Power is authority and strength, which is any form of motive force or energy, ability to act, or control. When too much power is given, a dictatorship government can form, in which all decisions are made by one authority. In “Animal Farm”, George 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.
The Term Paper on Animal Farm Setting Animals Napoleon Snowball
... past the ‘ Skill of Major' reverently. On the third Sunday following Snowball's expulsion, the animals are astonished to hear Napoleon's announcement of his plan ... from the humans. Minor Theme Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely is another theme of Animal Farm. When the animals seize control of the farm, ...
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 to take over the farm. With all the pigs and dogs on his side Napoleon had absolute power over everyone.
Napoleon’s power had corrupted the whole idea of Animalism & The Seven Commandments, which the farm first started with. The power that the three pigs obtained had corrupted them and, then Napoleon received absolute power, which corrupted the society as a whole.
In conclusion, history has proven that power is the root of all evil in a communism style government or congregation. In “Animal Farm”, the animals tried to be equal, but in time, some animals had certain views and different opinions and some gradually became more powerful.
In “Animal Farm”, George Orwell has shown us that no matter how hard in society we try, equality will never truly be reached by mankind for the reason that, “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely!”
