...characteristics, some animals have an untimely downfall and other are still leaders and reigning in their own glorious manner. The character in this novel are Napoleon the pig, Boxer and Clover the cart-horses, Benjamin the donkey, and the sheep and dogs who are loyal servant to Napoleon. Animals behave like humans because they are around each other for longer periods of time. G. A. Bradshaw and Robert M. Sapolsky explain that “human beings and nonhuman animals share a common ancestry,” (487) resulting in a common behavior. Napoleon is the head pig. He is strong, but rather bull-headed, along with being independent, as well as corrupt. He was just a pig on Manor Farm until he took over and changed the name to Animal Farm. He was running for the title of leader alongside another pig called Snowball. Little did any of the other animals know, Napoleon was very corrupt from the start, he made up rumors about Snowball leading everyone to believe that he was not a good match to...
Words: 696 - Pages: 3
...Corruption in Animal Farm Idealistic leaders can become corrupt because of the influence that absolute power can have on one’s morals. This pattern constantly repeats itself throughout history because of mankind’s ignorance to the past. Animal Farm represents the Russian revolution and the events and actions that took place. As Napoleon, Snowball, and Old Major evolve and show the effects of having power, is it obvious to see how absolute power corrupts potentially great leaders. Napoleon, an overall strong leader, lets power take over his views and morals for ultimate corruption. After Old Major dies, Napoleon is fortunate to be one of the next renowned leaders for the farm and soon to be a leader for the rebellion. As time passes, Napoleon experiences the luxuries and the benefits that come with having power— the power is now beginning to go to his head. He begins eating much food, sleeping on a bed, and wearing clothes (all of which the animals swore never to do in animalism). Napoleon is beginning to think of himself above all others rather than as still an equal. At one point in the book, Napoleon sell the loyal and hardworking boxer to a factory for alcohol. This goes to prove that he only cared about what he wanted, not his hard working citizen. By many events and actions done by Napoleon, it is easy to see how Napoleon represents Joseph Stalin. “Stalin was the undisputed dictator of USSR.” As Stalin did, Napoleon disposes of anything that comes to threat...
Words: 1184 - Pages: 5
...alternative to Napoleon? George Orwell’s Animal Farm is a satiric allegory of the Russian Revolution, and shows how power tends to corrupt the characters in possession of it. The two prominent pigs, Snowball and Napoleon, are shown to slowly accept the temptations of power and succumb to its effects. After Snowball’s expulsion, Napoleon takes control of the farm. But what if Snowball became the unquestionable leader and Napoleon was written off the board. Would Snowball become a better leader and conduct activities on the farm to ensure everyone was equal? It is clear the Snowball would not pose as morally legitimate political alternative as there are many instances that he was complicit with the pigs’ corrupted behaviour. To what extent is the weakness and foolishness responsible for the abuses of power committed by Napoleon and his followers? George Orwell’s Animal Farm is a satiric allegory of the Russian Revolution, and extensively shows the naivety of a simple working class and manipulated by propaganda. The foolishness of the simple animals demonstrates how they are unable to question the corrupt rule of the pigs and thus condemns them to suffer the full extent of the pigs’ oppression. It creates a loophole for Napoleon and his followers to abuse their power and manipulate it to suit their own benefits After Napoleon gains unquestionable control of the farm, he starts to abuse his power and change the Seven Commandments to shadow his corrupt behaviour. George...
Words: 353 - Pages: 2
...manipulate the other animals. The pigs defy their code to gain authority eventually leading to the corruption of the farm by their own greedy desires. George Orwell reveals the destruction that greed causes through the main antagonist, Napoleon, the affects of communism and his own life experiences. This ultimately leads the animals and Orwell into a world they do not recognize. Greed can be seen as a silent force that has the ability to conquer one’s life, where their selfish attitude allows his or her’s infatuation of power to consume them. Napoleon’s desire to become the only leader devours him as he becomes deceitful to animals except to the pigs. The animals on the farm are captivated by this new forming idea that they can become their own individuals by overthrowing the owner, Mr. Jones. This results in the animal to rejoice as they believe that they are able to control themselves and not be controlled, “And so, almost before they knew what was happening, the rebellion had been successfully carried through; Jones was expelled and the Manor Farm was theirs. For the first few minutes, the animals could hardly believe their good fortune” (Orwell 12). Napoleon secretly gains power from this rebellion as he and Snowball are the leaders of the newly named...
Words: 2077 - Pages: 9
...Power can change one's decisions and actions. This can be seen throughout history, such as the Russian revolution. John Acton Once said “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely”. Someone may start Leading with good intentions, but power corrupts them. In The novel Animal Farm, George Orwell shows how power can affect people's actions and priorities. In The Novel, Animal Farm, Orwell is saying that power corrupts.In the beginning of the novel Animal Farm, Napoleon is just like the other animals. All the animals felt they were being mistreated and decided to rebel against Jones, the original owner of Manor Farm or, Animal Farm later on. Then, when snowball is a leader, Napoleon decides that he wants to be in power instead...
Words: 375 - Pages: 2
...Power Hungry Leaders Create Corrupt Societies Corrupt leaders use their advantages and power against the weak. They use higher intelligence to manipulate and control those who are too ignorant to see through the lies. These leaders rise to and retain power by twisting the truth in their favor. This is what the character Napoleon does in Animal Farm, by George Orwell. Corruption of power leads to the exploitation of the weak through fear and manipulation. Snowball was a perfect leader, with excellent ideals and did everything for others. Napoleon, on the other hand, was a diabolical leader who sought power. To do this, Napoleon directs his ‘right hand man,’ Squealer, to spread rumors and lies to make Napoleon seem perfect. After Napoleon took charge, Squealer said, “I trust that every animal here appreciates the sacrifice that Comrade Napoleon has made in taking this extra labour upon himself” (50). Napoleon...
Words: 816 - Pages: 4
...Corruption of Pigs, Leaders and Modern Day Life Corruption is a provoking issue for many societies around the world, impacting multiple generations and at various degrees. Corruption is defined by Merriam Webster Dictionary as, ‘dishonest or illegal behavior especially by powerful people’. It is displayed by Hitler in the Holocaust, George Orwell’s book Animal Farm, and even in our modern day. George Orwell conveys a powerful message that applies to all three situations, supporting Orwell’s compelling message. Orwell’s political message about corruption of the government and leaders abuse of power is depicted in the way Hitler led Germany, the current U.S. government and George Orwell’s portrayal of the Russian Revolution in Animal Farm. There are many examples of people taking advantage of power in our country today. In a New York Times Article titled “ "Officials Push to Bolster Law on Wiretapping", author Charlie Savage informs readers of the government’s new push for an increase in surveillance. Recently, phone companies and networks have updated their software, causing it to be additionally difficult for the government to spy on them and take the customers personal information(Savage 1). As the U.S. government continues to wiretap and collect information from large phone carriers such as AT&T and Verizon(Savage 1), it will become an extreme and impactful invasion of privacy. This push will extend the laws to companies like Gmail, Facebook and Skype(Savage 2). Savage...
Words: 2379 - Pages: 10
...Orwell portrays how "Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely" In the story Old Major, who is a respected animal on the farm, had given a speech to stir the animals emotion into rebellion. He used his power of respect and trust to persuade the others to pursue the vision in his dream. Old Major had all the power. But, history has proven that dictatorship does not work, due to the fact that, power leads to corruption in a communism style government. The power Old Major held led his friends into taking action in what he desired to do, which led to a rebellion and future tragedies. Power corrupted society and absolute power that is eventually obtained becomes corrupt within. From the death of Old Major, Snowball, Napoleon, and Squealer replaced him. At first things started off pretty well; the harvest was very good the first year and the reading and writing system had helped some, but had limited success on others. In time, the leaders of Animal Farm started to have mixed feelings. Snowball and Napoleon were in constant disagreement. An important meeting that was held ended with an astonishing outcome. One decision that was made was concerning the windmill project and the most important decision made was who would be the head animal. But, Napoleon sent his dogs after Snowball and they killed him. Since Snowball had died, Napoleon took over "The Animal Farm" which led to food shortage, hard labour, and deaths. Napoleon used all his knowledge and education...
Words: 463 - Pages: 2
...closure of the book, the animals are, again, being forced into working by a demanding leader who cares nothing for the animals. All of their effort for gaining independence was brought back to where the animals first started. This relates to situational irony because every animal worked for freedom, but in the end found themselves trapped again. Another way irony can be shown is through dramatic irony. While Boxer, the horse, is being taken to the “hospital”, the other animals realize the trailer says “Horse Slaughterer and Glue Boiler” (123). They all ran after Boxer, but sadly noticing it was too late to save him. This expresses dramatic irony because only Napoleon and Squealer knew where Boxer was actually going and none of the other characters...
Words: 1035 - Pages: 5
...Leadership Gone Astray Lord Acton quotes,“Power corrupts and absolute power absolutely.” In George Orwell’s, Animal Farm Joseph Stalin; portrayed by Napoleon, clearly shows evident signs of corruption that had taken place during the Russian revolution. This winding allegory shed depth towards the type of civilization that evolved during the revolution. Napoleon; a ruthless leader whose main goal evolved into a yearning for power, turned a civilization that had already been distraught, dazed, and confused into something much worse. Hence, depicting to readers how leadership can become corrupt as well as cheating citizens out of a fair and just government. The previously corrupted leadership shadowed the citizens viewpoints from what the new leadership was becoming. Within the first days that the pigs took leadership the animals “noticed that the milk had disappeared” (26). At that moment, the first wave of suspicion about the pigs...
Words: 722 - Pages: 3
... And how it made you understand a theme in the text. Napoleon is a very manipulative, very clever and sly animal character. He changes a lot in terms of his traits and interaction with others throughout the novel. His appearance reflects the changes occurring in his behavior. When Napoleon becomes the sole leader of Animal Farm, he seizes power and becomes more and more like a human. He uses several methods to take and maintain control of the farm. His primary methods are by using fear, by exploiting the animal and by bending the rules. Napoleon uses his intellect to good effect as far as self-interest is concerned. Napoleon instills fear as a way of giving the animal no chance to argue about what he says. This allows him to run the farm in his own manner and gives him a more comfortable life than the other animals. Early on in Animal Farm, Napoleon takes Jessie and Bluebells nine newborn puppies. These puppies become his little army of fear. He uses them to gain power by eliminating his enemies, Snowball "They dashed straight for Snowball...he slipped through a hole in the hedge and was seen no more." Also, Napoleon used the dogs in the public forum he created by setting an example of what would happen to those animals who chose to disobey him. The Russian Revolution is an example that absolute power often corrupts society. In the novel Animal Farm, author George Orwell shows through Boxer’s faithfulness to Napoleon that absolute power can control one’s mind. This showed...
Words: 449 - Pages: 2
...“Several of them would have protested if they could have found the right arguments.” This quote, taken from Animal Farm, an allegory written by George Orwell, shows that if people aren’t educated then they can’t fight back against their government. This is the case in Animal Farm, where a pig by the name of Napoleon, took rule of Animal Farm, after overthrowing the previous leader, a human, and eliminating his only other competition, a pig called Snowball. The pigs in Animal Farm were the only animals that could learn english so the rest of the farm animals could not question the corrupt government that the pigs set up. Looking at this structure of the story and many other aspects of writing, I believe that the purpose of George Orwell's writing...
Words: 652 - Pages: 3
...irony is, the meaning of a situation is understood by the audience or reader but not by a character in the story. One example of this is that Boxer is unaware of Napoleon's wrongdoings because of his strong belief that Napoleon is always right. For example, as Boxer grows old and weakens, Napoleon sees no use for him anymore so he ships him off to the horse butcher, even then Boxer doesn't understand what is happening to him before it is to late to stop it.” example of dramatic irony is when Jessie the farm dog knows about Napoleon's plans to take all power. She knows about his plans and is powerless to stop him from carrying them out. The final example of dramatic irony is Snowballs unawareness of the extent Napoleon will go to to gain all power and be the singular leader. Napoleon eventually drove snowball out of animal farm and made any connection or following of snowball punishable, by death. (pg.91) “ Our Leader Comrade Napoleon… has stated categorically… that Snowball was Jones’s agent from the very beginning…” The main effect of dramatic irony in Animal Farm is adding suspense to the story. The reader wonders if the animals will figure out Napoleon's plans. This relates to the theme because the animals are clueless to how much Napoleon is becoming corrupt. Good job discussing the themes....
Words: 1074 - Pages: 5
...“Absolute power… corrupts absolutely” How is this explored in Animal farm and film Antz To a large extent absolute power… corrupts absolutely. Total control perverts governments unequivocally, as the consequences of power versus powerlessness are explored. Composers have used varied literary and film techniques to highlight totalitarianism, the abuse of power and propaganda. Animal Farm and Antz firmly demonstrate this. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. In Animal Farm satire is used to demonstrate the impacts of totalitarianism. The faults of the government system dictating Manor Farm are exposed as being a totalitarian dictatorship; echoing the effects of the 1917 Russian Revolution. Napoleon as well as Snowball compose “The Seven Commandments” for all animals to follow. However power gets to Napoleon and he chases away Snowball to have complete control. His psyche becomes corrupted with the leadership and simultaneously all the pigs, go against “The Seven Commandments”. Biblical allusions of the Commandments are used to emphasise the pig’s outrageous behavior where satire is used to reflect how they obtain absolute power and in becoming corrupted. This pretty much echoes the human condition! Moreover, total control perverts governments unequivocally. This is illustrated via the use of allegory portraying the abuse of power. Animal Farm is an allegory depicting the Russian Revolution in a more childish yet ominous manner. Power was abused during the Russian Revolution...
Words: 730 - Pages: 3
...actions and decisions throughout the book Animal Farm. Mr. Jones was the owner of Manor Farm; he is cruel to his animals by under feeding them and over working them. During Mr. Jones's rein over Animal Farm the animals felt that they must do something so that they can be free of the Tyrant Mr. Jones. The animals of Animal Farm are symbolically representing the lower class Russian people during the reign of Czar Nicholas II. Mr. Jones was corrupt with power, because he had control over all of the animals. He controlled how much food they received and how much and how hard they were forced to work. The way Mr. Jones controls the animals on the farm parallels how Czar Nicholas II controlled the Russian people. There was an old pig called Old Major, who symbolizes Karl Marx, in that, Old Major convinced all of the animals to rebel. Before the rebellion took place Old Major died, the same as Karl Marx. In the Battle of Cowshed which parallels the Russian revolution, one pig named Snowball stood out among all the others. Snowball was a natural leader, well educated, a good speaker and a firm believer in animalism (communism/socialism). Snowball has all of the same traits as Leon Trotsky. In the battle, Snowball was the pig who took charge and organized a defense. Because of Snowball the animals ultimately won the battle against the men. After the battle, the animals celebrated their...
Words: 675 - Pages: 3
