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Characterization of animal farms by George Orwell
Characterization of animal farms by George Orwell
Analysis,themes and characterization of Animal Farm by George Orwell
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Every leader needs a follower, even the most ruthless of them all. In the novel, Animal Farm by George Orwell, we see the Manor Farm transition from a farm with a cruel human master to the Animal Farm with a cruel animal leader. That ruler is Napoleon and he craves the attention and the status of high power, Napoleon achieves this status with the help of another animal named Squealer. With the help of Squealer’s convincing words, Napoleon is able to have the animals blindly following him not knowing the true evil he is. The behavior of both Napoleon and his loyal follower, Squealer, contribute in the destruction of the freedom and equality on the farm by treating the animals like slaves, executing animals without proper cause, and alternating …show more content…
The animals hereby obey to Napoleon’s every command so when told to immediately work on a project that would take up to two years to complete, the animals have no choice but to comply. Orwell states,“This work was strictly voluntary, but any animal who absented himself from it would have his rations reduced by half”(45). This quote suggests how the animals were threatened to work sixty hours a week including on Sundays. Yes, the animals’ punishment is to eat half they are given, however, the animal’s rations are small to begin with. By Napoleon doing this, he is starving the animals. Napoleon is already classified as a force not to be reckoned with ever since he banished Snowball. The animals are forced to work like this and although they claim to be happy and that they are doing this for their own selves, Squealer was the one who persuaded the animals to follow Napoleon in the first place. Is happiness truly evoked in these animals for working their lives …show more content…
Despite the fact that Napoleon did not directly terminate the “traitors”, he is still responsible for their deaths. Orwell writes, “They were all slain on the spot. And so the tale of confessions and executions went on, until there was a pile of corpses lying before Napoleon’s feet and the air was heavy with the smell of blood…”(61). This quote illustrates the gruesome results of the animal executions. The animals were killed in the first place for claiming that Snowball visited their dreams and told them to destroy Napoleon’s plans. For Napoleon to be the leader of all of these animals, the audience would expect him to listen to more explanations from them because he should care for his people as a good leader should. Instead, without hesitation, Napoleon kills the animals for their almost over dramatic claims. Squealer, of course, comes into the picture again suggesting to the animals that all of Napoleon’s doings are always correct.The animals are too ignorant to see the true outfold of the situation that they are in yet still manage to listen. The subjects Animal Farm are still afraid of saying anything that will question Napoleon’s right to rule, thus preventing the animal’s entitlement to speak for what they
“Besides, in those days they had been slaves and now they were free, and that made all the difference, as Squealer did not fail to point out” (Orwell 116). In George Orwell’s Animal Farm, after the animals had taken over Manor Farm, Napoleon took power with comrade Squealer as his wingman. They were determined to make what was now Animal Farm a better place. However, farm life really wasn’t any better now. Squealer always reminded them of the olden days and how they had been enslaved and now they were free, but really, they were not free with a ruler like Napoleon. The animals just always agreed and happily continued to work in their “free” state of living. Squealer knew exactly what he was doing and was very deceitful with every word that
Two specific quotes support the opinion that Napoleon is the most negative behaved animal in Animal Farm. “...Napoleon stood up and... uttered a high-pitched whimper... and nine enormous dogs... came bounding into the barn. They dashed straight for Snowball”(52,53). This quote tells just a little bit about how dangerous Napoleon can be. He raised the dogs from birth saying that he would be responsible for their “education”, when truly he was training them to help him take over the farm. He had them attack Snowball because he was the only one standing in the way of him taking over the farm. “When they finished their confession, the dogs promptly tore their throats out, and in a terrible voice Napoleon demanded whether any other animal had anything to confess”(84). In this quote Napoleon had animals killed in a terrible way. They had their throats torn out for something they didn’t do. They confessed only because of the stress, everyone would believe their leader Napoleon over the animals that confessed. When Old Major first started the revolution he said that no animal should ever kill another. Even when Napoleon and Snowball thought up the Seven Commandments they came up with “No animal shall kill any other animal” for the sixth commandment. There is no further evidence needed to confirm the fact that Napoleon is the most negative animal in Animal
The history of the human race follows a plot detailing the struggles and triumphs of various individuals with the concepts of power and control. In George Orwell’s novel, Animal Farm, these elaborate concepts are further explored through various characters such as the shire boar, Napoleon. Napoleon’s ability to exercise control over the animals derives from his capability to indoctrinate them with his partial ideologies. Napoleon then further clasps his power by his avail of expert power throughout the novel. Finally, the excessive and abusive use of coercive power, secures Napoleon’s control over the animals. In George Orwell’s Animal Farm Napoleon assumes the reins of power over the animals and controls them by means of physiological manipulations.
...llibility but more so Squealer’s half truths and perjury. Using their faults against them, he is able to confuse the animals and trick them into actions they would not have made if Squealer was truthful. On the other hand, Squealer was not the only one that prevents the animals from resisting Napoleon’s inequalities. He has the aid of Napoleon’s dogs, weaned from birth to be savage, and the easily manipulated sheep that constantly repeat sayings they hear or are taught, such as “four legs are good, two legs are better”. In reality, the propaganda-spreading supporters that Squealer allegorically represents were very important to Stalin. Without their aid, Stalin might not have become as notoriously important as he was. George Orwell creates a wonderful telling of Communism in his novella Animal Farm and through his writing, he is able to educate millions of people.
Napoleon had strong support system that consisted of most of the animals on the farm and everyone looked up to him. His strongest supporters were Squealer, the dogs, Boxer, and the sheep. Squealer did many things throughout the book that show his loyalty to Napoleon. Changing the commandments and being Napoleon’s voice were the main ways Squealer supported Napoleon ( ). The dogs were Napoleon’s way of using scare tactics and intimidation. They did anything that Napoleon commanded them to do. The dogs main impact on the story was when they chased Snowball off the farm and when they oversaw the slaughtering of all the animals ( ). “Napoleon is always right,” was Boxer’s motto and he always blindly supported Napoleon ( ). The sheep would save Napoleon when he did not know how to talk his way out of something by yelling out “four legs good, two legs bad!” ( )
Later in the novel, Squealer claims that Napoleon is a suitable leader for animal farm, and explains that Snowball is a traitor. Squealer supports this idea by comparing Snowball to Napoleon. The animals were confused on why Snowball was chased off the farm. One of the animal...
The animals cannot do anything because they are told to always live by those words. Napoleon used his power and made himself and the pigs have more power than the other animals. He only benefited himself and the
Napoleon would use fear to stop any arguments or dissent. Napoleon introduces his dogs by having them attack Snowball, and then, “He was running as only a pig can run, but the dogs were close on his heels. Suddenly he slipped and it seemed certain that they had him (Orwell, pg 35). Napoleons dogs would get rid of Snowball even when the words in propaganda could not effectively do so. Since this is the first incident the other animals do not know how to react to this situation. Snowball was only capable of running. The use of dogs created fear in all of the animals and made it very easy for Napoleon to ascend to the position of the leader of Animal Farm. Napoleon appeared to change countenance, and sharply ordered Boxer to let the dog go, whereat Boxer lifted his hoof, and the dog slunk away, bruised and howling” () Despite the dogs effectively use fear against the animals it didn’t always work as planned. This is why Napoleon had to get rid of Boxer. Napoleon uses the dogs’ violence to threaten the other animals as well as Boxers fate. Napoleon was a master of using fear to his advantage, and through this fear the other animals followed
“When they had finished their confession, the dogs promptly tore their throats out, and in a terrible voice Napoleon demanded whether any other animal had anything to confess. The three hens who had been the ringleaders in the attempted rebellion over the eggs now came forward and stated that snowball had appeared to them in a dream and incited them to disobey Napoleon’s orders. They, too, were slaughtered” (pg 93). Napoleon like other authoritarian dictators throughout history is executing all of his political rivals in order to prevent a revolution or uprising to occur and further cementing his regime in the Animal Farm society. In this passage as he is directly violating one of the laws that Animal Farm created (No animal shall ever kill any other animal). This law was created by the Animal Farm society in order to prevent chaos and corruptness in the Animal Farm government, which in turn means that the abolishment of this law causes corruptness to reach a new height. “the winter was as cold as the last one had been, and food was even shorter. Once again all rations were reduced, except those of the pigs and the dogs. A too rigid equality in rations, Squealer explained, would have been contrary to the principles of Animalism” (115). Napoleon’s regime has reduced rations on all of the citizens of Animal Farm except for the pigs and the dogs thus further amplifying the fact that everyone who isn’t a pig or a dog is a second class citizen who can’t vote, can’t sleep in the barn, and can’t eat as much. As Napoleon reached its most powerful state, it also reached its most corrupt state having inequality as a common recurring theme in the Animal Farm society and enemies of the state being publicly
In chapter 5 it says “At first no one had been able to imagine where these creatures came from.” The fact is these creatures chased Snowball off the farm, but the animals have had signs of Napoleon training the dogs for this but they chose to ignore it. Ths semi helped them as they did not get hurt but Snowball definitely was. Sometimes the messenger is so much the
First of all, Napoleon is a huge Berkshire boar and he clearly is the most powerful of all the animals. He was able to take complete leadership of the farm because he secretly trained the dogs to attack Snowball. George Orwell writes, “ ‘Never mind the milk, comrades!’ cried Napoleon, placing himself in front of the buckets. ‘That will be attended to, the harvest is more important’ (817). Napoleon is quite demanding none of the animal’s even question his authority because they know that he has more control than any other animal. Throughout the novel Orwell has many quotes that describe Napoleon as a leader, “ ‘long live Comrade Napoleon’ ” (846). All the animals on the farm (no matter what Napoleon did to them) would treat him as a powerful leader and whatever he said they would do. Often Orwell stirs up controversy about the rebellion, “ ‘forward in the name of the rebellion. ‘Long live Animal farm!’ ‘Long live Comrade Napoleon!’ ‘Napoleon is always right.’ Those were his very last words, comrades’ ” (849). Squealer’s letting everyone know that no matter what happens to Animal Farm, just remember that Napoleon was an outstanding leader most of the time. Napoleon was an outstanding leader and contributor to Animal Farm without his power the farm would have collapsed earlier.
Representing the Soviet Union and Propaganda department of Lenin's government (Animal Farm - Comparison of characters to the Russian Revolution 1), Squealer lies and manipulates the rest of the animals into believing Napoleon is good. Both a propagandist and Squealer are easily able to manipulate others into being gullible and obeying outrageous laws. With Squealer constantly showering the animals of the farm with lies about how wonderful Napoleon is when ,in reality, he’s malevolent, the pigs follow all of the given orders with no thought or hesitation. Because Squealer is so obedient towards his leader ,Napoleon, he is a great example for a propagandist. Though he is somewhat of a minor character throughout the novella, without the persuasion of Squealer, the rest of the animals would not have obeyed Napoleon's set laws which he himself
The other animals were divided equally in supporting either Snowball or Napoleon. By spreading the rumor that Snowball was a traitor, Napoleon was able to drive Snowball from the farm and become the leader of Animal Farm with no one to oppose him. Napoleon, with the help of Squealer, turned all the animals against Snowball. Squealer, who was a masterful manipulator, played an important part in convincing the animals that Snowball was an enemy. Naming Snowball as a “traitor”, Squealer played on the animals’ fear of humans and told them that Snowball had been a spy for the humans.
In George Orwell’s Animal Farm, a main theme is that power corrupts those who possess it. A definition of corruption is,“dishonest or fraudulent conduct by those in power, typically involving bribery.” Orwell develops this idea through the character Napoleon in various ways. Looking back in the book, the animal’s rebellion quickly turned political and revolved around, “Leader, Comrade Napoleon (Orwell 81)”. The power Napoleon possed was executed through lies and selfishness, aided by the lack of intellectual ability in the other animals. The corruption of Napoleon’s power is displayed when he favors himself, along with the other pigs, and eventually the dogs, who all get better rations of food compared to the other animals. Another main demonstration of how power corrupts Napoleon is how he separates himself from the other animals on the farm, displaying his feelings if superiority to the other animals. A ceremonial nature develops towards Napoleon. The last way power corrupts Napoleon is how he acts recklessly; killing other animals and lying about
He is also a coward by nature not much of a bigmouth or a braggart, but with a reputation for having his way in the sense that he does not put himself as the spearhead, instead with enthusiasm he decides to coach a litter of puppies belonging to Jessie and Bluebell. He trains this pack for his own good thereby making them his ferocious trustworthy soldiers, which he uses as a violent means of imposing his will on others. These helped him in hiding the notion of affluent living, which he reserved exclusively for himself whilst he operated through cruelty and treachery. Napoleon who was a spiteful tyrant by nature uses cunning oratory skills to spread propaganda and favorable support for him through the help of Squealer. Squealer is used as Napoleon’s own network for spreading beliefs; Squealer in this book possesses the power to manipulate the animals with his orating capabilities with great skill.