Totalitarianism and Corruption in George Orwell’s Animal Farm

Abstract

This thesis explores how leaders corrupt power and oppress their people in order to build a totalitarian dictatorship. The study is carried out through the novella Animal Farm which is written by George Orwell as an allegory to the Russian Revolution. The research’s most important objective is to describe and analyse how totalitarian dictators create a gap between the members of the society by establishing a system of hierarchy between the lower and upper classes. The current study follows an analytical method to shed light on the dangers of totalitarian regime that was raised in Russia after the Bolshevik revolution which is depicted through the characters of George Orwells’ Animal Farm. The study is approached through the Marxist theory to treat issues related to society and politics. Since Animal Farm includes a rebellion, it examines how animals seized power through the revolution. Furthermore, it analyses the conflict of interests that exists between the pigs (upper class) and the other animals of the farm (lower class). The work comes to conclusion that whenever the people of a certain society are ignorant, they cannot organize a revolution because they would not succeed and would be the reason of enslaving themselves instead of reaching freedom and progress.