Literary+analysis

// Animal Farm  // test essay Think back to a time when you were in school. Did you evr do a group project and one kid was assigned the leader’s position? It probably boosted his ego and he was really bossy. That’s the basic idea of the theme “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” That means that when a person has power, that person tends to make mistakes and be mean. And when a person has complete power over everything, that person will definitely make mistakes and be mean. The theme can basically be described in a “before and after.” The before can be described when “Mr. Jones went into Willingdon and got so drunk at the Red Lion that he did not come back till midday Sunday” (15). Neither Jones nor the animals have complete power. Jones gives the animals food, water, and shelter, and in return, the animals produce milk, eggs, etc. Jones has power, therefore, he eventually corrupts. Things are starting to get out of control. The animlas’ lives aren’t perfect because Jones only feeds them sometimes. The after, however, is worse because “Their lives now, they reasoned were hungry and laborious” (98). Before, they were given food, they have to produce milk, eggs, etc. Now, they have to do vigorious activities to feed themselves and still have to produce milk, eggs, etc. Their lives are now much harder because the pigs are in charge. The pigs have absolute power and they corrput absolutely. When I was in 5th grade, I was in a group for the talent show. One girl was put in charge of getting music. She figured since she was the boss of that, then she would wait until the last minute, just because she could. So, we put someone lese in charge of everything and then she got a big ego and didn’t do anything. The girl who had some power corrupted, and the girl who had corrupted absolutely. Those last 3 paragraphs prove that if any one person or group has complete power, it will go to their heads and they think they are preeminent. The “before” isn’t always good, but it’s better than the “after.” Orwell, G. // Animal Farm. //Austin: Harcourt Brace & Company, 1974