Power and Corruption

Napoleon gradually becomes a dictator, The Iranian government, after the Islamic
manipulating language and laws to maintain Revolution, became authoritarian, enforcing
control. The revolution, which started with strict religious laws, silencing opposition, and
equality in mind, turns into a system of punishing dissenters. Marjane witnesses how
oppression where the ruling class (the pigs) power is used to control and oppress
exploit the working animals. citizens.

Comparison: Both texts show how revolutions can be corrupted. Power leads to oppression,
whether through Napoleon’s dictatorship or Iran’s theocratic rule.

Questions:

Do you think revolutions Revolutionising societal norms can often lead to a positive
always lead to corruption, growth within society. This can be illustrated by the feminist
or are there examples where movement starting from the 19th century, which positively
power remains with the changed past conservative perspectives via communal
people? Why or why not? protests. The rebellion against the government and backward
perspectives, thus, resulted in change of laws, positively
impacting society as a whole.
However, revolutions also have the potential to fuel
corruption, oftentimes well intentioned movements have
potential to be a tool of manipulation. The LGBT movement
started out to be revolutionary with goals of altering
conservative perspectives and governmental laws due to the
increasing amount of stigma against same sex marriages in
the past. Adversely, as time passed, though LGBT was widely
accepted in the United States –it has become a subject of
discussion within the ruling parties– turning the movement
into a tool used for persuasion of one's own political party.
This can be deemed to be a political stunt, which aims to
redirect people's power and support towards a singular party.
As power is granted to parties, they oftentimes have potential
to lead to corruption as people no longer have power nor
choice.
Thus, revolutionary movements have potential to be used for
political corruption, therefore leading to an authoritarian
government, leaving society with little to no power.

In both Animal Farm and Some leaders may believe in the greater cause, but however
Persepolis, those in power with power there is potential for corruption. Those in power
justify their actions as being may convince themselves of the need for stricter control to
for the “greater good.” Do maintain order and preserve one's vision, such as North
you think leaders truly Korea– where the leader Kim Jong Un employs laws which
believe this, or is it just an may seem unethical for the general public– therefore
excuse to maintain control? forgetting that the development of a country translates to
the happiness of its people and through fair judgement. On
the flip side, the values of the leaders translate to the
betterment of society. Leaders can be democratic or
 autocratic– however, I believe both are wrong. India– a
democratic country allows its people to vote, however with the
mind of a mass number of illiterate people, people are
oftentimes manipulated and misguided causing preserved
mindsets on different governmental parties. Governmental
parties often use this as a tool of guidance towards their
newer amendments to regain power and control. For example
Afghanistan, justify its actions and questionable laws through
religion, which however on a bird's eye is an excuse to take
control for potentially selfish reasons such as superiority and
access to instant man-power during international calamities.
However, peace wanting leaders can coexist with other kinds
of leaders such as revolutionaries, the mix between leadership
and accountability oftentimes bring light to the country as a
whole in a positive manner. For example Singapore, though
with strict laws, lacks corruption in comparison to multiple
other ruling regimes, since Singapore employs benevolent
dictatorship. Singapore by itself, does not have the manpower
or sources to start or defend itself from war, it was required
and needed that such a country’s only option was to stay in
peace, it was forced in peace. Another example of leadership
for the greater good could be China, which uses Hybrid
governance, which is a blend of democracy and autocracy
allowing strict leadership but with balances. Making these
leaders genuinely committed to their countries progress, these
nationalist leaders are rather unfaced by the power they
have received.

How does propaganda I have no idea…

shape the way people in
both stories view their
leaders? Can you think of
modern examples (or other
fictional examples) where
propaganda is used in a
similar way?

If you were living in either Living in a society with a totalitarian regime can oftentimes
of these societies, do you make you a target of assassination, especially given that an
think you would speak out individual can be a mass influencer of the general public. The
against the government? general public and society are often the warehouses of power,
Why or why not? with their choices leading to the solidification of present
governmental regimes. Thus, the integrity of public knowledge
has the potential to be preyed upon by totalitarian regimes
to misguide and lead the general public into favoring a
particular regime.
Thus, I as an individual, given the idea that I may hold mass
influential tendencies and the potential power to guide the
general public; would rebel against the government in subtle
ways. As this would lead to other influential figures to also
rebel against the government subtly, or assert their own
individuality as well. Eventually, leading the eradication of a
totalitarian regime, due to the general public rebelling
against and rejecting to comply with totalitarian laws.
 What similarities do you see Both Animal farm and Persepolis depict heavily authoritarian
between Napoleon’s rule in regimes which consolidate power through oppression and
Animal Farm and the fear. Both Napoleon and the Iranian regime use threats and
Iranian government’s fear to maintain control of society. The Iranian regime
control in Persepolis? Which additionally induces multiple other fear factors including
do you think is more execution, false information, religious oppression to withhold
effective at maintaining power over civilians. In Animal Farm, the animals in the farm
power, and why? had the opportunity to rebel against Napoleon and would
have likely won against him and Squealer but due to the lack
of individuality or critical thinking this was not carried
forward.
Thus, the Iranian regime is likely more effective, due the
amount of fear factors produced in order to maintain
control– which is overwhelmingly high in comparison to
Napoleon and Squealers who’s only path to maintain control
was through manipulation.

Discuss in what ways and to what effect the “freedom to act, to speak, to think” has
been explored in the two works you have studied.

Persepolis 1 & 2 Animal Farm

Freedom to Act = -​ Education banned -​ Lack of autonomy

severely restricted in -​ Not allowed to listen to music -​ Forced labour
both texts -​ Eventual rebellion against Mr
Jones

Freedom to Speak -​ The nature of protesting - Marjane -​ Dismissing opinions of certain

and maid not allowed to protest animals
-​ Mother facing threats due to self -​ Snowball getting silenced
expression

Freedom to Think -​ Plastic golden keys and their promise -​ Dogs manipulated by Napoleon
-​ The controlling of information to -​ Seven commandments
control deviance -​ Exceptions do exist

Point - Both texts

Relevant comparative plot points
Text 1 evidence
 Analyse and Evaluate it
Link It
+​
Similarly, Text 2 also
Text 2 Evidence
Analyse and Evaluate
Comparative Analysis (Link)

Themes & Quotations

.
Themes Animal Farm Persepolis

Oppression & -​ Rising against Mr Jones -​ Oppressive nature of regime after

Rebellion -​ Tyranny under Napoleon​ the Iranian Revolution
-​ Her forms of rebellion against it

1.​ .​ 1.​

2.​ ​

3.​

Power and -​ Pigs seizing control -​ Strict control over citizens

Control -​ Manipulating others -​ Punishments for dissent

1.​ ​

2.​ ​

3.​

Corruption of -​ Initial ideals of equality -​ Revolution promised freedom

Ideals -​ Greed and Power -​ Power corrupts religious ideology

1.​ ​ 1.​ ​

2.​ ​ 2.​ ​

3.​ 3.​
 1.​ Hook (w key terms)
2.​ Introduce the text (title, author, year of publication) + relevant plot details
3.​ Introduce Text 2
4.​ Thesis Statement

1.​ Point 1 for Both Texts - Give Evidence for Text 1

2.​ Give Evidence for Text 2

1.​ The hook should not have the texts, the texts should be introduced after the
hook –The hook consists of the key-terms from the question.
2.​ The hook should be general and not really specific.
3.​ Introduce the text properly “ George orwell's animal farm published in the year
1982 <other details/setting/relevant plot details>
4.​ Introduction to the text with relation to key-words in the question
5.​ Do not be biassed, use neutral terms always. Unless we are talking about the
author being not neutral.
6.​ Foreshadow what we are up to analyse in the essay, and the question should
also be there, hint at the structure in the thesis statement.
7.​ Pay attention to every single aspect of the question.
8.​ “ This is evident in <> where character 1 states <>, which shows readers <>
(connect to the guiding question.,in what ways and in what effect? + the key
concepts)”
9.​ Zooming out enough so that we can connect it to the next text– linking it
properly, linking every sentence as though you are climbing a staircase, each
step is building an argument.
10.​Stop being vague, give specifics and details to every claim you make.
11.​ Atomic evidence needed, do not combine two pieces of evidence together.

Conclusion:
1.​ Overall, / To conclude, Orwell and Satrapi both focus on the <topic>. Although
they explore it through <differences> the similarities are <similarities>. This shows
 that <relevance of the topic on how it is important and something to talk about
within literature>.

This comparative essay will explore the ideas of detrimental effects on characters due
to the lack of freedom to act, speak and think as expressed by Orwell and Satrapi.
(i'll rewrite peel when i wake up, i think i'm too sleepy to be writing something good or
to even process the received feedback..)