Both the pigs in George Orwell’s Animal Farm and Vladimir Putin use fear and propaganda to stay in power. Animal Farm is an allegory meant to represent the events of the Russian Revolution in 1917. The book is about animals who take over their farm in order to run it themselves. They eventually fall under the leadership of a pig named Napoleon, who often deceives the animals in order to maintain power. The book highlights the ignorance of the animals who end up just as they were in the beginning of the story: as slaves to an ungrateful leader. The book is a satire in the sense that it mocks the ways of man and how humans crave power and luxury but never want to work for it. Russia’s current president, Vladimir Putin demonstrates how Orwell’s
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After the animals drive out Mr. Jones, the cruel owner of the farm, the pigs use his absence to their own advantage. When the pigs create new laws and terms of the farm, they suggest that Mr. Jones will return if the animals do not follow their orders, knowing that all would do anything to prevent it (Orwell 56). The pigs use this excuse throughout the book to get what they want without being questioned. They play on the animals’ fear and ignorance of a time they all can only vaguely remember. Later in the book, all of the animals gather for a meeting and watch as several huge dogs target four pigs that recently had spoken out against Napoleon. Following the pigs’ confessions of false crimes, “the dogs promptly tore their throats out” (84). Napoleon purposely conducts these executions in a public manner to warn the other animals to never oppose him. He is easily able to keep the animals under tight control when scared for their lives by frightening them into …show more content…
In 2003, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, one of the richest men in Russia, was arrested for apparent fraud quickly following a meeting with Putin. Khodorkovsky was considered Putin’s greatest opponent, as he openly called out the Russian government for their wrongdoings and even pronouncing Putin a criminal (Herszenhorn). He was imprisoned for almost ten years and later exiled from Russia (Rawlings). Putin is easily able to suppress any outspoken opposition when he shows he will not hesitate to put even a man of power in prison for criticizing his rule. He understands that people fear the thought of losing their freedom and uses it to ensure his power is forever unchallenged. When Boris Nemtsov, a well-known opponent of Putin, was murdered, people began to notice the pattern between foes of Putin and their timely deaths (Bershidsky). With little evidence of the crime, the Russian government left the citizens to their own beliefs of what happened; and some could not help but think the worst (Bershidsky). With a country as tightly government-controlled as Russia, people will only ever hear about the deaths of the ones who disagreed with the authority. This discourages anyone to ever question Putin’s power for fear for their
After the animals drive out Mr. Jones, the cruel owner of the farm, the pigs use his absence to their own advantage. When the pigs create new laws and terms of the farm, they suggest that Mr. Jones will return if the animals do not follow their orders, knowing that all would do anything to prevent it (Orwell 56). The pigs use this excuse throughout the book to get what they want without being questioned. They play on the animals’ fear and ignorance of a time they all can only vaguely remember. Later in the book, all of the animals gather for a meeting and watch as several huge dogs target four pigs that recently had spoken out against Napoleon. Following the pigs’ confessions of false crimes, “the dogs promptly tore their throats out” (84). Napoleon purposely conducts these executions in a public manner to warn the other animals to never oppose him. He is easily able to keep the animals under tight control when scared for their lives by frightening them into …show more content…
In 2003, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, one of the richest men in Russia, was arrested for apparent fraud quickly following a meeting with Putin. Khodorkovsky was considered Putin’s greatest opponent, as he openly called out the Russian government for their wrongdoings and even pronouncing Putin a criminal (Herszenhorn). He was imprisoned for almost ten years and later exiled from Russia (Rawlings). Putin is easily able to suppress any outspoken opposition when he shows he will not hesitate to put even a man of power in prison for criticizing his rule. He understands that people fear the thought of losing their freedom and uses it to ensure his power is forever unchallenged. When Boris Nemtsov, a well-known opponent of Putin, was murdered, people began to notice the pattern between foes of Putin and their timely deaths (Bershidsky). With little evidence of the crime, the Russian government left the citizens to their own beliefs of what happened; and some could not help but think the worst (Bershidsky). With a country as tightly government-controlled as Russia, people will only ever hear about the deaths of the ones who disagreed with the authority. This discourages anyone to ever question Putin’s power for fear for their