrong, they start with the best intentions, but power is a tricky thing, showcased in Animal Farm as Utopian ideals but with failed practices.
The animals believe that the pigs have their best interests in mind, simply because they are the smartest. As utopian as this view is, it is not the case. When it comes to decision making Squealer explains to them that Napoleon would be “only too happy to let you make your decisions for yourselves. But sometimes you might make the wrong decisions, comrades, and then where should we be?” (Orwell 55). When the animals put their faith into this single phrase, their right to a say in the government is gone. The naive animals believe Squealer. This belief inhibits them from taking decisions into their own hands. They are always reliant on Napoleon, even when his decisions don’t benefit them.
“All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others,” (134). This final commandment expresses the underlying theme within Animal Farm, a satire on Soviet Communism, written by George Orwell. Throughout the novel, the animals overthrow Jones, rename the land Animal Farm, and bring prosperity to themselves under the pigs’ guidance. Napoleon, after many debates, banished Snowball as a traitor and strategically began taking control of the farm. In chapter six, Orwell employs rhetorical devices to illustrate the authoritative rule that the pigs have gained over the rest of the animals on the farm, initially creating a hierarchy that emphasizes a divide in classes when theoretically everyone is supposed to be equal.
“Power is in tearing human minds to pieces and putting them together again in new shapes of your own choosing”. A resonating quote of the novel 1984 from George Orwell to another piece of his writing Animal Farm that interprets the process of establishing dictatorship and power through methods of intimidation, rectifying of information, and the structure of power distribution.
In George Orwell’s Animal Farm, all of the main characters are farm animals who after being fed up of being treated horribly, band together to overthrow their human captors and make a self-sufficient, communist, animal run farm. All was fair at first until one of the pig leaders, Napoleon, got gready and had his fellow pig partner, Snowball, chased out of the farm and made a villan to the eyes of the farm and became more of a dictator than a leader. Napolean and his fellow pig comrades then procede to break and change each and every rule of Animal Farm so much so that the other animals can’t differentiate them from the humans that they hate so much. Boxer the horse “was an enormous beast, nearly eighteen hands high, and as strong as any two
In George Orwell’s Animal Farm, a main theme is that power corrupts those who possess it. A definition of corruption is,“dishonest or fraudulent conduct by those in power, typically involving bribery.” Orwell develops this idea through the character Napoleon in various ways. Looking back in the book, the animal’s rebellion quickly turned political and revolved around, “Leader, Comrade Napoleon (Orwell 81)”. The power Napoleon possed was executed through lies and selfishness, aided by the lack of intellectual ability in the other animals. The corruption of Napoleon’s power is displayed when he favors himself, along with the other pigs, and eventually the dogs, who all get better rations of food compared to the other animals. Another main demonstration of how power corrupts Napoleon is how he separates himself from the other animals on the farm, displaying his feelings if superiority to the other animals. A ceremonial nature develops towards Napoleon. The last way power corrupts Napoleon is how he acts recklessly; killing other animals and lying about
Animal Farm, a novel by George Orwell, is a fable written to portray that a state of utopia can never be achieved. Orwell uses farm animals to allegorically represent a time in history when this is most true: the Russian Revolution. Readers follow the animals of Animal Farm, as they rebel against their master, Mr. Jones, and turn the farm into their own. A community of Animalism is achieved, where the animals work for themselves and no one but themselves. They quickly develop the maxim “four legs good, two legs bad” (Orwell 34) and come to the conclusion that “all animals are equal” (11). However, because of they way the animals put full trust into their leader, Napoleon, a pig, is able to bend the rules to his liking, not necessarily