How Napoleon Takes and Maintains Control Of Animal Farm in George Orwell's Novel
George Orwell's character Napoleon is a very clever and sly animal. He
uses several methods to take and maintain control of the farm. His
primary methods are by using fear, by exploiting the animal and by
bending the rules. Napoleon uses is intellect to good effect as far as
self-interest is concerned.
Napoleon instills fear as a way of giving the animal no chance to
argue about what he says. This allows him to run the farm in his own
manner and gives him a more confortable life than the other animals.
Early on in Animal Farm, Napoleon takes Jessie and Bluebells nine
newborn puppies. These puppies become the forefront of his campaign of
fear. He uses them to gain power by eliminating his nemesis, Snowball
"They dashed straight for Snowball…he slipped through a hole in the
hedge and was seen no more." Also, Napoleon used the dogs in the
public forum he created by setting an example of what would happen to
those animals who chose to disobey him. When it was revealed that some
of the animals had done things to side with the Snowball, Napoleon
executed them in front of everyone else. Orwell's character Squealer
was given a great ability to speak, this helped Napoleon get out of
sticky situations and inscribe fear into the animals' heads all at
once. When any of the animals questioned any of Napoleons actions, he
would confuse the animals with his intellect but would do it in a
cunning way by asking, "Surely Comrades, you do not want Jones back?"
By using this persuasive rhetorical question, the animals wouldn't
question what it was Jones had done and woul...
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...trol. The book is based on the Russian Revolution with Napoleon
representing the dictator, Stalin. Towards the end, Animal Farm looses
its democracy. Napoleon used other animals such as Squealer to
maintain control and did not give ant of the other animals a say in
what went on. This allows Napoleons self-interest to be fuelled by the
power that comes to him. To keep that power Napoleon engraves fear
into the animals' minds, exploits their hard work and bends the rules
to suit his needs. He uses militaristic tactics such as biding his
time for example when he waits until Snowballs windmill plans are
finalised before using them himself. This again ties in with the
Russian revolution. Orwell uses Napoleon to express his view on Stalin
in the ways that he keeps and maintains control of animal farm as
Stalin did of Russia.
“Power doesn't corrupt people, people corrupt power” (William Gaddis). This quote describes the leadership of Napoleon in Animal Farm because as a leader, he was dishonest to the animals in order to do what he wanted without their consent and was using his power to his advantage. The book Animal Farm, written by George Orwell, is about the Russian Revolution that began on March 8, 1917. It was a revolution in Russia that dismantled Czar Nicholas II and established the Soviet Union. In Animal Farm, it has many references to what occurred in the revolution such as the hens rebelling, the public executions that were led by Napoleon, and the trade between Frederick and Napoleon. In order to know how the events in Animal Farm compare to Russian
He uses several methods to take over the farm and keep up control by forces all the animal to do his dirty work for him. His primary methods are by using fear, by exploiting the animal and by bending the rules. Napoleon uses his intellect to good effect as far as self-interest is concerned. Napoleon instills fear as a way of giving the animal no chance to argue about what he says. This allows him to run the farm in his own way and gives him a more comfortable life than the other animals. These puppies become the forefront of his campaign of fear as he uses them to gain power by eliminating his nemesis, Snowball “They dashed straight for Snowball...he slipped through a hole in the hedge and was seen no more” (Orwell 28). Napoleon lies to all the animals that Snowball destroy the windmill but he was the real one who did it and he makes the dogs to chase Snowball always. It is just like Stalin did to his partner Trotsky and use his power to killed the Trotsky it is just like Napoleon did to
In George Orwell’s Animal Farm, the pigs take over Manor Farm and dominate the weaker animals by using a combination of strength, fear, and trickery. This book is an allegory to the Russian Revolution, which led to Josef Stalin’s rise to power and the beginning of his dictatorship. In the novel Farmer Jones symbolizes Czar Nicholas II and Napoleon symbolizes Josef Stalin. The animals overthrow their dictator, Farmer Jones, and eventually end up replacing him with another dictator, Napoleon the pig. Napoleon demonstrates how the other farm animals’ weakness can be dominated by strength, fear, and trickery, revealing one of George Orwell’s themes.
...d have his rations reduced by half” (Page 40). Here, Napoleon’s forces the animals to work and controls them while hiding behind the façade of the fact that the work is voluntary. Thus, Napoleon does not set himself as a target for the animals and, hence the animals do not aim for him or try to revolt. Overall, Napoleon’s use of coercive power allows him to exercise control over the society of Animal Farm.
Throughout the novel, the most prominent way that Napoleon gained power was through controlling the education that the animals received. In the beginning of the novel, Snowball believes in educating all of the animals on Animal Farm, young and old, by trying to organize committees and instituting classes devoted to reading and writing (page 39). However, Napoleon openly states that educating the young is more important that the old. When Jessie and Bluebell have puppies, Napoleon takes them away and secludes them from the rest of Animal Farm to teach them on his own (41). Throughout the novel, after Snowball's removal, education becomes less and less important, and pigs and dogs are the only animals really being taught anything. This comes in handy for Napoleon as he begins to make "adjustments" to the rules that Animal Farm is based upon, such as drinking alcohol, sleeping in beds, and walking on two legs. The fact that the animals can't do math is an advantage as well when Squealer starts reeling off facts and figures about rations and death rates and other nonsense (105).
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!” ( )
Napoleon is an extremely deceitful character in numerous ways. For example, Napoleon tricks the animals into thinking concepts that are not true. “Throughout the whole period of his seeming friendship with Pilkington, Napoleon had really been in a secret agreement with Frederick,” (31). This shows that Napoleon lied to the animals about which farm he was going to sell wood to. Furthermore, this also illustrates that the animals might not trust Napoleon if he continues to lie to them. Additionally, Napoleon is an untruthful menace who will do nothing to help the farm or the animals. “Day and night we are watching over your welfare. It is for YOUR sake that we drink that milk and eat those apples,” (12). This shows that Napoleon is trying to
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
In chapter 6 it states “You would not have us too tired to carry out our duties?... The animals reassured him at this point immediately, and no more was said about the pigs sleeping in the farmhouse beds.” So with all the animals believing that nothing is wrong and them not knowing anything on the powerful moves that napoleon is doing it keeps them at peace and causes nothing to go completely wrong just
What's worse, Napoleon came to constantly use Snowball to shift the blame on every small mishap on the farm. For example, when the windmill was first destroyed by the tornado, Napoleon blamed it on Snowball. Also, Snowball was blame for destroying farm property, mixing foods with weeds, and secretly conspiring with human, which was strictly prohibited by animal law. However, the accusations were never proven true, as Snowball was never heard from again since his expulsion.
Often times in a communist society, a leader’s use of language can lead to abuse of power. In George Orwell’s Animal Farm, the farm leaders, the pigs, use unknown language, invoke scare tactics, and create specific laws, thereby enabling them to control other animals, to suit their greedy desires, and to perform actions outside their realm of power. Because of the pigs’ use of broad language, implementation of scare tactics, and creation and manipulation of laws, they are able to get away with avoiding laws and convincing other animals into believing untrue stories and lies that are beneficial to the pigs.
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.
From a political perspective, this intriguing satirical novella greatly uses symbolism by carefully modeling the characterization of the animals to fit its target whilst avoiding stepping on the toes of the intended personage. By modeling each character in their place, you will stumble upon Napoleon, a direct replica of the Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. Napoleon is the main antagonist of George Orwell's Animal Farm. He is a large fierce-looking Berkshire boar and t...
The author of the novel “Animal Farm” George Orwell once wrote “every line of serious work that I have written since 1936 has been against totalitarianism”. Similarly “Animal Farm” also highlight about the totalitarianism. As all other revolutions, the revolution of animal farm also arises with the dream for a better and more perfect society which transfers in to a totalitarian night mare with the urge for the power in the minds of animals, who symbolizes the people who live in society. “Animal Farm is a satirical allegory of Soviet totalitarianism during the Stalin era. In the novel Orwell uses pigs to represent the ruling class and throughout the story he represent how the ruling class people spread and improve their power employing pigs as the characters.
In 1945 George Orwell published his allegorical novel, Animal Farm. Although this satire primarily addressed the Bolshevik revolution in 1917, Orwell’s larger critique was at the root of totalitarianism. Through the destruction of the Soviet myth, Orwell hoped to revive socialist movements and expose the dangers of propaganda in a enlighten society. Many present ideas are expressed about culture and place that depict the time period of the represented in Animal Farm. Cultural ideas such as tyranny replacing tyranny, totalitarianism, class warfare and language as power are portrayed throughout the novel. George Orwell’s Animal Farm endorses ideas held by society about the Russian Revolution. He wrote this novella to bout against the idea of totalitarianism or total government control of the low, working classes that were controlled in the Russian Revolution.