Does excessive power or confidence in oneself lead to destruction? People often take mistaken authority or pride into excess and cause wreckage. They take advantage of their power and make decisions that are beneficiary for only them. People's pride halts into the way of them making decisions that are moral. In the novella Animal Farm by George Orwell, Old Major's dream of a socialist utopia causes the animals to turn against one another and Napoleon and Snowball compete for power and cause the division of the farm; in the novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding, Jack's need for power leads to the destruction of the island and the death of Piggy and Simon.
Old Major, is an old boar who dreams of a social utopia on the farm. He is the most experienced boar, and has suffered much oppression from the owner of the farm Mr. Jones. Old Major recites the injustices of being reticent on the farm. He tells them that humans put the animals to work, but take away all the credit and give little or nothing to the animals. All the milk the cows' produce and all the eggs the hens lay, go to the humans. The animals do not receive much of all that they make. Old Major was very tolerant of all the incidences on the farm as he was a senior animal. Old Major desires to separate the animals from the humans. He tells the animals about a dream that he has in which all the animals live happily together as one with no human control. This dream gives the animal hope to live abide their wishes. They also realize the discrimination that is being done to them, and hope for a better destiny. The animals are excited and strive to achieve animal equality. He teaches the animals that they must work hard to overcome their oppression, when he says "And now my comrades, I will tell you about my dream of last night. I cannot describe that dream to you. It was a dream of the Earth as it will be when man has vanished" (Orwell 11).