All You Need is Power...Or is it?

When the only possible solution for survival is to follow orders from a heinous dictator, it's impossible to be in control of your own thoughts. The leader corrupts your mind, so much that you have no choice but to believe this propoganda. You do the labor, far too feeble and gullible to do anything about this situation. A thirst for power is abundant within all of us, but the power to control the thirst and use it right shows more than leadership.

John Dalberg-Acton once said: "Absolute power corrupts absolutely." This means that when complete power is instilled in someone, it will take over their thoughts and actions. Napoleon creates this situation for himself. When Jones was expelled from the farm, someone had to fill in the void of leadership. Napoleon and Snowball worked together in this position at first, each following the same beliefs. But, for someone like Napoleon, this didn't last very long. Asking him to share power with others is like asking four-year-olds to share a bag of candy. Napoleon, sick of sharing his leadership role, chased out Snowball and controlled the farm on his own. This new role of individual and total power changed the way he and others live. Absolute power may be given to someone, but even they don't have control over it.

The longing for power can be like an addiction to drugs. Once someone gets an addiction, they become a whole new person. Napoleon becomes so blinded by his drug, he changes the farm's lifestyle to fit his new way of seeing things, not caring who it hurts. Even when people do agree with his decisions, Napoleon is far too overdosed with power to care about it. Like when Boxer, his most loyal follower, is in pain, Napoleon chooses to end his life because he is no longer useful. Under his leadership, life on Animal Farm is more dystopic than it ever was when Jones was around, and no one understands because they believe anything and everything that comes out of Napoleons manipulative mouth.

Power does have its good aspects, but that isn't the key to leadership. What's even more important is what is done with this power. When we want something under our control so badly, we will do whatever it takes to make it so. Napoleon wanted control so badly he killed and destroyed anything that prevented it. Had Snowball stayed in power, true leadership may have come first. Because of this dictatorship, Animal Farm has become the very thing they sought to destroy: Human. It becomes more and more apparent that, wherever you may go, or whoever you are with, absolute power truly does corrupt absolutely.