George Orwell’s Animal Farm is centered on the Russian Revolution and the novel shows how power corrupts, just as Stalin’s power corrupted following the Russian Revolution in 1917. Corruption can be defined as follows: Dishonest behaviour by politicians, who use their power for their own advantage. This becomes evident early on in the novel as napoleon the pig begins to realise that he can manipulate the Animals’ revolutionary spirit to get what he wants.
As the novel progresses the pigs begin to define themselves as a separate class deserving of special privileges and begin to do things behind the animals’ backs. A lear example of this is when the pigs provlaim the milk and aples for themselves at the aame time finding a way to justify it to the other animals. A quote to support this canbe found on page 51 and reads as follows:
“You do not imagine, I hope, that we pigs are doing this in a spritit of selfishness and privilege? Many of us actually dislike milk and apples. I dislike themm myself. Our sole object is taking these things to preserve our health… We pigs are brain workers.”
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The pigs, particularly Napolean, use fear tactics and confusing language to convince the other animals the privileges are in the common interest. This is evident when the seventh commandment which was supposed to be “all animals are equal” becomes accepted as “all animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others”. The pigs use their abilities of manipulation to control the other animals – this empowers them even more and fuels their corruption.
Napolean’s rise to power was gradual and developed through small actions in the beginning as briefly mentioned above. Power eventually began to re-shape Napolean’s conscience and his morals, which ultimately turned him into a monster that all the other animals feared. This change in napolean clearly demonstrates how power has a persuasive action in transforming one’s character, which is not only a theme evident in the Animal Farm, but is something which can be seen throughout history. Like Stalin in the Russian revolution, Napolean too takes no interest in debates and the ideas of others, instead, they both value power for their own sake.
The author illustrates how as the pigs gain more and more power, thyey become increasingly selfish and become exempt to the rules as they crave the power that has become so readily available to them – they strive for more power and higher status. In my opinion, Leadership is all about using the authority an dpower you have to influence others and get things done. Power can be used to benefit others and look out for the best interests of those that one rules or has power over, alternatively, power can be used for personal gain, which personal gain often comes at the expense of those who follow the nes with the power. The latter is the type of power that is seen in Animal Farm. It is problematic because eventually it leads to a downfall in the system that was created. The pigs enage in wrong behaviour simply because they become accustomed to the fact that they can get away with it which clouds their ability to see things from the prspective of others.
In Chapter 9 the farm is declared to be a Republic. This can be seen in the following quote from chapter 9:
“In April, Animal Farm was proclaimed a Republic, and it became necessary to elect a President. There was only one candidate, Napoleon, who was elected unanimously.”
From the above it is clear that the “Republic”held more features of a Dictatorship, with an election that had only one possible candidate, Napolean.
Upon doing some reading into power and corruption it has become apparent that many psychologists belive that being in a position of power amplifies/heightens ones existying morals. This is evident in Animal Farm. Looking at the seven Commandments that were in place on the farm and how the pigs changed them to suit what they wanted is a clear example of exisiting morals that became amplified or changed as a direct result of the power that the pigs were given. The pigs broke all seven commandments, which even went unnoticed sometimes, all because the power they had over the other animals became addictive to them and they contantly wanted to gain more of it.
Snowball is known to challenge Napolean in his rebellion. Napolean was always jealous of the other animals taking a liking to Snowballs ideas and so, he got rid of his only threat to his power through meand of corruption. This, to me, is the epitome of how power can corrupt a person morally. One of the commandments which read “No animal shall kill another animal” was changed to “no animal shall kill another animal without good cause”. The animlas eventually got used to living and surviving in a life of corruption that was created by Napolean.
The outcome of Napolean and the pigs’ greed, selfishness and longing for supremacy, was that they were all unable to escape the unfortanate collapse of the farm in the end , which was a direct result of the the corrupt, power-hungry government that the pigs had created. Napoleon’s greatest crime, however, is his complete transformation into farmer Jones — although Napoleon appears to be a much more harsh and stern ruler than farmer Jones was.
By the end of the novel, Napoleon is sleeping in farmer Jones’ bed, eating from his plate, drinking alcohol, wearing a derby hat, walking on two legs, trading with humans, and sharing a toast with Mr. Pilkington from a neighbouring farm. Napolean and the abovementioned acts reflects his unchallenged belief that he belongs in complete control of the farm. His restoration of the name Manor Farm shows just how much Napoleon has wholly disregarded the words of old Major and used his power to create an environement of complete corruption.
