The Power Of Pigs In George Orwell's Animal Farm

As the novel progresses further through the plot, the pigs on the farm begin to get more power over the other animals. This happens particularly when Napoleon, the new ‘President’ of the farm and a boar, begins to let the pigs acquire luxuries and authority the other animals cannot get. “About this time, too, it was laid down as a rule that when a pig and any other animal met on the path, the other animal must stand aside.” (114) In the past, when royalty or nobility was walking from one place to another, the commoners on the street would bow or stand aside to let them pass to show they know who is more powerful, so by having the animals stand aside, that shows the new authority pigs have over other animals, even though the animals do not realize
it themselves. After a couple of years pass in the story, the farm and its occupants are more well-known and are highly regarded for being prosperous. “Somehow it seemed as though the farm had grown richer without making the animals themselves richer-except, of course, for the pigs and the dogs. . . But still, neither the pigs nor dogs produced any food by their own labors.” (129-130) Because one side (aristocrats or pigs and dogs) will get more, the other side (proletariat or the other animals) get much less, the chain of influence is dominant here. By having the pigs be more powerful, they themselves feel life is improving on the farm, but for the other animals, life is the same or possibly worse.