The texts ‘Animal Farm’ by George Orwell and ‘Lord of the Flies’ review
The texts ‘Animal Farm’ by George Orwell and ‘Lord of the Flies‘ by William Golding both explore the results of a corrupt leadership within society. Both texts demonstrate how the concept of one having power over the rest is what corrupts the societies and ends in death and adversity of all others within the society. Power and manipulation are an integral part of the foundation of society and are essential for them to flourish, yet inevitably bring oppression and tyranny. In their respective texts, both authors embed stylistic features such as irony, symbolism and foreshadowing to present their ideas.
Orwell and Golding both examine the ramifications of a corrupt leadership within a dystopian society. Orwell depicts the ramifications of a corrupt leadership through Napoleon’s decisions of innocent executions. “You young porker porkers who are sitting in front of me, every one of you will scream your lives out at the block within a year”, is stated by Old Major. However, this prophecy comes true, but instead of being killed by Mr Jones on the butchers “block,” the porkers are executed on Napoleon’s orders on the executioner’s “block”. By using this example of Mr Jones’s cruelty to foreshadow Napoleon’s, the two regimes, human and pig, are essentially likewise. In contrast to this, Golding’s use of climax portrays the ramifications being the shattered conch which makes the audience mentally prepared for the resolution of the conflict, allowing the audience to be immersed into Golding’s ideas. “The rock struck… the conch exploded into thousand white fragments and ceased to exist”, the destruction of the conch symbolically represents a point in the text when savagery reigns supreme and all civilisation escaping the island. The conch, which was a symbol of unity, is demolished due to Jack Merridew’s hunger for power. Through corruption, Jack can cease power and control over the boys. In using foreshadowing, climax and symbolism, both authors can show the ramifications of a corrupt leadership within a dystopian society.
Both Orwell and Golding explore the usurp and abuse of power in leadership. In ‘Animal Farm’, Orwell portrays how they usurp and abuse of power can be found or used in leadership through the use of the Seven Commandments of Animalism; symbolic of the power of propaganda and the malleable of history and information when society is ignorant of the facts. The commandments are altered throughout the text; each time they are changed indicated that the animals have moved further away from their original principles. The last commandment, “All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others” also shows verbal irony. The concept of all are equal and “more equal” is contradictory and illogical. In the end, the commandments were changed to benefit the pigs and not the other animals. Similarly, Golding portrays the same idea as Orwell, as Jack agrees on Ralph; the protagonist, obtaining leadership within their collaborative society. However, Jack dislikes, therefore, goes against Ralph’s authority and rules, and creates his own alterations of rules that break Ralph’s. Through the use of propaganda and fear, Jack allows his rules to control and power in his savage society. “We can light up again -“, Jack breaks the rule and lets the fire die while he is hunting for his own gain and interest. Showing abuse of power and that he can do whatever he wants, and disregards the fact that he broke the rules. Both Orwell and Golding depict their belief through different techniques inferring that anyone with leadership is capable of abusing it.
Orwell and Golding both depict the vulnerability of power in leadership within a corrupt society. In ‘Animal Farm’ Orwell portrays how leadership is vulnerable to corruption through the characterisation of Comrade, Napoleon and his will of maintaining power by instilling fear by the threat of his vicious dogs. The dogs are symbols for the NKVD, Stalin’s freaky and powerful secret police force. They are Napoleon’s bodyguards that intimidate and threaten the other animals to gain power and control in his corruptive society. “It was noticed that they wagged their tails to him [Napoleon] in the same way as the other dogs had been used to do Mr Jones”, foreshadowing the pigs are going to end up just as bad as the humans. Likewise, Golding portrays the same idea as Orwell, however instead, with the characterisation of Jack and his propaganda and brainwashing. Jack creates the concept of a mysterious beast that no one has seen to make the boys fearful. “Maybe there is a beast… maybe it’s only us”, the beast symbolically represents the boys inherit wicked nature, which becomes more noticeable as the novel progresses and they descend further into savagery. Gradually Jack gains power by using the beast to unify the boys over a common fear and presents himself as a strong leader who can protect them. As the boys give in to more primal instincts, Jack solidifies his power by projecting himself as a hunter with authoritative knowledge on the beast.
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