Question

Select one of the four themes you did not write an essay about in the previous lesson(I chose leadership and corruption in the previous lesson). Write an essay of at least 200 words that explains how this theme is developed through the events and character interactions in Animal Farm. Use details from the story to support your answer.

Answer 1

Explanation:

One of the four major themes in Animal Farm is the way power corrupts those in control of a group. This corruption of power, brought to you by Napoleon, is putre selfishness. Napoleon misuses his authority as soon as Old Major dies and everybody is waiting for a leader. Instead of following Old Majors beliefs Napoleon manipulates the animals with the help of Squealer to get what he wants. He chases off kills or threatens anyone who questions his authority because he realizes how good power feels. He even goes against the rules he helped make for the farm to satisfy his own interests. The pigs do whatever they can to get ahead no matter who they hurt and no matter how badly. In animals farm we see an example of power corruption when "Napoleon announced there would be work on Sunday afternoons as well. This work was strictly voluntary, but any animal who absented himself from it would have his rations reduced by half." This example shows us that Napoleon doesn't care if the animals get injured working more hours. If they want their rations they have to work longer than they agreed to. This is very unfair and is not in the best interest of the animals.