At first glance, Animal Farm appears to be a novel about animals taking control of their farm, which it is, but there’s so much more to this book than the impression gives off. Animal Farm tells a story about a group of animals who overthrew their farm owner because of how poorly he treated them, creating their own governing body and taking control of everything themselves. The real problem in this story occurs when an elite group of animals, whom were all pigs, led by Napoleon, decide to take control and enforce their own law, “creating a communistic government and using militaristic force to intimidate the other animals and centralize their power.” (Kirschner 772) Under their regime, the animals were treated worse than they were when they …show more content…
He hungered for pleasure and comfort. He, like the various other animals, was borderline tortured by the farmers. They were often starved and malnourished, with the occasional whippings when the animals decided to retaliate. But with Napoleon being a pig, he lived on the farm constantly tormented that he would one day be butchered. All of the pigs on the farm knew that this would one day be their inevitable fate. The pigs often saw what was left of their fallen comrades when “Some hams hanging in the kitchen were taken out for burial.” Living under Jones’ authority on the farm eventually became Napoleon’s trauma, ultimately altering his …show more content…
Consequently, Napoleon was only interested in his own comfort, and began to unveil his selfish intentions after driving Farmer Jones out. With whatever was left of the superego, he began to make the actions of becoming more comfortable secret, and it all began with the curious disappearance of the milk. Yet, after some time, the id became more prominent and made it clear that it was driving him toward a more comfortable life. It became so bad that he had completely disregarded the commandments he had created, and the other animal’s welfares. Napoleon was terrorizing the animals, and at times manipulating and torturing them, in order to achieve what he wanted. “The trauma faced by Napoleon during Farmer Jones’ rule was sufficient for completely suppressing his superego, causing his tyranny to continue onwards.” (Kirschner 772) Animal Farm is truly a timeless classic that makes a bold statement about the nature of humans, through the viewpoint of animals. There is no doubt that Orwell despises tyranny, and his exposure of these awful vices create the best verses in the
Animal Farm is not only a novel about rebellious animals; it is a study of the corruption of society and humanity in an enclosed environment. The actions of the anthropomorphic animals that now rule Manor Farm represent the human society as a whole. Animal Farm by George Orwell is a novel which contains syntax that exemplifies power and hierarchies and diction that portrays character’s will and intention.
Napoleon stops making appearances to the other animals and makes a deal with Mr. Whymper to sell 400 eggs a week. Napoleon also gets some animals to confess of wrong doings and then “makes examples of them,” by killing them.
Napoleon, a pig, does not participate that much in the revolution. It is after the revolution that Napoleon starts taking power into his own hands. He operates through cruelty and betrayal. Take his little private army for example. When Napoleon takes nine puppies from their parents and begins raising them himself, no one knows why until the dogs suddenly appear, fully grown, to chase Snowball off the farm. What happens is, Napoleon demands that various animals make false, public confessions about how they are traitors or how they used to be in league with Jones. As these confessions went on, Napoleon order the dogs to kill them. The dogs rip the animals' throats out and drag them onto a pile of corpse. When jones was the owner of the farm, there has been no incident like this. Napoleon's cruelty leads him to power but also leads him to killing more animals than the humans. The revolution did not make life better for the animals except for the pigs. If anything, it made life more worst and depressing having to see friends and family killed for a false
Napoleon had committed many crimes in his past, but his greatest crime was transforming into a character similar to Mr. Jones. After trading with humans, he changed mentally and physically. While controlling the farm, Napoleon lacked interest of Old Major’s belief of the flourishing of the animals. He never thought of Old Major as an inspiration, but he never realized how acting like a dictator can make him convert into one. First, he would build up the other pigs of the farm and destroyed the rest of the comrade animals.
against tyranny, but to establish himself as a tyrant. His greatest crime is his complete transformation into a ‘human’, although Napoleon. is harsher than Jones ever was. By replacing the name ‘Animal Farm’.
Animal Farm is just simply about power in different political ideals and what it does to those that yield it. Lord Acton once said in a letter that: "power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely, good men are always bad men. George Orwell did an excellent job in portraying this reality through the animals of Animal Farm. BIBLIOGRAPHY Orwell, George; Animal Farm (Great Britain: Martin Secker & Warburg, 1945 Meyers, Jeffrey; A reader's guide to George Orwell (London: Thomas & Hudson, 1975)
"Animal Farm" was a book written by George Orwell where animals at "Manor Farm" create "Animalism", where all animals can be free from the enslavement of humans. The pigs end up being in charge, but soon Napoleon, one of the pigs, slowly changes the idea of Animalism to Totalitarianism. The book was meant to warn the democratic west that Totalitarianism would bring terrible outcomes, such as poor working conditions, brutality, and the killing of others, although the worst among these is inequality. Although the threats made by Napoleon was an important cause of some negative outcomes, such as poor living conditions and the killing of others, the leading cause of totalitarianism was that the animals were unintelligent, so they were easy to
He abuses his powers by changing the commandments that were written before he became in charge. He would change them to make them more beneficial for him and the pigs. In the book he also gives the other animals roles and jobs that they have to do. Napoleon orders the animals to do more work on the farm and receive lesser rations of food. Napoleon is using his power to turn the animals into work horses.
And example of this is “By seeming friendly to with Pilkington, he had forced Frederick to raise his price by twelve pounds. But the superior quality of Napoleon’s mind, said Squealer, was shown in the fact that he trusted nobody, not even Frederick. Frederick had wanted to pay for the timber with something called a cheque, which it seems, was a piece of paper with a promise to pay written upon it. But Napoleon was too clever for him,” (31). This is just one example of Napoleon’s cunning ways to get what he wants, and this was not directed towards the animals. This also illustrates that if Napoleon can be this sly and cunning such a simple situation, his effect is much bigger and greater when he is involved in a complicated and larger situation. Stated in the story, “Someone said it was the smell of barley. The animals sniffed the air hungrily and wondered whether a warm mash was being prepared for their supper… no warm mash appeared, and on the following Sunday it was announced that from now onward, all barley would be reserved for the pigs...And the news soon leaked out that every pig was now receiving a ration of a pint of beer daily, with half a gallon for Napoleon himself…” (36). Although this example is not very significant, it easily shows Napoleon’s potential to menacingly manipulate the animals. In another time in the story, the patch of land reserved for retired animals is
Napoleon was known for ruling over others and acting superior as well as selfish. He enjoyed the power he knew he had over the other animals and he took things for his own personal benefit, no matter who it hurt. Napoleon treated his fellow animals as if he were a monarch. He was a murderer, a liar, a thief, and an abundance of other traits. In addition to all of these things, Napoleon is also one of the reasons for Animal Farm’s
From the very beginning, Napoleon started breaking the commandment that stated all animals are equal. He had all the milk and apples set aside for the pigs. He put forth the idea that the pigs depended on these things for survival, and that it was in the interest of the entire farm that they be set aside for them. The others were convinced by Squealer’s arguments that
Napoleon was a leader who led with an iron fist. A fist he used to secretly abuse his fellow animal. He began by raising several ferocious dogs to aid him in enforcing his rules, laws, and expectations. Using them, he abruptly ended Snowballs reign by using the dogs to exile him from the farm. Shortly after, he halted the construction of the windmill. More often than not he would cleverly work his way around the seven commandments by altering them to his pleasure. For example, 'Now animal shall drink alcohol to excess.'; Or 'No animal shall sleep in a bed with sheets.'; Napoleon grounded the rations of each and every animal. The farm slowly fell into a dark abyss with every wretched move Napoleon made.
One way he was selfish was, throughout the book even when the other animals were starving he always got plenty food . For example page)One day, the order went forth that all the windfalls were to be collected and brought to the harness room for the use of the pigs,”(35). This is an example of abuse of power because he is going against the foundation of animalism based upon equality for all the animals on the farm. He knew perfectly well that he could take all the food he could ever want from the animals and they would never be able to do anything about it. Through this Napoleon and the pigs created a distinction between them and the other animals, destroying the emphasis on equality and community, and being consumed by self interest and desire for power ruining
Napoleon believes that pigs are that of a superior race and that all animals, no matter how powerful in strength, are inferior to their genius. He is able to establish a ruling built off of violence and deceit. Napoleon, the fascist ruler over Animal Farm, is not only an appalling leader for the animals but also presents multiple examples on how his cruelty exceeds that of Farmer Jones’. Napoleon’s actions grow worse, going from working the animals endlessly to growing victim to the lowest of human traits, and even playing judge, jury, and executioner towards the seemingly guilty. Napoleon’s ruthlessness makes Jones look like a benevolent farmer in comparison but, unfortunately, many of the animals are too naïve to notice.
Without the rural setting of this farm, Napoleon would not have been able get the power he so desperately wanted through this revolt. The revolt would not have occurred if this novel had been set in an urban area or city, which in result would stop Napoleon from leading this group of confused animals and gaining his overwhelming power over them. Napoleon was only happy looking over and down at the less intelligent animals. If he was some how forced to be on the same level as the other animals, who knows what would have come of him.