The satire Animal Farm by George Orwell expressesthe idea of self-government through the animals. Theanimals play the role of humans, in this way usingmost, if not all, of the human characteristics. Because the animals decide that they want to run thefarm by themselves, they make up a way of livingcalled Animalism. The basic principles of Animalismare two, all animals are to be treated as equals, and no animals shall acquire any human traits orcharacteristics whatsoever. The seven commandmentsunder which they live are based on these majorprinciples. As soon as they develop a whole newsystem, they throw out all of the humans that run thefarm. Even though they are supposed to be equal, thepigs begin to take control. By the end of the novel,the pigs have manipulated the rest of the animals intodoing everything they want. The pigs then becomealmost exactly like the humans. The most importantpigs are Napoleon and Snowball, that is until Napoleonthrows Snowball from the farm. It is throughout thissatire that Orwell illustrates how power corrupts byshowing the pigs actions.
Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely isa concept widely understood after having read Orwell’ssatire. It is first shown when the pigs take the milkand apples, explaining to the rest of the animals thateveryone is equal, but some are just more “equal” thanothers. They also argue that the pigs do morethinking, and therefore need more energy to do so. Itis in the latter part of the book, that the concept ofcorruption gradually earns its meaning. When Napoleonforces Snowball to leave the farm, the power is allhis. Napoleon fixes anything that goes wrong on thefarm simply by blaming Snowball. He insists thatSnowball had always planned everything in order toharm the farm. Napoleon does not have a limit.
The pigs break all seven commandments, some withoutnotice, simply because power is addictive, and theyconstantly want more of it. It is never enough. Thesecommandments are to be followed by all the animalsliving on the farm at all times. Included in thesecommandments is the sixth one which states that noanimal shall kill any other animal. Napoleon breaksthis commandment when he kills the chickens he saysare against him and the farm’s ideals. He justifiesthis to the rest of the animals saying that no animalshall kill any other animal without reason to do so. The fourth commandment states that no animal shallsleep in a bed. After the pigs move into what used tobe the owners house, they begin to sleep on beds. “Its O.K.,” they say, because a bed is simply theplace you sleep on, the commandment is intended to beno animal shall sleep in a bed with sheets. The pigscontinue their way of being until the end, when therest of the animals finally see what is happeninginside the house. The pigs invite their neighboringfarmers to join them for dinner. In doing so, theybreak the first commandment which states that whatevergoes on two feet is an enemy. It is during thisdinner that they break the majority, if not all of thecommandments. The pigs, together with the humans, arebreaking the fifth commandment while drinking alcohol. It is throughout the book that the pigs break allseven commandments, in this way proving how powercorrupts.
The satire Animal Farm by George Orwell is a perfectexample of how power corrupts. The pigs become socorrupt, that they become exactly what they hate themost. In this book, Orwell shows the reader how itdoes not matter what anyone thinks at first, greedalways brings them to doing what they did not want toat first. The animals are simply a way of showing thereader how power corrupts even when the nicest andmost caring concepts are what started everything. Inthe world today, there are always problems in thegovernment because the people high in office take moreand more power. The major example is the Russianrevolution. In this book it is proven how powercorrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.