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Animal Farm Essay Lord Acton, the British historian once said, “Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely.” In the novel Animal Farm by George Orwell, the author gives many examples of how power is used to manipulate and produce fear. In this book the main character, Napoleon, became a master of using various tactics to gain and maintain power over the rest of the animals. Napoleon used propaganda, manipulation and fear to gain more loyalty and power throughout the farm.
Napoleon uses propaganda to persuade the animals in his favor and to change history. He is able to use propaganda effectively because he has the brains to do so and has the power to make the other animals believe it. He knows that the other animals are not as
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Napoleon often used his main sidekick, Squealer, to help in is manipulation efforts. Napoleon knew that the animals looked up to Squealer. He was very well spoken and talked in a hypnotic voice. For example, when the farmers begin to attack the farm, Napoleon yells out, "Impossible!" cried Napoleon. "We have built the walls far too thick for that. They could not knock it down in a week. Courage, comrades!" (Orwell, ch7). Napoleon convinces the animals to attack and keep Napoleon safe from danger. He would use his words to hearten the animals in doing what he says. Napoleons words really made them forget about fear and keep fighting. The animals had a lot of trust in him already so it wasn’t hard for them to be convinced. Before the battle had started Napoleon announced, “in a terrible voice pronounced the death sentence upon Frederick. When captured, he said, Frederick should be boiled alive” (Orwell, ch6). At the beginning Napoleon uses his speeches to convince the animals that Frederick is their friend. Now, Napoleon gives Frederick a death sentence and they now believe that he is the enemy. Napoleons words made them convinced to fight even before the battle had actually happened. Napoleon was a master manipulator. Whether it was through the use of his sidekick or through his own lies, he knew how to manipulate the truth to gain power over the animals, yet Napoleon uses one …show more content…
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
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
First of all, Napoleon and the pigs used propaganda to tell lies the animals would
“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
..., wearing clothes, drinking alcohol, and engaging in trade. He even resorts to tyrannizing and killing his own kind. When Napoleon distorts the constitution he uses trickery and propaganda to persuade the other animals of its importance, and when this fails he uses fear. In the end, the animals become weak and Napoleon dominates them with his strength using fear and trickery as his tools.
He appointed Squealer who was his spokes person to transmit his ideas and finally pass his decisions to the rest of the animals. I can say that Squealer was Napoleon’s best weapon to use propaganda as he knew that Squealer was a brilliant talker. To pass his decisions was easy because Squealer was a very persuasive speaker who always managed to convince the animals about the ideas Napoleon was supporting. He used difficult words when he wanted to confuse the animals.
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!” ( )
So it would be reasonable for the animals not to stand up and say something to their “great” leader. An example of how Napoleon scares the animals into doing what he wants is by having the big dogs around him all the time. Those dogs were trained by Napoleon to be his guard dogs and whenever any animals did something wrong, the dogs would kill them alive in front of everyone. There was one occasion where some animals confessed to doing wrong and got their heads ripped off in front of everyone. Instead of the animals telling Napoleon that his behavior is wrong, the animals blame themselves for not working hard enough and due to this, their comrades have been killed. They blame themselves because they are afraid that if they blame Napoleon, then the same thing will happen to them as their past friends. Also once the pigs assume leadership, Fear is then used by the propaganda master Squealer when he stresses to the animals that they have to struggle in order to avoid Jones' return. Squealer uses the fear of Jones as sort of the ending to all arguments if any animal voices their discontent about life under the pigs. Orwell demonstrates that political regimes often use tools such as playing on fear as a way to consolidate their own power and ensure that there will not be any questioning of their ways. This is very much shown through the
In order to secure a life of luxury for he and his fellow pigs, Napoleon, along with Squealer as his spokesman, uses language that intimidates, language that distorts the truth, and language that appeals to the emotions of the others to manipulate the gullible animals of Animal Farm. Napoleon's life of luxury included the milk, human beds, alcohol, money, a par education, and the surrounding of his fellow pigs to emotionally and physically stabilize him. However it tampered with a more crucial goal, which was the goal for the equivalent animals lesser than him to prosper equally with him as well. His abuse of his absolute power by ordering his guard dogs to drive his adversary out of competition, and his tactics to silence the animals from rebelling again made his leadership corrupt, and the entire existence of the post-rebellion corrupt as well.
Manor Farm is a large farm located in Willingdon, England. Mr. Jones, the owner of the farm is a tyrant person that treats the animal of the farm bad. He drinks too much and doesn’t really care about the farm, “Mr. Jones of the farm, had locked the hen-houses for the night, but was
Napoleon’s method of victimizing the animals with his physiological attacks allows for his control over Animal Farm and its animal population. Napoleon initially bombards the animals with propaganda and thus conditions and enslaves them to his subjective ideals. Afterward, Napoleon’s implement of expert power overwhelms the animals and subjugates them to him. Finally, the animals are controlled by Napoleon as they are besieged with his coercive powers. Overall,
By first using propaganda to persuade the animals that Snowball was an enemy, Napoleon’s rise to power began. Snowball was Napoleon’s only real threat to assuming leadership. In the story, the two pigs always disagreed with each other. 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. The animals believed Squealer and thought that Snowball was only trouble on the farm. They later suspected that S...
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.
Napoleon, the pigs’ leader and ultimately the dictator of Animal Farm, recruits an army of dogs by kidnapping them at birth and raising them to be “huge…and as fierce-looking as wolves.” (p. 53) They, too, were blindly loyal to Napoleon, but their brainwashing ran far deeper, and they possessed the strength to keep others in line. They “[keep] close to Napoleon” (p. 53) at all times, and strike down his enemies. Having not only blindly loyal followers but an army of them truly gives Napoleon the power to do anything, and he abuses it, which is yet again a warning from Orwell of what happens when one has too much power. This is exemplified on page 84, when Napoleon calls forward animals whom he says are traitors and the dogs are seen “[tearing] their throats out.” Napoleon is also seen using his army even against his fellow pigs, in order to obtain more power (which in turn leads to more corruption, per Orwell’s warning) for himself. Napoleon’s fellow leader, Snowball, possessed too much power for Napoleon’s liking, and so Napoleon had his dogs “[dash] at Snowball…[with] their snapping jaws.” (p. 53) They then chased Snowball “through a hole in the hedge” at the edge of the farm, and Snowball is never seen again. Just as Stalin “eliminated” Leon
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.
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