How Does Orwell Present Human Nature In Animal Farm

Human Nature, from an Animal

“Thoughts turn into actions. Actions turn into habits. Habits turn into life. - Doe Zantamata” The animals in George Orwell’s Animal Farm all form habits throughout the fable that affect their lives on numerous levels. Napoleon, the lead pig, relays multiple examples of power corruption through his actions and words. Another way Orwell expresses human nature is through Muriel the goat. Muriel represents intelligent labor in the same ways as Napoleon characterizes his trait, through actions and words. Orwell expresses the merits and drawbacks of human nature through numerous characters in Animal Farm, particularly through Napoleon who represents the corruption of power and Muriel who holds the power of literacy.

Napoleon used other people such as Boxer and Squealer to uplift his reputation with the other animals. Napoleon uses the propaganda techniques of imagery and sentiment through Boxer’s hard work and strength. When Boxer gets injured in the Battle of the Windmill he still continues to exhaust himself towards rebuilding the windmill. (Orwell 106) Napoleon uses Boxer’s naive hard work as a standard or prop to prompt the other animals to be hard respectful workers like Boxer. This only works due to the fact that Napoleon notices the animals reverence toward Boxer. Secondly, Napoleon changed more than half of the Seven Commandments that he established after the death of Old Major. Napoleon takes the majority of the animal's inability to read and recollect past events to better himself. Through the changing of the laws, readers interpret Napoleon’s sense of higher power over the other animals. Lastly, Napoleon uses Squealer to hide his true intentions. Squealer uses glittering generality on many occasions. When Napoleon gave the pigs a higher ration than the other animals he use his sidekick to give the animals a sense of hope that their rations were actually being increased by saying they were being “readjusted” (112). This false sense of hope gave Napoleon the people’s trust, which ended up getting them stabbed in the back, literally and figuratively. Napoleon used his vice to create power and respect for himself from the other animals, even if it hurt them. However, not all the animals on Animal Farm were as ignorant to the signs of corruption, such as