Power Corrupts in Animal Farm Analysis

How does power corrupt people? In the book, “Animal Farm” by George Orwell, he talks about how power can overtake people’s lives. Power can either be a terrible or an amazing thing. The theme is that power can eventually take over life if you get too caught up in it. Leaders will do anything so that people will follow their beliefs and decisions which could be bad in many ways. Leaders can become too confident in themselves which could lead to them thinking only about themselves and not others. Sometimes leaders take their actions too far which can cause a fight against someone else. In other words, when power corrupts people, it can cause bad things to happen to them and to others.

Leaders will do anything so that people will follow their beliefs and decisions which could be bad in many ways. Power can corrupt people in any sort of way. Some people start off shy when becoming leader but then it could end in something like a dictatorship. This means that the leader will do anything to get people on their side, decisions could become out of hand too. ‘"Comrades," he said quietly, "do you know who is responsible for this? Do you know the enemy who has come in the night and overthrown our windmill? SNOWBALL!"’ (Orwell, page 21). This quote shows that Napoleon is trying to get every animal on his side. He will lie and do anything for that to happen. Napoleon is trying to get everyone against Snowball because he is very self-centered. He only wants everything for himself and is using the animals only for the number of votes to become the next leader at the farm. As a result, Napoleon would do anything in his power to get everyone to follow what he believes in.

Leaders can become too confident in themselves which could lead to them thinking only about themselves and not others. Leaders can get way too confident while being in charge. Yes, the leader will try and get others on their side but they are only thinking about what will happen to themselves in the future. “When they were all gathered together, Napoleon emerged from the farmhouse, wearing both his medals (for he had recently awarded himself "Animal Hero, First Class," and "Animal Hero, Second Class").” (Orwell, page 25). This quote means that Napoleon thinks he is the best. He is too confident in himself and sometimes forgets that there are other things happening in the world. Napoleon gave himself two medals and didn’t give anyone else a medal because he only thinks for himself and doesn’t think about how others feel about him giving them only to himself. Overall, Napoleon is too confident in himself and doesn’t think about the consequences about only thinking about him and not others.

Sometimes leaders take their actions too far which can cause a fight against someone else. People who have power can potentially start a fight if they take it too far. They can make terrible decisions and if other people are against their choices, then they could start a fight which will end in terrible things. “The one argued that if they could not defend themselves they were bound to be conquered, the other argued that if rebellions happened everywhere they would have no need to defend themselves.” (Orwell, page 16). This quote means that Napoleon and Snowball are in a disagreement about who has better decisions between each other. They both want to be the leader of who gets to choose all of the decisions. Napoleon and Snowball always disagree with each other, but this time, this fight led to Snowball leaving the farm. The two brothers always have different choices which will always lead to something bad. This power can corrupt so many people which can potentially cause a fight. For this reason, Napoleon and Snowball always fight about who will get to make all of the decisions like a leader, but that could end badly because power corrupts many people in this world.

The theme is that power can eventually take over life if you get too caught up in it. Leaders will do anything so that people will follow their beliefs and decisions which could be bad in many ways. Leaders can become too confident in themselves which could lead to them thinking only about themselves and not others. Sometimes leaders take their actions too far which can cause a fight against someone else. In conclusion, power can corrupt people in many different ways and it usually doesn’t turn out too good once power overtakes you as a person.