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KaitlynFujimori
Mrs.House
English2HPeriod5
20May2016
TheStrengthofPower
Powercanbedefinedas
thecapacityorabilitytodirectorinfluencethebehavior
ofothersorthecourseofevents
.Powercanbeusedintwoways,oneofwhichtohelp
othersinapositiveway,andonetonegativelyinfluencetheirpeople.Theuseofpower
canbeportrayedallthroughouthistoryduringwar,aswellasinthesatire
AnimalFarm
andthestoryThePoisonousMushroom.Leaderseffectivelygainpowerandtrustfrom
theircitizensthroughtheuseofrhetoricalstrategieswhichthreatenandmanipulatethe
people.
Manyleaderswhowereabletogainpowerovertheircitizens
would
appealto
theircitizensignorance.Theleaderwouldusethecitizenslackofinformationor
inexperiencetotheiradvantage.
Inthenovel
AnimalFarm
byGeorgeOrwell,thepigs
whoarenowincharge,changethecommandmentsbyaddingwordsorphrasesafter
theoriginalonesthathavebeenalreadywritten.Ahorse,Cloverandadonkey,
Benjaminobservethecommandmentsandquestion,
Butitappearstomethatthe
wallslookdifferent.Arethesevencommandmentsthesameastheyusedtobe,
Benjamin?(Orwell133).CloverasksBenjaminifhenoticesadifferenceonthewriting
ofthesevencommandments.Theydeemthereappearstobeadifference,butcannot
tellduetotheirshortnessofreadingskills.Theleadersofthefarm,thepigs,usetheir

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animalsilliteracytotheiradvantage.Theyareabletochangeoraddanythingtothe
commandmentsthatwillbenefitthem.Whentheanimalsaskiftherehasbeena
change,thepigswouldanswernoandinformtheanimalsthatitisalwaysbeenthere.
Byusingtheanimal'signoranceagainstthem,
itleavesthemvulnerabletobe
manipulated,andtoforcethemtodotasksthatdonotbenefitthemonlytheirleaders.
Likewise,AdolfHitlerusedthesamestrategytowardshispeople.
Hitlerwastheleader
oftheNazipartyinGermanyfrom1934to1945,andquicklygainedpoweroverthe
JewsandgainedtrustfromGermany.TheblindtrustHitlerreceivedfromtheGermans
ledHitlertobelieve:Howluckyforthoseinpower,thatpeopledontthink(Adolf
Hitler).Hitlerbelievedthatthosewhoareinpowerareluckytohavepeoplewho
believeeverythingtheysayandfallfortheirmanipulation.LeaderslikeHitlertake
advantageofthepeoplewhodonotdiscernwhattheleadersarereallydoing.This
allowsthemtogainmoretrustfromtheircitizens,becausetheircitizenswilltrustand
presumeeverythingstatedbytheirleaderwastrueduetotheirlackofwhatisreally
occurring.ThepigsandHitlerwereabletoreceivethetrustoftheircitizensby
manipulatingthemandusingtheirlackofinformationtobenefitthemselves.This
allowedtheleaderstogainmoreandmorepower.
Furthermore,leaderswhoareeffectivealsousebandwagontomaketheircitizens
followbehindthemanddowhattheywant.A
childrens
story,ThePoisonous
Mushroom,thatwasexcerptedfromachildrensbookinforms:Unfortunatelynot,my
child.TherearemillionsofnonJewswhodonotyetknowtheJews.Sowehaveto
enlightenpeopleandwarnthemagainsttheJews.Ouryoungpeople,too,mustbe

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warned(Hiemer).AmotherexplainstohersonhowtheJewsarepoisonous
mushroomsandmanypeopledonotknowwhattheJewsare,yet.Thisallowsthe
mothertotellhersonthattheyneedtoinformtheoneswhoareunaware.Withthis
propaganda,theNazisareabletobenefitfromthis,becausetheyareabletospreadthe
messageandteachitatayoungage.Withanincreaseofpeoplereadingthesestories,
thereisanincreaseinpeoplebelievingintheNazis,resultinginmorepowerforthe
Nazis.Inthesameway,theSovietUnionalsousedbandwagontogaintrustandpower
fromtheircitizens,asseeninaposterfromthepostmodernera.Thepostervisualizes
anidealofdisciplinedworkersinorderedfertilefields.Therobustfiguresgivenohintof
theactualcropfailuresandfaminein193132thatresultedfromforcedcollectivization
(Voron).Theposterdepictedacontentlookingworkingwomanwithotherwomen
coworkers,alongwithsoldiersinthebackground.Thissmilingworkerallowsother
citizenstobelievetheywouldbeinagoodworkingenvironment,andjointheworkforce.
Withtheinfluenceofthisposterandthosearoundthem,manycitizenswouldstart
joining.Yet,therewerestillsoldiersplacedinthebackgroundandmanyoftheworkers
wereuninformedoftheshortagesofresources.Asaresult,theSovietUnionwasable
tomisleadthecitizensofthisgoodworkingenvironmenttogainmorepowerandmore
workersunderthem.TheNazisandSovietUnionwereabletoutilizebandwagonto
attractmorefollowersbytheinfluenceofthosearoundtheirfollowers.
Leadersalsoeffectivelyusethetacticofappealtoauthority.Thisiswhenleaders
avoidconcentratingonthebenefitsontheirargument,andcomparetheirargumentto
otherstogaintrust.IfananimalquestionsthedecisionsoractionsofNapoleon,

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Squealerthreatens,Surelycomrades,doyounotwantJonesback?Onceagainthis
argumentwasunanswerablecertainlytheanimalsdidnotwantJonesback...(Orwell
70).NapoleonandSquealeruseMr.Jonespastauthoritytogaintrustfromtheanimals
astheyrunthefarm.Thisuseofthisrhetoricalstrategyallowsthepigstobrainwashthe
animalstomakethemdowhattheywant.NapoleonandSquealerhadtheabilitytogain
morepowerovertheanimals,becausetheyconvincedtheanimalsthatwhateverthey
weredoingwasrightandwillbebetterthanwhattheyhadunderMr.Jones.

Inaddition,
onFebruary25,1956,asecretspeechdeliveredattheTwentiethPartyCongressofthe
CommunistPartyoftheSovietUnionbyFirstPartySecretary,NikitaKhrushchev
compared:Leninusedseveremethodsonlyinthemostnecessarycases,whenthe
exploitingclasseswerestillinexistenceandwerevigorouslyopposingthe
revolution...Stalin,ontheotherhand,usedextrememethodsandmassrepressionsata
timewhentherevolutionwasalreadyvictorious,whentheSovietstatewas
strengthened(Khrushchev).KhrushchevdescribeshowLeninonlyusedsevere
methodswhenitwasnecessaryisamoreefficientandlessharshleaderthanStalin
was.ShedescribesStalinasamoreviolentleaderwhousedextrememethodswhenit
wasnotneeded.InordertogainmoresupportforLeninratherthanStalin,Khrushchev
putsLeninswayofleadershipnexttoStalins.SheconstructsStalinswaystolook
worsethanLenins,sopeoplewilltrustLenininstead.ThisallowsLenintoreceivemore
supportandpoweroverthecitizens.BothSquealerandKhrushchevusedtherhetorical
strategyofappealingtoauthoritytomaketheirleadersoundbetterthantheprevious
leader,allowingthemtogainmoretrustandfollowers.

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Throughouttime,leaderssymbolizepowerbyusingittotheiradvantage.They
areabletomoldthemindsoftheircitizensandthreatenthemthroughtheintimidationof
powertheypossess.Leadersthroughoutwar,inthesatire
AnimalFarm,
andthe
children'sbook,ThePoisonousMushroom,werepowerfulenoughtousestrategiesto
manipulatetheircitizensandgaintheirtrust.

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WorksCited
AdolfHitler.XploreInc,2016.11May2016.
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/a/adolfhitle109950.html
Hiemer,Ernst.
DerGiftpilz
.Nuremberg,Strmerverlag,1938.
Khrushchev,Nikita.SecretSpeech.TwentiethPartyCongressoftheCommunistParty
oftheSovietUnion.
n.d.
Speech.
Orwell,George.
AnimalFarm
.NewYork:HoughtonMifflinHarcourt,1945.Print.
Voron,Maria.ShockbrigadeReapingforaBolshevikHarvest(1934).
Persuasive
Images:PostersofWarandRevolutionfromtheHooverInstitutionArchives
.
PrincetonNJ:PrincetonUniversityPress.1992.Print.