An Utopian Society in the Novel Animal Farm

Having power is something wanted by all, but it’s sometimes it’s the wrong people who obtain it. All around the world, signs are proving this to be true, even in literature. Classic novels which tend to address universal concerns such as too much power can change the way people view life. A classic novel such as Animal Farm which was written by George Orwell can portray how having too much power will eventually lead to the abuse of that power through the use of metaphors.

William Gaddis once said ” Power doesn’t corrupt people. People corrupt power. No leader ever has bad intentions when they start to rule, but in the wrong hands, power is hard to handle. Napoleon is portrayed to be a selfish and power-hungry pig, who cares little for others. As time passes in the novel his thirst for power grows. Napoleon and the other pigs start to show signs of their selfishness in the beginning chapters after taking control of the far from Mr. Jones. Everything started well but the pigs start to claim certain privileges for themselves.

Many Animal Farm argumentative essay Napoleon is described as a “fierce-looking” boar “with a reputation for getting his own way, he eventually becomes the only leader of Animal Farm when he uses the dogs to drive snowball away. When Napoleon came into power, corruption followed. Napoleon had a longing desire to always be in control and maintain authority over all the animals. To keep his influence and rule in the farm Napoleon used force he also instilled fear into the hearts of the animals. With squealer’s unique talent of being able to communicate well with others, Napoleon’s reign is secure. The spread of propaganda throughout the farm is what shows how the farm has accepted Napoleon’s rule over all the animals. The whole farm takes a toll because of the abuse of power in the novel, everything changes for the worse. Napoleon’s reign is harsher than Jones’, the animals have to work harder than ever with lower rations, while Napoleon sits around doing nothing and eating more than ever. Napoleon soon starts to think that he is above everyone else living on the farm and starts to disobey the rules of animalism.

The pigs power keeps increasing ,and their lives become easier, while the other animals of the farm work hard everyday and suffer more and more as time goes on. With the power they have they start to give themselves certain privileges, such as sleeping in the beds of the old farmhouse. Napoleon even had his subordinates change the seven commandments as an excuse to justify their hectic lifestyles. This is one of the many ways the abuse their power is shown in the novel. Too much power brings about selfish desires in a person, Napoleon does not know the difference between his needs and his greed, thus giving more evidence as to why the breaks the rules of the land to make life easier. The overall outcome of the novel is greatly impacted by the abuse of the pig’s power. Napoleon’s rule had helped all the pigs live lavish lifestyles, while the common animals did all the work to better the farm. In the end, the pigs had turned into the ones they drove away. The similarities between the pigs and their former oppressors were undetectable, in the same room “twelve voices were shouting in anger, and they were all alike. No question, now, what had happened to the faces of the pigs. The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which. (Orwell)

The abuse of power by the pigs is so evident that they start to look and act like their former authoritarian leaders. They begin to walk, sleep, and drink just like humans, and with their metamorphosis into looking and acting the same as humans the animal farm’s fate was doomed. The novel itself was so very relevant to the society around it that eventually it was banned from Stalin’s government when it was translated into Russian. The book itself is an allegory to the Russian revolution, and it shows that there are people with power who will abuse it and and people with power who will ” give up power for security and structure(Johnson). The publishing of the book took more than a year, but it became a critical and popular triumph. Because of the message this novel sent out it was successful in every country that was not under soviet rule, and ” Orwell was freed from financial worries for the first time in his life (Johnson). Animal farm should be seen as a remarkable history lesson, which portrays the idealism of a utopian society which eventually becomes a dystopia. The novel ” Animal Farm is the story of the betrayal of ideals, of the way leaders in general and Stalin, in particular, can hijack a longing for a better world and turn it into a different tool of oppression(Allberry).

Just like the Napoleon stole the happiness away from the animals in the farm, Stalin took the bright future away from the people of Russia and made his life easier to live. Because of all the power he had the was to do anything he wanted, eventually turning the dream of a Utopian society into a dystopia. The amount of power we have defines us all, how we use it is how we’ll be seen as history.As Orwell grew up he was able to experience what life was like in the lower working class. His experience in the police helped him see how easily the lower class was suppressed in a communist government. Being able to connect with the working class helped him easily portray how they were affected in the government. The animals’ point of view in the novel was easily shown because of first hand accounts from Orwell and “from his participation fighting against the communists, he learned how easily totalitarian propaganda could control the opinions of democratic people(Cheong). Because of his experiences the novel was more diverse. His opinion of communism were greatly influenced about the stuff he had witnessed and went through as a young man.

Orwell’s works from 1936 to 1946 were written ” directly or indirectly against Totalitarianism and for Democratic Socialism(Williams). Orwell attacks Stalin’s rule in Russia with his book Animal Farm. He is able to show how all societies with leaders that have good intentions that they are at risk from evils within their own nation. With his first hand accounts of oppressive rule, he was able to portray “the major theme of ‘Animal Farm’ which is the betrayal of the Russian Revolution and the way that good will can fall prey to ambition, selfishness and hypocrisy(Williams). Ben Parker once said ” with great power comes great responsibility. Leave power into the wrong hands and they will corrupt it, Animal Farm was able to portray the fact that when power falls into the wrong hands it will ultimately be abused. The idea of a Utopian society will always be here, but there is doubt that the dream will ever be a reality because of how much power corrupts.

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