Theme Of Power In Animal Farm

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Societal Reactions to Control and Power in Animal Farm
In society, there are many instances where one person or a group of people try to take control of a country or civilization. As represented in Animal Farm, by George Orwell, different classes of people react differently to the idea of control and power. General working class people, represented by the horses in Animal Farm are used to working under a ruler. However, the originallly lower class, represented by the pigs, are perhaps treated the worst in a society. A group that can be very effectively controlled are the children, or younger generations, who don’t know any better. All of these different groups are very heavily influenced by their past and/or present roles in the society, which …show more content…
The pigs represent the people who are originally at the bottom of the heap. They are abused the most by the higher-ups and are always looking for some way to grasp power. Tthe reason they want power is because they have been so badly mistreated that they want to ensure that they are never treated that way again. The pigs in Animal Farm are a prime example of this mistreatment. They are treated as little more than pests by the humans. Old Major states in his legendary speech, “You young porkers who are sitting in front of me, every one of you will scream your lives out at the block within a year” (Orwell 9). The pigs are so frightened of this fate that taking power becomes something that satisfies them. Napoleon especially has a “reputation for getting his own way” (Orwell 16) and uses this power to create a world where he is equal to the humans and they cannot touch him. This also makes their “empire” a bit weak because “the pigs are ultimately that most absurd of all the farm animals, for they are attempting to assume a human identity which cannot belong to them” (Letemendia par.5). They adopt human characteristics so that they can easily control the animals that were once their brothers-in-arms. They resented Jones’ power (Old Major, who was a pig, made the primary revolutionary speech) and want to know what it feels like to be a human and inflict pain on others. There are people like this …show more content…
The gullible working class- the horses and sheep- have always been under someone’s thumb and has learned to give away under control and not question. Also, there are always people who have seen a lot of pain and take their revenge on the world by forcefully taking power and using it to hurt others, these are the pigs in Animal Farm. Then there are the children who do not know any better and have no experience. They accept bad principles and potentially pass the on to future generations. These are the dogs who follow Napoleon’s every command. All these different reactions to control and power can tarnish the view of an equal society. As in Animal Farm we see that “Just because all have been subjected to human rule, this does not mean that they will act as a united body once they take over the farm” (Letemendia par.3). Even in societies today, the sharing of control and power is a big issue and can lead to great discord between great nations and
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