Examples Of Power Corrupts In Animal Farm

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The changes made by the animals, specifically the pigs, in the novel "Animal Farm" by George Orwell show that "power corrupts, but absolute power corrupts absolutely.". Right when the revolution started, the pigs started learning how to read and write. As soon as they learned these skills, they became the leaders of the revolution due to them being the "cleverest animals on the farm". Two pigs, in particular, named Napoleon and Snowball, started having debates on what they should do next. Napoleon, who previously took a couple pups from their mother, trained them to be his guard dogs, which caused fear in all those who went against him. He later wiped out the competition by driving Snowball off the farm with his guard dogs. This shows the sense …show more content…

All pigs had a sense of superiority due to their enhanced skills, and since no one else had those skills, they used them to their advantage and manipulated the other animals. Every time the pigs wanted to do something that went against the rules, they just changed it and then deceived them into thinking that it had always been like that. At the end of the novel, the pigs, who first stated that "Whoever goes upon two legs is an enemy," also known as humans, became friends with the pigs. They became hypocrites because they were given too much power. They were manipulating the animals in any way they wanted because the other animals didn't know any better. They broke every rule they made, including the rule that "Whatever goes on two legs is an enemy," by standing on their two hind legs and mimicking humans. Throughout the book, the pigs' entire plan was to become the dominant power on the farm. They went against everything they stood for solely due to the power they held. The quote "All animals are created equal, but some are more equal than others" shows the real intentions of the pigs. The horse, Clover, even stated at the end of the book that she couldn't tell the difference between pigs and

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