The Corruption Of Power In George Orwell's Animal Farm

The Red Farm

Power is a great tool, but like the hammer it can build and destroy civilizations. This is the theme and lesson that I learned from George Orwell’s classic novel, Animal Farm. It is believed, and can be notably seen in the past, that many great people, like Julius Cesar and Napoleon, become dangerous and corrupt under vast amounts of power. Both wanted to own the world and extend the wealth of their country but ended up evil in the eyes of many. In history there seems to be a pattern of people at the top, the kings and rulers, falling to their deaths. These type of situations usually happen because the "lower classes" becomes irrelevant and has nothing in their lives. They see the king with all this power and realize that power can bring them happiness as well. Yet Having so much power is not always a good thing.

In George Orwell’s novel, Animal Farm, a scary depiction of life in what we can assume to be a corruption of Socialist Ideals, in other words the "Soviet Union", is played out. In the novel personification is used on farm animals. The animals can talk and communicate, think, and even have feeling towards each other as if they were human. In the novel, George Orwell created a character named Napoleon. He is a pig who emerges as the leader of Animal Farm after the rebellion, and in many ways he is has the characteristics of the Soviet Leader, Joseph Stalin. In the begging he seems to be a good leader; unfortunately like history as proven before, he is eventually overcome in greed and a desire for power. In real life this is how Joseph Stalin became, after suspecting many people in his empire to be followers of Trotsky he became a very evil man. In real life Lion Trotsky and Joseph Stalin where political ...

... middle of paper ...

...apoleons farm with fake bank notes, this sparks a war and blood is shed all over. Many animals die but despite the loss, Napoleons farm wins. The war is once again blamed on Snowball. The last significant event that leads to Napoleon's complete communist control is the killing of Boxer. With Boxer out of the picture, Napoleon ruled the farm with his dogs by his side, and the farm was back to how it began, except instead of humans controlling, the pigs and dogs did. Power is a great tool, but like the hammer it can build and destroy civilizations. To me nothing summarizes this novel better. The novel has enlightened me on the history of Soviet Union and how it was created and ran as a country. Till I read this book i had never heard of Lion Trotsky. Over all George Orwell's classic novel, Animal Farm was a great book and I loved readying it.