Power in Animal Farm Essay

Power corrupts, but absolute power corrupts absolutely, and this is vividly proved in Orwell's novel. "Animal Farm" is a simple fable of grand symbolic value. The novel can be seen as an analysis of the foundations of the failure of communism, or as a simple fairy-tale; in any case, it tells an exquisite story that aims to prove that human nature and diversity avert people from being on equal grounds and happy, or at least equally happy.

"Animal Farm" tells the simply disastrous story of what happens when the exploited farm animals rebel, drive out Mr. Jones, the farmer, and endeavor to rule the farm themselves, on an equal base. What the animals seem to have expected was a utopian genre of communism, where each animal would work according to his ability, in respect of the needs of others. The venture failed, and in the end became a dictatorship of pigs, who were the brightest, and most at leisure of the animals.

Orwell's greatness lies in his presentation of the repulsion of totalitarian establishments, and his analysis of communism, through satire and simplistic story telling. The structure of the novel is well thought-out, and the careful reader may, for example, detect the causes of the flaws of communism even from the first chapter. This is construed from Orwell's description of the various animals as they enter the barn and take their seats to listen to the innovative preaching of Old Major, father of communism in Animal Farm. Each animal has a different attitude; the pigs, for example, "settled down in the straw immediately in front of the platform", which foreshadows their future role, while Clover, the warm and loving horse" made a sort of wall" with her leg to protect the ducklings who could not find a spot.

So, one would think that the revolution was doomed from the beginning, even though it began in idealistic hopefulness as expressed by the motto" no animal must ever tyrannize over his own kind. Weak or strong, clever or simple, we are all brothers. They Create the Seven Commandments that ensure equal opportunity and prosperity for all the animals. The pigs, however, being the natural leaders that they are, manage to revise the commandments, and through fear and propaganda establish the rule of pigs, under the power of Napoleon, the most revered and ominous pig.

"Animal Farm" effectively illustrates how the methods of propaganda and brainwashing works in totalitarian establishments, by demonstrating how the pigs could make the other animals believe virtually anything. Responsible for the propaganda was Squealer, the pig that was said to " turn black into white". Squealer manages to change the rule from "all animals are equal" to the corrupted " all animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others". He was able to convince the other animals that it was for their interest that the pigs ate a majority of the apples and the milk, that leadership was "heavy responsibility" and for that reason the animals should be grateful to Napoleon, and when all else failed he would resort to the threat of " Jones returning" to still the animals. In this simple and highly effective way, Orwell uses the confusion of thought power to the degree that one would seem better off believing that "Napoleon is always right".

Orwell's criticism of the role of the Religion is also very effective. In Animal Farm, Moses, a tame raven, who talks of Sugarcandy Mountain, a happy country in the sky where poor and deprived animals can rest from labor, represents the Religion. It is fascinating to observe that when Old Major was first advocating revolutionary communism, Moses was no where to be found in the barn, which satirizes the Religion being caught off guard by communism. It is also important to note that the pigs permitted and in some way encouraged Moses; it seemed fitting for the pigs to have the animals dream of a better existence after death so that they wouldn't try to have a better life while still alive.