“The pigs did not actually work, but directed and supervised the others. With their superior knowledge it was natural that they should assume the leadership.... At last the day came... at this moment Napoleon stood up.., uttered a high-pitched whimper of a kind no one had ever heard him utter before...... It was about this time that the pigs suddenly moved into the farmhouse and took up their residence there.... But the luxuries of which Snowball had once taught the animals to dream...were no longer talked about. Napoleon had denounced such ideas as contrary to the spirit of Animalism.”
Corruption also occurs with those in power in The Chrysalids. When Angus Morton buys a pair of great horses, those in authority in Rigo approves them because of the great profits these horses will bring although they are obviously not normal.
”Rumours of great-horses had reached our district... he knew they were wrong...’They're Government-approved'...'Any government that could pass creatures like that is corrupt and immoral,' my father announced.
'Possibly,' admitted the inspector, 'but it's still the Government.'.... ‘One of those brutes could do the work of two, maybe three, ordinary horses -- and for less than double the feed of one. There's a good profit there, a good incentive to get them passed ...”
The government was made up of citizens who were supposed to uphold the True Image. Thus, any deviation from the True Image should be discouraged. However, they also engage in lies and deceit, another theme in the novels. The church leaders prefer all citizens to believe all lands beyond Labrador are Bad Lands...”” 'But when people are used to believing a thing is such-and-such a way, and the preachers want them to believe that that's the way it is; it's trouble you get, not thanks, for upsetting their ideas.... If the rest of the people want to think it's nearly all Badlands outside, they let them””
In Animal Farm, deception is used to gain power. The pigs deceive the other animals about the past; convincing them that certain events did or did not occur, pretending that their situation is better than it really is, and for plans for the future, ensuring them their dreams will come true. We see that superior intelligence is often used not to lead justly, but to deceive. Deception is not the main tool of power for the pigs; their ability to alter the past in the minds of the animals that is their most powerful tool of control.
“’Comrades!" he cried. "You do not imagine, I hope, that we pigs are doing this in a spirit of selfishness and privilege... It is for YOUR sake that we drink that milk and eat those apples.’.... The plot was for Snowball, at the critical moment, to give the signal for flight and leave the field to the enemy... had not been for our heroic Leader, Comrade Napoleon. Do you not remember how, just at the moment when Jones and his men had got...Now when Squealer described the scene so graphically, it seemed to the animals that they did remember it. At any rate, they remembered that at the critical moment of the battle Snowball had turned to flee....”
The animals on Animal Farm are distracted from their horrible living situation and life of labor with visions of "Sugarcandy Mountain," a supposed heaven. Religion is the only thing that makes the animals’ lives seem worth living as their situation becomes increasingly miserable.
“a mysterious country called Sugarcandy Mountain, to which all animals went when they died... situated in the sky, Sunday seven days a week, clover was in season all the year round, and lump sugar and linseed cake grew on the hedges..some of them believed in Sugarcandy Mountain..”
Animalism can be viewed as the commandments for the animals on Animal Farm, a part of their religion which Napoleon corrupts for his own gains. Thus the decay of Animalism and the ideals of old Major begin.
In the Chrysalids, religion is the government’s way of ruling the citizens of Labrador, but in Waknuk, David’s father sees himself as the upholder of the law. This can be seen when the great horses enter Waknuk, when Sophie was discovered and when David, Petra and Rosalind escapes arrest by fleeing to the Fringes.
All the inhabitants of a place or society have dreams and hopes for betterment and make plans for better and brighter days. It is easy to see that the dreams instilled in the animals by Old Major are corrupted as time goes on, but one wonders if it were ever possible to fulfill them in the first place. Old Major’s utopian ideal is contrasted by the cynicism of Benjamin the donkey, who is certain that "life [will] go on as it [has] always gone on – that is, badly.” That however does not stop the others from dreaming about the future, where the animal can retire form labour and enjoy their retirement in a meadow set aside especially for them.
In the Chrysalids, David’s secret society of telepaths dreams of a place where they would be accepted by society for who they really were. David’s dreams of Sealand are what comforted him when he was younger and they comforted him later on and gave him hope also.
Pride and violence are strongly linked to each other in both novels. In the Chrysalids, pride of keeping to the True image leads to slaughtering of offences and sterilization of women deviants. In Animal Farm, violence and the threat of violence are used against the animals on the farm. Napoleon has immense pride in himself and does not like any animal disobeying him, which leads to his acts and threats of violence
“When they had finished their confession, the dogs promptly tore their throats out, and in a terrible voice Napoleon demanded whether any other animal had anything to confess...”
Thus having examined this small but important sample of themes present in both novels, we can safely say that in both novels dystopian societies were more prominent. However, in Animal Farm, when Old Major shared his dream, he shared and instilled the dream of a utopian society which at the beginning of Animal Farm’s existence, existed. But it was corrupted later on by the leaders of this perfect society. In the Chrysalids, waknuk strived to be a utopian society by” stamping out the Devil’s creations.” However, Sealand was the utopian society of which David dreamed and to which at the conclusion of the novel, he, Petra and Rosalind were carried to. Utopian societies depend on all inhabitants working together as one, as in Sealand and not with the pretence of it and having superior and inferior classes amongst inhabitants.