In the final lines of Animal Farm, George Orwell conveys a sense of despair and cynicism. After years of oppressive rule by the pigs who have become indistinguishable from the humans they overthrew, the other animals observe a scene where the pigs are socializing with men. They witness this corrupt transformation and realize the pigs have betrayed their original ideals of equality and freedom. The final lines emphasize the animals' realization that they have been manipulated and exploited: "The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which." With this, Orwell suggests that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely, as the pigs have become the very oppressors they initially rebelled against. The final lines serve to highlight the cyclical nature of tyranny and leave readers with a feeling of hopelessness and the realization that revolutions can often result in the substitution of one form of tyranny for another.
