Abuse Of Power.

Abuse Of Power.

Abuse of Power
If I was in a place of power would I abuse it? I have chosen to explore the theme “Abuse of Power” this theme is evident in the novels Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, The Wave by Morton Rhue, Lord of The Flies by William Golding and Animal Farm by George Orwell.

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck has many examples of Abuse of Power but the most obvious example is between George, Lennie and Curley. In chapter two we are introduced to Curley, his power over the ranch workers is clearly shown through the many ways that Steinbeck describes him. "Like the boss, he wore high heeled boots" this quote shows that Curley has power not only because his father owns the farm but also because he is in a position where he can afford high heeled boots. He constantly says aggressive things to George and Lennie in their first encounter such as calling Lennie “The big guy”. These remarks helps the reader understand that Curley will not be a nice character. Later Candy explains that Curley likes to beat up big guys, “kind of like he’s mad at ’em because he ain’t a big guy.” This quote confirms that Lennie and Curley will not get along. In the next chapter we see that Curley is not happy. He is storming around looking for his “tart” wife. He enters the bunkhouse. When he sees Lennie laughing he abuses his power to take out his anger on somebody and starts the first fight of the book, with Lennie. At different stages in the fight people have more power than others, at the beginning Curley has all of the power because Lennie isn’t fighting. George eventually convinces Lennie to fight back. This is when Lennie has all of the power.

The Wave by Morton Rhue has one major Abuse of Power theme that evolves throughout the whole book in fact, the background of the story is based off of one of, if not, the most well-known case of power abuse in history, Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. When Ben Ross was teaching his students about this event, Ben realised that his...

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