Animal Farm Napoleon's Reign Essay

Napoleon’s Reign

How would you feel if one day you woke up and your co-worker decided to take over the position that your boss should assume? That is how the animals of Animal Farm felt when their “comrade” Napoleon took control of the farm. In the book Animal Farm, by George Orwell, the animals thought that once they got rid of their mean, old, Farmer Jones they could begin a farm on their own where everyone would be equal and work equally. This was their thought of Animalism, but everything went downhill when a pig, Napoleon, came to power. Orwell’s purpose for writing this book was as an allegory, of Russia, under the cruel leadership of Joseph Stalin who treated the underclass Russians as trash. Napoleon’s rise to power was quick and easy with his use of propaganda and fear, easily manipulating the animals.

To rise to power Napoleon used force and fear in order to win the animals over. It was not the best way to do it, but it worked. Throughout the book the pigs always showed leadership, but Napoleon slowly began to show more power. He took away

Jessie’s puppies and raised them as a defense system, putting them against anyone who challenged him. “But suddenly the dogs sitting round Napoleon let out deep, menacing growls, and the pigs fell silent and sat down again”(Orwell 54-55). This was a common sight that always got the animals calmed and quiet. The dogs helped Napoleon rule as he did. Without the force and fear of the dogs, Napoleon never would have risen to power as he did, his power would be equal to that of the other pigs.
With Napoleon’s rise to power, he also abused that power in any way he could, one of which was card stacking. Napoleon would put Snowball down and make him look like the bad guy in order to make himself look better. Many animals believed the things Napoleon said, but others did not. It could be said that Napoleon was a bit paranoid that Snowball would come back or that he, himself would be overthrown. In result of this, if he felt that someone was secretly working with Snowball he had them killed. “Without any further prompting they confessed that they had been secretly in touch with Snowball…the dogs promptly tore their throats out, and Napoleon demanded whether any other had anything to confess”(Orwell 83-84). Along with those killings were many more until Napoleon felt secure in his power. The insecurity of his power led him to abuse his power so no animals would attempt to go back and follow the leadership of Snowball.
The major way Napoleon abused his power was by taking advantage of the animals’ ignorance.

All of the animals attempted to learn how to read, but many failed so they just tried to memorize things like the Seven Commandments. Napoleon was aware of this so he changed the Commandments as he pleased to justify his wrong doings. “They had thought the Fifth Commandment was ‘no animal shall drink alcohol’, but there were two words that they had forgotten. Actually the Commandment read, ‘no animal shall drink alcohol to excess’” (Orwell 109). The animals had never actually forgotten, but because they always followed the leadership of the pigs, they assumed the pigs were always right. By the end of the book almost all of the Commandments were changed in a similar matter, putting the pigs closer to the Humans. Napoleon abused his power in order to get things to go the way he wanted and manipulated the animals in order to do

so.
In conclusion, Napoleon’s reign over Animal Farm was easy for him and harsh on the animals because of their ignorance. If more animals could have read and were confident in their intelligence, then Napoleon would not have been able to take control so easily. Many of the animals knew the Commandments correctly, but they had been dependent on the pigs for so long that they believed whatever they said to be true, and never questioned them. The fear that had been instilled in the animals also caused them to keep quiet. Napoleon’s actions were much like tyrant leaders such as Stalin, who took advantage of his leadership. To avoid this, people have to be confident in their knowledge and never be afraid to ask questions.