Loss Of Power In Animal Farm

Viridiana Ildefonso

10/20/15

Center 2: writing

Power is like alcohol or drugs, it’s an addiction and it’s hard to quite it and then there is this fear of losing it. John Steinbeck once said “Power does not corrupt. Fear corrupts…Perhaps the fear of a loss power.” What this quote means is that when someone has power they are not corrupted but once they feel threaten about losing power they would do anything to keep it. That’s when they get corrupted because they are blinded by the fear and are capable of doing anything to keep it and have more power. Some examples for this quote would be to a novel title Animal Farm by George Orwell. Also it can connect to the universal theme of power and loss and finally it can connect to a history by the

dictatorships that some countries had to go through. Allow me to explain further more.

To being with, this quote can make a connection to the book title “Animal Farm” by
George Orwell. It makes a connection because Animal Farm is based on dictatorship and having power and being in control. Napoleon who was the antagonist made every animal at the farm believe that Snow Ball was the bad person. He first made all the animals believe that his intentions were good. Then he started telling them that all the plans he made were the good for the far. Also when he started defying the rules they made up he always had excuse that he deserved those rights because he work really hard and was tired. As he started gaining control he became harsher and he was more abusive of his power. Just as the quote stated the moment Napoleon started to lose his power he became corrupted and he didn’t want to lose it.

In addition to, the universal themes that can connect to the quote are power and loss. Both of the universal themes connect to the quote by having the power of something and being able to be in control of it. Power can change someone it can either change a person to be someone better or be the complete opposite. In the quote Steinbeck states that perhaps the fear of losing power corrupts someone and it’s not power itself that changes who that person is. For loss, when someone loses something or someone they change, for power if they feel like they are losing control they feel threaten. Making them do whatever is possible to keep it with them and regain control. They are blinded and they don’t know what they are doing just as it was explain previously.

Last but not least, this quote can be connected to history by the dictatorships that some countries had to go through.

Dictatorship is about power and having control over a country and be able to control all the people in it and be able to control what they believe and what they do. For example, Adolf Hitler he was the dictator of Germany and he was a very cruel one and killed many Jews. But he didn’t just kill Jews he killed anyone that disagreed with him and did not fit his perfect image that he had. Once he started saw that he was losing power her started killing even more people and he became more corrupt and he tried everyone to stay in power. Just like in the quote having the feeling of losing something changes who you are.

In conclusion, John Steinbeck once said “Power does not corrupt. Fear corrupts…Perhaps the fear of a loss power.” What he means by this is that once someone feel threaten about losing power they would do anything to keep it. Some examples that would connect to this quote would be the book title “Animal Farm”. The universal themes of power and loss and finally to a history event of dictatorship. Power might not make someone become corrupted but it does change who someone is and it’s an addiction that can make someone do unspeakable

things.