Animal Farm Theme Essay

Theme Essay

If a seven year old read Animal Farm he/she would have thought that it is a sad story about a farm in England. If an older person reads it however, he/she realizes that this story has much more meaning to it. The story is filled with themes that help us understand the world around us. In this essay I am going to talk about four themes that Orwell discussed in this story. They are power, totemism, coercion, and violence. Power leads to absolute power, the job of totemism is to keep the people loyal, and after that doesn"t work coercion comes in effect by using violence.

There is no definite message that Orwell is trying to point out about power, instead he lets us get a view of the negative effects of power. He also helps us realize what kinds of things are used to maintain power. Many people rise to power saying that they will do what the best for the people. But what happens is that a strong leader seizes absolute power. As the leader gains control he begins to abuse his powers to make his life better. The tyrant then uses his powers for his own good; whenever there is power there is money (luxury) involved and people will go a long way to have a good life.
In the story, Napoleon gains power saying he will do what best for the animals but he soon begins to do what is beneficial for himself. An example of his better life would be,   «It was also more suited to the
dignity of the Leader (for of late he had taken to speaking of Napoleon
under the title of "Leader") to live in a house than in a mere sty.».(page 79) Also the quote,   «And the news soon leaked out that every pig was now receiving a
ration of a pint of beer daily, with half a gallon for Napoleon himself,
which was always served to him in the Crown Derby soup tureen.» (page 117)
Power can be a good thing at times but people cant handle power and do things or the good of every one. Then they begin to get addicted to power and when people start to doubt them they do everything...