ANIMAL FARM ESSAY
By: Sarah Carlton

Animal Farm written by George Orwell described the Russian Revolution in a different form by replacing the characters with animals, it gave the readers a warning of power corruption, equality and ignorance. It seems that whenever a leader mistreats his people, a rebellion could happen at any moment. Rebellion can be a positive thing, but it also shows that a community is unstable and the power of control could easily fall into the wrong hands. Equality has been mentioned several times in the novel, but the effects slowly became poorer throughout the chapters until it meant nothing but just a word to the readers. The animals were made fun of because of their stupidity and their ignorance, their lack of thinking ruined many of the animals' lives and the control of their own freedom. George Orwell wrote Animal Farm not only gave the readers a warning, but have also used the Russian Revolution as a perfect example to show the stupidity of our society in the nineteenth century.

First of all, power affects the animals, some significant events in the novel, and also the farm itself. The pigs used fear to control the animals and to strengthen their own power at the same time. An example would be when they used the dogs to threaten the other animals. "Squealer spoke so persuasively, and the three dogs who happened to be with him growled so threateningly, that they accepted his explanation without further questions." (p.g 39) Another significant event is when Napoleon chases Snowball away; he only wants to eliminate Snowball so he can have all the power with no one willing to challenge his authority. Napoleon has also changed the commandments and rules in order to benefit himself. For instance, one the time when Napoleon used to benefit himself was that "The milk and the windfall apples should be reserved for the pigs alone." (p.g 22) However, not every animal did what they were told to do. The hens for example, went against Napoleon's wish, but their punishment was by death. "Led by three young Black Minorca pullets, the hens made a determined effort to thwart Napoleon's wishes..... Napoleon acted swiftly and ruthlessly. He ordered the hens' rations to be stopped, and decreed that any animal giving so much as a grain of corn to a hen should be punished by death."(p.g 51) Apart from that, the quote "Absolute power corrupts absolutely," is exactly what happened to Animal Farm. At the start the animals were equal and free, but as Napoleon gained more and more power, the farm also began to collapse. Napoleon started as a pig that wanted to make the farm better for the animals, but the lust for power eventually changed him to a power hungry dictator. Above all, power can change anyone who is willing to control it, even the good will eventually turn to bad.

Secondly, equality was what all the other animals been fighting for since the beginning of the book, but as they kept on making the wrong decisions, equal rights started to fade away till there was no such thing as equality. At the beginning, they used to have rules and the Seven Commandments so all animals could treat each other equally. However, it was later replaced with one simple statement: "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others." This statement showed the true intentions of the pigs, which was using other animals' prosperity to benefit their own. For example, when Napoleon became the leader, he started changing and breaking the rules by killing other animals and treating them like slaves, when it was clearly mentioned in Chapter one by Old Major that "Weak or strong, clever or simple, we are all brothers. No animal must ever kill any other animal. All animals are equal." (p.g 6) The animals has also been classified because of its intelligence, and the pigs have made themselves cleared several times throughout the book that they are smarter than everyone else, therefore more important than