Leadership In Animal Farm

Throughout history, the world has seen many forms of government and multiple types of leaders and their leadership styles. One of the styles that has had the biggest impact on the world has been tyranny. Examples of this are Hitler in Germany, and Stalin in Russia. In George Orwell’s Animal Farm, the animals that live on Manor Farm want their freedom, so they overthrow the tyrannical government headed by Mr. Jones, but the new Animal Farm was not a success due to its new leader, Napoleon. No matter who the leader was or what the leadership style was, Animal farm was always doomed to fail because of human nature, strength of mind, and a fear factor.

Animal Farm could not have succeeded due to human nature, or in this case, Animal Nature

because it is always there and it is inevitable. In Animal Farm, the animals are tired of the tyranny and fear that they live under. They decided that their only choice is overthrow the “government” which in this case is Mr. Jones. After a small battle, the animals finally have their freedom. They thought that they would be able to live free of leaders and with only seven rules. But, Napoleon’s human/animal nature begins to take-over and he wants power. It is human nature to be selfish and greedy. “The pigs did not actually work, but directed and supervised the others. With their superior knowledge, it was natural that they should assume the leadership.”(57) Men naturally assume that they are better than the person next to them and that they should be in charge. The pigs, Napoleon and Snowball, thought of themselves as superior to the other animals. The pig’s human nature is what caused them to think themselves above all others. “That, he said, was Napoleon’s cunning. He had seemed to oppose the windmill simply as a manoeuvre to get rid of Snowball, who was a dangerous character and a bad influence.”(58). Napoleon’s human nature as as evident as ever right here. When he realized what he could do with his power, he wanted more. Snowball posed a threat to his power so he had to get rid of him. “We pigs are brainworkers. The whole management and organization of this farm depends on us. Day and night we watch over your welfare. It is for your sake that we drink that milk and eat those apples.”(36) Human nature compels people to lie when they don’t want anybody to know what they are secretly doing. Squealer and Napoleon lie to all the animals throughout the story. Napoleon’s human nature is also what caused him to change the seven commandments. He changed them so he could benefit. Once the pigs tried alcohol, the commandment was changed from “No animal shall drink alcohol” to “No animal shall drink alcohol to excess.” The pigs enjoyed alcohol but they didn’t want the other animals seeing them break the commandments. The animals trusted Napoleon and all of their loyalty was with him. Napoleon knew that if the animals saw him changing the commandments or breaking them then they would become distrustful of him and he would lose all his power. The human nature within people compels them to lie to cover-up a lie, and do things that will only benefit themselves and not others. Human nature is inevitable just like the failure of Animal Farm.

Human nature and strength of mind go hand-in-hand when talking about the inevitable failure of Animal Farm. When somebody gains power, they want to keep that power. The best way to do that is to manipulate people. In Animal Farm, Napoleon uses his intelligence and his influence over the rest of the animals to keep his power and gain more.“Napoleon is always right”(61) Boxer has such a deep faith in Napoleon that he developes a new maxim. He believes that whatever Napoleon says must be right because Squealer and Napoleon have given them false hope and faith in him. Napoleon influences the weak-minded so that they will believe that he is good and everything he says is right. “All that year, the animals worked like slaves. But they were happy in their work; they grudged no effort or sacrifice, well aware that everything they did was for the benefit of themselves and those of their kind who came after them.”(59) Napoleon has convinced the animals that their back-breaking work was for their own benefit. The animals believed him because he manipulates them. “There was no thought of rebellion or disobedience in her mind. She knew that, even as things were, they were far better off than they had been in the days of Jones, and that before all else it was needful to prevent the return of the human beings. Whatever happened she would remain faithful, work hard, carry out the orders that were given to her and accept the leadership of Napoleon.”(87) Napoleon had convinced the animals of something they didn’t do and got them to confess to having communication with Snowball so he could show his power and extend his fear factor by public execution. The animals were manipulated by Napoleon and Squealer, and they were told that everything that happened was for the benefit of the farm, and all the animals. They were told that Napoleon’s leadership was necessary to prevent the return of the humans. In reality, having a human run the farm, would have been more beneficial but the animals were to weak-minded to realize what was going on. The animals with the weakest minds can be manipulated easily and will follow any leader blindly. Molly, a horse, was loyal to Mr. Jones because he gave her sugar cubes and put ribbons in her hair. Molly was weak-minded because she couldn’t realize that the bad that Mr. Jones did far out-weighed the good. The rest of the animals were too weak minded to see that Napoleon was a bad leader because they were just focused on how Napoleon managed to get rid of Jones and Snowball.Instead, they should have been focused on how he turned dogs into his personal killing machines, how the farm was losing food and money, and how the only thing the was benefiting from Napoleon’s rule was Napoleon himself. Animal Farm will not succeed under any leadership because there are always those who will be simple followers and those who are too weak-minded to realize when they are being manipulated.

The weak-minded are even easier to influence when there is a fear factor.

The main reason that Animal Farm did not and can not succeed is because there is always a fear factor that will be put into play. Napoleon’s biggest weapon was his ability to inflict fear. ”Napoleon acted swiftly and ruthlessly. He ordered the hens’ rations to be stopped, and decreed that any animal giving so much as a grain of corn to a hen should be punished by death,”(76). When the hens’ refused Napoleon,everybody else was too afraid of Napoleon to stand up to him to help them.“Since Jones had left the farm, until today, no animal had killed another animal.”(85) Napoleon had begun slaughtering any animal that refused him, and any animal that confessed to having interaction with Snowball. He realized that some of the animals were beginning to question him and realize that he might have been the wrong choice for a leader. Napoleon needed to keep his power and influence so he used his trained dogs to kill all that refused him. “These scenes of terror and slaughter were not what they had looked forward to on the night when Old Major first stirred them to rebellion. If she herself had any picture of the future, it had been of animals set free from hunger and the whip, all equal, each working according to his capacity, the strong protecting the weak.”(86) Clover finally realized how bad things around the farm had gotten, yet she said nothing because of her fear of Napoleon and his abilities to harm

animals. Leaders who take power by force will do whatever they can to keep their power, that includes striking fear. In a time of desperation, anyone who rises up and says they can help, seems like the best choice because they are the only choice. Napoleon said that he could change the farm for everyone. He changed it, just not in the way that Old Major and the rest of the animals wanted but with Napoleon being the only animal that offered to take the power, nobody refused him. Even if Animal Farm had a different leader, it could not have succeeded because fear is one of the most effective ways for tyrants to hold their power and status.
Human nature, strength of mind, and fear factors are the reasons why Animal Farm did not succeed under Napoleon’s leadership.

They are also the reasons why it could not succeed under any other leadership. In Animal Farm, perspectives from multiple animals are shown. A new leader would have an impact on the farm but not a big enough impact to change the success of Animal Farm. Once human nature took over, the fear factor would present itself in the leader as a way of keeping absolute power. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. History shows many examples of government power corrupting, no matter what the style is. Government corruption is inevitable just like the failure of Animal

Farm.