The Theme of Abuse of Power in Animal Farm by George Orwell

The pigs get a lot of special treatment above all the other animals and break many of the commandments, such as drinking alcohol, sleeping in a bed in the house, and getting apples and milk. Napoleon also uses his power unfairly because he takes money from the farm to buy alcohol, kills the animals who confess, orders the dogs to kill to scare the animals, and gains celebratory names even though he isn’t always doing good things for the farm. Finally, Jones would get drunk and sleep and that leads to him forgetting to feed the animals. He also shot at the barn to get the animals to quiet down. He didn’t treat the animals fairly or as equally as they would have liked. In Animal Farm, a fantasy novel by George Orwell, one of the major themes is an abuse of power because of the pigs’ special privileges, Napoleon’s misuse of authority, and Jones’s neglect.

The pigs broke many commandments on Animal Farm. For example, they were allowed to sleep inside the farmhouse in a bed. This did break the commandment of not sleeping in beds, but they changed them to saying no beds with sheets. They did actually break many commandments, however, such as the pigs also being allowed to drink alcohol. They also said”Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy” but the pigs began to walk on two legs to be more human-like. They also broke the commandments “All animals are equal” and “No animal shall drink alcohol” because the pigs always got the apples and milk, which was unfair, and they began to drink alcohol. They claimed they got the apples and milk because it helped their brains to make them smart and the animals believed them so it became fair. “Milk and apples (this has been proved by Science, comrades) contain substances absolutely necessary to the well-being of pig. We pigs are brain workers… It is for YOUR sake that we drink that milk and eat those apples.”(Orwell 14)

Napoleon uses his power wrongly in many ways. To start, he took money from the farm to buy alcohol, which is breaking the seven commandments. The money on the farm is not meant to be spent on alcohol since they weren’t allowed to drink it at first anyways. He should be using this on more important resources for the farm, or food perhaps. Napoleon also kills animals for confessing and scares the animals into doing things for him by ordering his dogs to kill. This is a misuse of power because again it’s breaking the commandments, and he shouldn’t have to use a scare tactic to rule the animals. Finally, Napoleon would gain celebratory names and the animals practically worshipped him. In reality, he didn’t really do much to deserve this. They were brainwashed into thinking that since he was in charge, they automatically had to follow his rules and agree with him. Boxer says repeatedly, ” Napoleon is always right,” (Orwell 69). He most likely was taught into believing this because of the way the farm worked.

The final example of abuse of power is how Jones neglected the animals. He often would get drunk and fall asleep. He completely disregarded the fact that the animals needed to be fed. This led to them being starved for a while until somebody finally remembered to feed them. This shows a lack of caring. This also is what sparked the rebellion. The animals did not want to be treated this way. They believed that they deserved respect just as much as humans because they weren’t just there to provide goods for them. Lastly, he shot at the barn to quiet the animals down. This was unnecessary and made the animals furious.

Abuse of power was a major theme in this novel. Whether it was the pigs getting special privileges and extra food, Napoleon breaking many commandments and using money to buy alcohol, or Jones neglecting his animals and belittling them, there was a huge hint of misuse of authority. All of these factors led to disaster at some point because it was just a bunch of animals brainwashed into believing the same things as Napoleon. In Animal Farm, a novel by George Orwell, one of the major themes is an abuse of power because of the pigs’ special privileges, Napoleon’s misuse of authority, and Jones’s neglect.

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