Topic: Animal Farm shows readers that power always corrupts
The novel “Animal Farm” written by George Orwell is an allegory, which narrates the story of the power struggle between Trotsky and Stalin, which is represented by Snowball and Napoleon. Some points listed are some misuses in their power and how making them in charge of the farm made them turn their good intentions into bad ones. Also, how their lives ended up worse than what their lives were initially with Mr. Jones.
Napoleon was one of the leaders of the pigs and has “a reputation of for getting his own way” – page 35. Napoleon expels Snowball from the farm and takes over, this shows great manipulation of power as Napoleons good intentions were turned into bad ones. Napoleon rewards the pigs and especially to himself a lot of special privileges, misusing his power for greediness. Orwell reflects Napoleon’s appetite for power with a name that raises Napoleon Bonaparte, the very successful French leader who became Emperor and boldly attacked Russia before being defeated by Russia. But Napoleon the pig represents Stalin in his frequently changing policies and actions, his stealthy activities, his intentional betrayals and manipulation of the public, and his use of fear schemes and massacres.
Snowball was also one of the leaders of the pigs, however was betrayed by Napoleon later. He was a lot more diligent than Napoleon but he lacked more depth in character and personality. Snowball, who represents Leon Trotsky, is a gradual politician and targets to advance Animal Farm with a windmill and other technological improvements, but Napoleon expels him before he can do so. In his absence, Snowball comes to characterize a conceptual idea of evil. The animals blame hardships on him, including the windmill’s destruction, and amuse the idea that he is waiting on one of the close farms, scheming revenge. Napoleon uses the animals’ fear of Snowball to create new excitement and changes history to make it seem as though Snowball was always a spy and a traitor. Snowball’s name is symbolic in this way.
In conclusion, Animal Farm had a lot of power struggle with Napoleon changing history and Snowball being the blame for everything. In the end, Animal Farm was supposed to provide a better life for all of the animals in there but the power struggle the farm faced ended up making their lives worse. The leaders became worse than the initial ones because they could not control their power. It goes t show that the misuses of power can end up turning your good intentions into bad ones.
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