Animal Farm Essay (if Rachael needs it) :3
Blog Entry: Animal Farm Essay (if Rachael needs it) :3
Blog Entry: Animal Farm Essay (if Rachael needs it) :3
“Absolute power corrupts absolutely” says Lord Acton. Yes, power is important, but such importance should not fall into the wrong hands. If too much power is brought in a person’s hands, the common use of power eventually goes over the use of common sense… it corrupted Napoleon, Stalin, and other people that will be explained in this essay. George Orwell’s Animal Farm expresses absolute power in his fictional way. Overall, the corruptive influence of power can be traced in both fictional works and real-life situations.
The story, Animal Farm, takes place on a farm in England. It all starts when the animals’ leader, Old Major, has a dream, so he calls a meeting for all the animals in the barn so he can tell them. He describes the animals’ lives as slavery and misery because of man, who was Mr. Jones, who owns the farm. He foresees the future and encourages the animals to try their best to get rid of man. He teaches them the song “Beasts of England” until they know it by heart, leading up to the ending of the meeting. The death of Old Major causes a Rebellion, with the animals sending out the Joneses and taking out the farm. After they get rid of all his stuff, they used the barn as a museum. The pigs were eventually able to teach themselves to read and write, as they wrote their Seven Commandments on the wall. The Animal Farm becomes an organization, as two pigs, Snowball and Napoleon, constantly argue over who’s more superior, the Seven Commandments is shortened for the stupider animals, and Napoleon steals the two mothers’ puppies. Snowball and Napoleon send pigeons to other farms to mingle with neighboring farms, including Mr. Pilkington and Mr. Frederick, who were both frightened by Animal Farm’s rebellion. The Battle of the Cowshed occurs when the Joneses return to reclaim their farm, but the animals fight back and win the battle, taking Jones’s gun as a piece of artillery. Snowball proposes a windmill to run the technology planned for the farm, but Napoleon destroys his plans, and wants the animals to follow his plans by force, or else they will get attacked. All the animals work their hardest on the windmill, and it is built. It is then destroyed by the wind, and Napoleon blames Snowball, as well as banishes him. The second windmill is finally built and names it after himself, then sells his lumber to Frederick. A trick Frederick sets up leads to the Battle of the windmill being blown up, Boxer’s (the strong horse) lung gets weaker and sick, and he eventually gets killed and sold with the pigs using the money for alcohol. After many years, the animals still haven’t lost hope, and the pigs can finally walk on hind feet. Napoleon makes a deal with Fredrickson and makes a toast to the original Manor Farm.
Napoleon is a good example of the quote “absolute power corrupts absolutely.” He wanted to be responsible like Old Major and allow equality to all the animals, but when he cheated his way to power (which was already a sign of irresponsibility), he began abusing his power over the animals, like putting his own king over the others (despite what he said about equality) and convincing the brainwashed animals to be proud of something they shouldn’t be. He blames his competitor (Snowball) for something he didn’t do, making all the animals hate who would have been a better leader. It all gets to the point of him naming something after himself, yet he barely took part in it, which was the windmill.
Karl Marx writes “the Communist Manifesto”, calling for equal distribution of wealth (a classless society). Lenin, Trotsky, and Stalin decide to lead a Revolution against the Russian Tsar, Nicholas the Second. An army made up of serts storm the palace, then the Royal Family runs away. The Tsar’s White Army tries to take back the country from the Communists, but the red army wins. . Lenin becomes leader, but dies shortly after the end of the civil war. Stalin tries to kill Trotsky, who flees to Mexico. Stalin takes over as dictator, and kills up to twenty million in the Great Purge. Animal Farm is an allegory (symbolic story for the Russian Revolution). Napoleon is a symbol of Stalin, who wanted absolute power but was then corrupted by it. Old Major represents the “father of the revolution”, as the original, responsible leader who believed equality to all the animals. Mr. Jones, the farmer, symbolizes Czar Nicholas the second, a Russian Tsar who Stalin teamed up with Lenin and Trotsky to dominate, starting a revolution. This is similar to how Napoleon and the other animals and the humans symbolize the Russian civil war, with the red versus white army representing the Tsar versus Communists in the Russian Revolution. Major’s skull is kept in honor from the animals, like how Lenin’s body was kept for his honor after he died. The anticipation and construction for the windmill represents the plan to industrialization, which caused mass starvation, as in the book.
Stalin is also an example of the corruption of absolute power because at first he wanted to help the poor people, but when he rose to power he became greedy and ended up killing twenty million people in the process. Corruption ruined Stalin’s good intentions, as it did to Napoleon. He abuses his power as killing everyone who disliked him, similar to how Napoleon forced the animals to think he is superior over Snowball and he rose to power as he brainwashed the animals.
Recently, Quaranic teachers have been forcing boys to beg, which is another example of absolute power. One of the boys that was a victim, named Malick L., said “When I could not bring the quota, the marabout beat me. Even if I lacked five CFA, he beat me… he hit me over and over, generally on the back but at times he missed and hit my head.” Although Senegalese police are enforcing a low to prohibit anyone from forcing a child to beg, the teachers are an example of the abuse of power, as they do harm on minors which could have a major impact on them in the future.
Overall, what Lord Acton said was right, “Absolute power corrupts absolutely”, as it is expressed in different ways, fictional and real life. I agree with the quote, as a person can care more about power than the sake of others, causing selfishness and impact on others, as the novel and explained incidents proved.
Works Cited
Orwell, George. Animal Farm. New York: Penguin Group, 1946.
Lekfeldt, Thomas. “Protecting Children Being Forced to Beg.” www.hrw.org, hrw, 9 Dec. 2010 web 3 Dec 2012.
The story, Animal Farm, takes place on a farm in England. It all starts when the animals’ leader, Old Major, has a dream, so he calls a meeting for all the animals in the barn so he can tell them. He describes the animals’ lives as slavery and misery because of man, who was Mr. Jones, who owns the farm. He foresees the future and encourages the animals to try their best to get rid of man. He teaches them the song “Beasts of England” until they know it by heart, leading up to the ending of the meeting. The death of Old Major causes a Rebellion, with the animals sending out the Joneses and taking out the farm. After they get rid of all his stuff, they used the barn as a museum. The pigs were eventually able to teach themselves to read and write, as they wrote their Seven Commandments on the wall. The Animal Farm becomes an organization, as two pigs, Snowball and Napoleon, constantly argue over who’s more superior, the Seven Commandments is shortened for the stupider animals, and Napoleon steals the two mothers’ puppies. Snowball and Napoleon send pigeons to other farms to mingle with neighboring farms, including Mr. Pilkington and Mr. Frederick, who were both frightened by Animal Farm’s rebellion. The Battle of the Cowshed occurs when the Joneses return to reclaim their farm, but the animals fight back and win the battle, taking Jones’s gun as a piece of artillery. Snowball proposes a windmill to run the technology planned for the farm, but Napoleon destroys his plans, and wants the animals to follow his plans by force, or else they will get attacked. All the animals work their hardest on the windmill, and it is built. It is then destroyed by the wind, and Napoleon blames Snowball, as well as banishes him. The second windmill is finally built and names it after himself, then sells his lumber to Frederick. A trick Frederick sets up leads to the Battle of the windmill being blown up, Boxer’s (the strong horse) lung gets weaker and sick, and he eventually gets killed and sold with the pigs using the money for alcohol. After many years, the animals still haven’t lost hope, and the pigs can finally walk on hind feet. Napoleon makes a deal with Fredrickson and makes a toast to the original Manor Farm.
Napoleon is a good example of the quote “absolute power corrupts absolutely.” He wanted to be responsible like Old Major and allow equality to all the animals, but when he cheated his way to power (which was already a sign of irresponsibility), he began abusing his power over the animals, like putting his own king over the others (despite what he said about equality) and convincing the brainwashed animals to be proud of something they shouldn’t be. He blames his competitor (Snowball) for something he didn’t do, making all the animals hate who would have been a better leader. It all gets to the point of him naming something after himself, yet he barely took part in it, which was the windmill.
Karl Marx writes “the Communist Manifesto”, calling for equal distribution of wealth (a classless society). Lenin, Trotsky, and Stalin decide to lead a Revolution against the Russian Tsar, Nicholas the Second. An army made up of serts storm the palace, then the Royal Family runs away. The Tsar’s White Army tries to take back the country from the Communists, but the red army wins. . Lenin becomes leader, but dies shortly after the end of the civil war. Stalin tries to kill Trotsky, who flees to Mexico. Stalin takes over as dictator, and kills up to twenty million in the Great Purge. Animal Farm is an allegory (symbolic story for the Russian Revolution). Napoleon is a symbol of Stalin, who wanted absolute power but was then corrupted by it. Old Major represents the “father of the revolution”, as the original, responsible leader who believed equality to all the animals. Mr. Jones, the farmer, symbolizes Czar Nicholas the second, a Russian Tsar who Stalin teamed up with Lenin and Trotsky to dominate, starting a revolution. This is similar to how Napoleon and the other animals and the humans symbolize the Russian civil war, with the red versus white army representing the Tsar versus Communists in the Russian Revolution. Major’s skull is kept in honor from the animals, like how Lenin’s body was kept for his honor after he died. The anticipation and construction for the windmill represents the plan to industrialization, which caused mass starvation, as in the book.
Stalin is also an example of the corruption of absolute power because at first he wanted to help the poor people, but when he rose to power he became greedy and ended up killing twenty million people in the process. Corruption ruined Stalin’s good intentions, as it did to Napoleon. He abuses his power as killing everyone who disliked him, similar to how Napoleon forced the animals to think he is superior over Snowball and he rose to power as he brainwashed the animals.
Recently, Quaranic teachers have been forcing boys to beg, which is another example of absolute power. One of the boys that was a victim, named Malick L., said “When I could not bring the quota, the marabout beat me. Even if I lacked five CFA, he beat me… he hit me over and over, generally on the back but at times he missed and hit my head.” Although Senegalese police are enforcing a low to prohibit anyone from forcing a child to beg, the teachers are an example of the abuse of power, as they do harm on minors which could have a major impact on them in the future.
Overall, what Lord Acton said was right, “Absolute power corrupts absolutely”, as it is expressed in different ways, fictional and real life. I agree with the quote, as a person can care more about power than the sake of others, causing selfishness and impact on others, as the novel and explained incidents proved.
Works Cited
Orwell, George. Animal Farm. New York: Penguin Group, 1946.
Lekfeldt, Thomas. “Protecting Children Being Forced to Beg.” www.hrw.org, hrw, 9 Dec. 2010 web 3 Dec 2012.