Preview

Corruption Of Power In George Orwell's Animal Farm

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
503 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Corruption Of Power In George Orwell's Animal Farm
Corruption of Power

“Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely” (Lord Acton). The novel Animal Farm by George Orwell, demonstrates multiple ways how power was abused during the time of the Russian Revolution. This book displays many parallels with history, for example, how the animals on the farm represent the people of Russia. On the other hand, the pigs, that portray the leaders of Russia, who wanted nothing but authority which lead to corruption. In interest of gaining more privileges and power, Squealer persuades the animals to let the pigs sleep in the beds using guilt and fear tactics.

In order to gain more privileges and power on the farm, Squealer uses guilt when persuading the animals to let the pigs sleep in
…show more content…
Squealer says threatenly, “Surely none of you wishes to see Jones back?”(49). Just the short mention of Farmer Jones, scares the animals back to the realization that they never ever want to see Jones again. When they think of Jones, they think of the terribly cruel working/living conditions they experienced on the farm when he was in charge. For example, how Jones constantly forgot to clean their stalls and cheating the animals of all their hard work such as stealing the chickens’ eggs. The animals would do absolutely anything if they knew it meant never having to go back to this oppressive way of life.
In the novel Animal Farm by George Orwell, Squealer uses guilt and fear tactics in order to sway the animals opinions on the thought of the pigs sleeping in the beds. They did this by making the animals feel guilty for the pigs tiredness, and by making the animals fearful of the return of Jones along with cruel living conditions. This novel showed that even when a revolution is completed with the best intentions, it can dissolve into a government which is just as bad (or worse) than the one in which it

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Squealer has all the animals believing propaganda, and it brainwashed them, and made them feel as if nothing is wrong on the farm. The number one reason why Squealer is now also corrupt is because of Napoleon’s self corruption. Squealer lets Napoleon order him around because if he didn’t do so, he would probably be killed or harmed. Squealer lies for Napoleon, as he said, “Snowball has sold himself to Frederick of Pinchfield Farm…”, (Orwell 118). Squealer had no choice, but to let Napoleon control him, otherwise he would have been harmed or killed, and no good would have come out of it.…

    • 206 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Okay. In the book The Animal Farm Squealer, the pig, shows some extremely complex characteristics. His ability to persuade the animals to do or believe anything is incredible. Squealer got even the animals to believe that Napoleon was a good leader, which we all know is not true, for multiple years. I believe Orwell created Squealer to get us to understand how manipulated the people of Russia were, in these times. Orwell writes “…Squealer would talk with tears rolling down his cheeks… “, showing squealer has knowledge of literary devices and how to use them (Orwell100). Obviously Squealer is cunning and full of himself knowing that he is smarter than the other animals.…

    • 376 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Societal corruption can be shown through Animalistic Behaviors. Thesis: In the classic novel Animal Farm, the author, George Orwell shows how societal corruption can occur through propaganda, pride, and hypocrisy. The book opens with a rebellion being led by the cows on the farm as they fought for their rights and better treatment. This rebellion began with secret meetings being held with all the animals on the farm. Snowball, Napoleon, and Squealer, who led the secret meetings, used the term “Animalism” as a reference to the teachings of Old Major. Old Major was a pig who dreamt of a rebellion against the farmers, which would leave the animals in charge. These early meetings led by three pigs (Napoleon, Snowball, and Squealer), were the early stages of using propaganda to rally and organize the animals of the farm. The use of the term “Animalism” provided a simple and direct message to support the propaganda.…

    • 830 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    This Animal Farm and its authoritarian leader facilitate a severely unethical environment, wherein law changing for one's personal benefit and conversing with the enemy is perfectly fine. Animals are chosen to portray humans in this narrative because during the Russian Revolution "leaders" performed unspeakable acts; acts that people would and should never even think about doing to their fellow man. Napoleon and his minion pig, Squealer successfully replicate these acts by manipulating the lesser intelligent animals to believe in Napoleon's superiority. Secretly both the ladder and former have worked together to become an oppressive, sorry excuse for a government institution to extremely hardworking. Napoleon eventually strays very far from the base idea that all animals are equal which was established by the wisest of the pigs. The makeshift Stalin says, "...all animals are created equal, but some animals are more equal than others."(Orwell…

    • 674 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Here, Squealer convinces the animals that the pigs eating the apples and milk is justified by using the animals’ fear of Farmer Jones returning to his advantage. Already , the society is not ideal because the pigs are essentially deceiving the other animals so that they can have the most comfortable life possible. Later, the pigs go even farther by deliberately changing the written rules of the society. After hearing rumors about the pigs sleeping in beds and recalling that animals…

    • 544 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Ethos, Logos and Pathos

    • 1002 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Reverend Charles Caleb Colton, a writer of pros and poetry, once said, “Corruption is like a ball of snow, once its set a rolling, it must increase”. Once corruption has started, there is so many people involved, greed sets in, and it’s so big of a problem it is so hard to stop it or leave it alone, and once you’re in too deep it’s difficult to get out. Under those circumstances, a book called “Animal Farm”, by George Orwell, was an allegory. It was published on the heels of World War II in England in 1945 and in the United States in 1946. The book was written during the war as a cautionary short story in order to expose the dangers presented by Stalinism and Totalitarian Government. With this intention, the pigs on Animal Farm used the three modes of persuasion to manipulate the other animals on the farm.…

    • 1002 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the novel Animal Farm, George Orwell hints that power corrupts through the use of an allegorical storyline. By using historical criticism, one can analyze the causes and effects of ruthless ambition. During the WWII era, there was widespread corruption in many nations, as seen in Germany with Hitler and Russia with Stalin. This time period of chaos exposed the lack of compassion among humans. Similar to this era, there were cultural and political struggles among the humans and animals in the farm as well. Ironically, in the animal’s struggle to free themselves of human dictatorship they end up oppressing their own kind.…

    • 1399 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    ‘Animal Farm’, by George Orwell, is a novel that shows how easily leaders can be corrupted and how it can attract differently to the characters in the novel. Even though that power can be easily corrupted in the hands of a tyrant, power is both morally good and bad. Old Major, before his death holds his power for the good of his fellow comrades. After the death of the Major, the characters; Napoleon and Squealer abuse their use of power for bad. As there use of power is unrestricted the holders of power are liable to be corrupted causing there fellow comrades to suffer from their actions and consequences.…

    • 637 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Satire In Animal Farm

    • 707 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Because of his cleverness and superior vocabulary, Squealer attracts many farm animals, who begin to trust him and allow him to brainwash them without questioning. For instance, Squealer convinces the farm animals that apples and milk should be only consumed by the pigs because the regular animals are replaceable. On the contrary, the pigs, who are the "brain workers" are the foundation of the well-being of all animals on the farm, and without the pigs, Mr. Jones, the former owner of the farm, would come back. This simple act instills low self-esteem in the animals who do not understand their power on the farm. Since the uneducated animals forgot their lifestyle when Mr. Jones owned them, Squealer reads false statistics with incorrect information to make the animals believe that they have larger rations and an improved lifestyle. Exploiting the trust the animals have given him, Squealer modifies the original seven commandments to benefit the pigs, but when questioned, claims the memories of the animals were at fault. As a leader, he alters history for Napolean's benefit. In the Battle of the Cowshed, a battle in which Mr. Jones tried to regain control of the farm again, Squealer changes the story by stating Snowball, or Trotsky, allied with Mr. Jones, and Napolean fought the humans. However, this…

    • 707 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The pigs, throughout Animal Farm, would break farm rules to establish themselves in a place of superiority. Then, to keep the animals from questioning the pigs’ rise in power, the pigs would use propaganda to justify their unjust actions. For example, the pigs used faulty-cause-and-effect reasoning to justify receiving better food. Early in the novella, the animals discovered the pigs were the only ones to receive milk and apples. This discovery brought dismay to the other animals, until Squealer was quick to say, “milk and apples (…proved by Science…) contain substances… necessary to the well-being of a pig [and]… the whole management … of this farm depend on [the pigs, so]… we [the pigs] drink that milk and eat those apples” (36). By saying that milk and apples were essentially brain-food for the pigs, Squealer made it seem the pigs needed these foods. Yet, all he was doing was using faulty-cause-and-effect reasoning. Squealer had no actual proof the pigs needed milk and apples, however propaganda allowed Squealer to convince the other animals that superiority in the pigs’ diet over the other animals’ individual diets was necessary. The pigs also used propaganda to justify Napoleon, the leader of all the pigs, in becoming the commander of the farm. At the beginning of the novella, the pigs stated “all animals are equal” (25). However, Napoleon decided he wanted…

    • 854 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The novel Animal Farm, by George Orwell, is an allegory portraying the dangers of a totalitarian government. It seeks to show how a society where all live completely equal has not been, and cannot be achieved. Orwell, through the use of the character Squealer, shows how propaganda can affect members of a communist society in a negative way. By drawing parallels to events in communist Russia, Orwell's Animal Farm illustrates how propaganda was used to control the Soviet people by deceiving them, threatening them and keeping them ignorant in an attempt to maintain order. The story uses simple language to explain and expose the corruption of communist Russia.<br><br>Throughout the story, Orwell uses Squealer to illustrate how propaganda persuaded and victimized Russian citizens. Squealer is a sly, crafty pig who is not only intelligent, but a manipulative speaker as well. His cunning is key to the deception of the other animals. In chapter three, Squealer deceives the animals of the farm for the first time. The animals find out that the milk and apples are given solely to the pigs, and Squealer is sent to explain the uneven distribution of farm resources. "'Comrades' he cried. 'You do not imagine, I hope, that we pigs are doing this in a spirit of selfishness and privilege?'" (Orwell 42) He goes on to explain, " 'Milk and apples (this has been proved by science, comrades) contain substances absolutely necessary to the well-being of a pig. We pigs are brainworkers (42). Here, Squealer tries to convince the animals that it's for health reasons that they take the apples and milk, but he tries to persuade them in other ways as well. Squealer continues, " 'The whole management and organization of this farm depend on us.... It is for your sake that we drink that milk and eat those apples'"(42). Finally, he convinces them with fear. " 'Do you know what would happen if we pigs failed in our duty? Jones would come back! Yes, Jones would come back!'" (42) Here, Squealer…

    • 1174 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “You do not imagine, I hope, that we pigs are doing this in the spirit of selfishness and privilege?..It is for your sake that we drink milk and those apples...Do you know what would happen if we pigs failed in our duty? Mr. Jones would come back.” (Orwell 26). Squealer, under the rule of the pigs, is not only convincing the animals to let them have the milk and apples by misleading them to believe they are the only ones who need the milk and apples. But also threatening the animals of their previous problem, their abusive owner from before, Mr. Jones. This pig may be like some humans, as he would deceive someone into believing they are helping, but the…

    • 803 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “Animal Farm”, by George Orwell, is an allegorical novella based on the Russian Revolution. It is a story where animals on the farm begin a revolution in order to be treated equally. They exile the farmer to be free of his control so that the working class animals could benefit from their labour. However, the pigs took over the farm and, before too long, the farm returned to its original form, controlled by a “human-like” dictator. “Animal Farm” foregrounds many different themes associated with the theme of corruption such as inequality, betrayal and greed. These themes are all related to society and Orwell has expressed these themes by the use of the characters and events in the novel.…

    • 860 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    ‘Animal Farm’ by George Orwell is a very interesting allegory about the Russian revolution which took place in 1917. In the beginning of the novel, the animals are ruled by their farmer Mr. Jones, a tyrant who neglected and overworked them. After the animal’s successful rebellion, their thoughts become so clouded with fantasies and dreams, and they are manipulated by the pigs to such an extent that they forget about the days when they were ruled by Mr. Jones, and they don’t see the reality of what is happening to their “equal society”. The reality was that the pigs “with their superior knowledge” took advantage of the other animals, and instead of establishing an egalitarian society, they replaced the tyranny of man with an even worse form of oppression and exploitation. Orwell clearly shows that: “power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely”.…

    • 2515 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    The story starts with the discontented animals, or working class, overthrowing the owner, or monarch. The smartest of the working class, the pigs, establish themselves as the fair rulers. The two smartest pigs, Snowball and Napoleon (or Leon Trotsky and Joseph Stalin) start quarrelling. While Snowball seems to have the animal's best interests at heart, Napoleon and his power-hungry agenda uses his dogs, or police force, to drive Snowball out. Squealer the pig represents propaganda used to convince the ignorant working class that they have it better than most countries, or farms, do. Slowly, the concept of Animalism that had once stood for freedom and equality is molded into what is best for the pigs, but not the animals. As the story goes on, “animals,” who claim to be acting under Snowball, are murdered by the “dogs” and the “pigs” become more and more like the humans, or tyrants, that the animals had tried so hard to defeat. While the animal story is not true, the metaphor weaved into it is correct about what happened to Russia during and after the Bolshevik…

    • 1265 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays