Key Themes In Animal Farm By George Orwell

Exercise 1

In Animal Farm by George Orwell, one of the key themes that is shown is the idea that with power comes corruption even if it may be in a different form. This is shown as that while the revolution is successful, the end goal of true equality is not accomplished by the animals. Because of this they find out that there are great similarities between the old "corrupt" rule under the farmer and the new rule under the animals.This comes to show them that animals are like men because when they receive power, they are bound to become corrupt.

Once the animals force Mr.Jones out of the farm, the pigs start to fall to the temptation from the power that they gain (Orwell 39). This begins when Napoleon changes the structure of government from the democratic meetings of the farm animals to a committee of pigs who have a bureaucracy over the farm (65). This is a contrast to the rules
The revolution and communist rule in Russia that Orwell critiqued through his allegorical novel has come and gone. Likewise many other things such as modern cultural norms and technology also bare very little resemblance to their prevalent ancestors of that time. However, in this day power still does often bring corruption just as it did in Orwell 's classic work.

One central element of this theme that remains true is that regardless of how upstanding the person or how virtuous their goals are, power still can corrupt. In the novel the pigs (like the other animals) had a noteworthy goal of ending the oppression that the animals of the farm faced through the revolution, however once they came into power after the revolution the pigs changed. While the goal of equality was one of the key principals set forth by the intellectual father of the revolution Old Major, the pigs found it ultimately too tempting to resit their urges to use their power for their own benefit (Orwell