The theme of power is addressed regularly in this text. Power is comprehended through respect, fear, influence, control, knowledge, and even physical strength.
Firstly, Old Major, the prize-winning boar delivers a political speech to the farm animals. This is a speech to merge all animals alike under a sense of community and unity, "comrades" he pronounces, addressing the animals as a brotherhood, the way communist parties address their people. It is also a speech that identifies an enemy - man. "Man serves the interests of no creature except himself. And among us animals let there be perfect unity, perfect comradeship in the struggle. All men are enemies. All animals are comrades." Then he presents them with the 'Beasts of England' anthem - its purpose to unite the animals. In this speech and anthem, power is not only represented in the form of persuasion for all the animals to support Old Major's vision, but also through a sense of reassurance of equality for all beasts and the elimination of man - the threat of freedom for all animals alike. As for Old Major, his power is perceived as charismatic authority, for which he has gained everyone's respect and loyalty for he had had fair intentions and pure ideals of Animalism. Orwell portrays Old Major as the German democratic socialist, Karl Marx.
Another major form of power represented in this text was from Snowball. He was not as fair as Old Major however but it did not seem he was greedy and selfish unlike Napoleon although in the early stages, both pigs wanted a leadership position in the new "equality" system and Snowball also accepted that the pigs were superior to other animals as they were to have the apples and the milk all to themselves. This is a reminder that it is power itself that corrupts. If it were Napoleon that had been chased away by Snowball's dogs would the future of the Animal Farm turn out parallel to what had occurred under Napoleon's administration? Snowball however did try to improve conditions for the farm and to educate the animals about the principles about Animalism. Relying solely on the force of his own logic and charismatic speaking skills however, he proved no match against Napoleons nine dogs. This signifies that in the end, we will resort to physical power and violence to achieve what we want. After Snowball is driven off the farm, he becomes the scapegoat in Napoleon's plans, and everything that comes to harm Napoleon's regime will be blamed on Snowball. "Comrades, do you know who is responsible for this? Do you know the enemy who has come in the night and overthrown our windmill? SNOWBALL! Snowball has done this thing!" In creating this external enemy, an internal coalition is also created. This helps Napoleon maintain power.
The most distinct form of power in Animal Farm is the power exercised by Napoleon, not unlike its historical namesake - a power hungry dictator. From the very beginning of the story, Napoleon transpires as greedy and selfish and did not have the same pure ideals as some of the other animals like Old Major. Napoleon did not make a single contribution towards improving the farm conditions and does not appear to show any interest in the strength of Animal Farm itself, for example in the Battle of the Cowshed, where Jones reappears to attempt to take back the farm, Napoleon was nowhere to be found. Through Napoleon's actions, the discourse of power and control is evidently depicted by his use of tactics, which are features of a dictatorship, to assume his leadership and power. He took over the farm slowly by slowly, firstly privileging himself and his fellow pigs by convincing the other animals it was for their sake that the pigs ate most of the apples and drank most of the milk. "We pigs are brain-workers. The whole management and organisation of this farm depends on us. Day and night we are watching over your welfare, and it is for your sake that we drink that drink and eat those apples." He did this through the use of Squealer who was a persuasive speaker, a follower and a liar.
Squealer the pig represents the propaganda used to manipulate language to justify the actions of politicians, in this case, Napoleon. He complicates language unnecessarily to confuse and intimidate the uneducated animals and is described as a manipulator and persuader. "He could turn black into white." Squealer was basically used by Napoleon to create false imagery of Napoleon's greatness and holiness and he did it so brilliantly that "it seemed to the animals that they did remember it happen." Every time Napoleon did something bad or something, which raised question from the other animals, Squealer always made up a story in order to suit Napoleon's will and to make it seem like he had done something for the good of the farm. He also used threats like; "surely you don't want Jones back."
Using this manipulative method, Squealer was also able to change the 7 commandments, bending them to suit the pigs' will, and in the end reduced to a single principle "all animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others." This oxymoron represents changes in power and hence the corruption of power.
Furthermore, Napoleon's nine dogs, which seemed to accompany him everywhere, employed another form of his power, "they kept close to Napoleon. It was noticed that they wagged their tails to him in the same way as the other dogs had been used to do to Mr. Jones." In his use of the dogs, Napoleon has monopolized the farm's sources of defence and protection in order to create his own private secret police for the use of terror to remind the other animals that he was the most powerful on the farm. This state of tyranny and oppression was also a subtle hint of the transformation of the "unalterable" Seven Commandments into Napoleon's own laws.
Orwell uses Boxer's death as a warning of such totalitarian rule, and his death points sadly and bitterly to the downfall of Animal Farm. "I will work harder" and "Napoleon is always right" was his adopted maxims, showing how dedicated he was to the strength of the farm. It is sadly ironic that the system that he so loyally serves ultimately betrays him, when the pigs saw no use of him and he was sent to the knackers.
The structure of the text shows a mere cycle of power with the farm. At first, it is run by human administration of which the conditions were absolutely atrocious. This led to a rebellious behaviour by the animals. After their victory they decide to run the farm themselves on egalitarian principles. At first the farm prospers but then, the pig leaders were corrupted by the power and turn on their fellow "comrades" eliminating competitors through propaganda and bloodshed. In the end, as the animals looked from human to pig, pig to human, they could see no difference.
To conclude, the discourse of power is represented in this text is many different ways. A wide range of language techniques were utilised in Animal Farm, such as political speeches, songs, votes, laws, punishments etc. Orwell uses techniques such as persuasive language, dramatic irony and the structure of "Animal Farm" to build these messages about the corruption and abuse of power. "Power corrupts, but absolute power corrupts absolutely." Indeed this quote is proved accurate throughout George Orwell's novel, Animal Farm
