In the book Animal Farm, there is a character called Napoleon who is one of the main characters. This essay will be about how George Orwell portrays him as a leader and as a character. The book is an allegory for the Russian Revolution (8 Mar 1917 – 7 Nov 1917) and George Orwell created many similar characters in Animal Farm as those involved in the Russian Revolution. At the start of Napoleon’s time as leader he is shown to be encouraging to the other animals and they are taught to obey him without question. Throughout the book Napoleon is shown to be a clever conniving character but at the beginning he seems, to the animals, to be basing all his actions on the hope all the animals will be equal and safe. If ever the animals feel threatened, he will make sure he helps them to gain their trust. This is shown when the windmill is destroyed “We will teach this miserable traitor that he cannot undo our work so easily… Forward, comrades! Long live the windmill! Long live Animal Farm!”. He is quick to blame Snowball for the tragedy and exiles him; chasing him away with his army of ferocious dogs. This action is similar to that of Lenin toward Leon Trotsky, who was also a threat toward his power, in the Russian Revolution. By using the word “our” in context with “our work” Napoleon instils in the animals a further belief that he is their friend and he will work with them to promote Animalism. The audience, at this point, may be able to see that the animals are becoming entrapped even if the animals themselves do not. When Napoleon is fully accepted as leader by all the animals he becomes a little more confident and ruthless as he knows the animals dare not unite and protest. Napoleon shows his ‘true colours’ which are cruel and selfish. This is shown when the hens start to refuse to give their eggs up in rebellion. He “decreed that any animal giving so much as a grain of corn to a hen should be punished by death”. He also “acted quickly and ruthlessly” which implies he does not enjoy being refused or stopped. The animals have to watch the hens starving or be put to death themselves. Napoleon wants them to be frightened and to be taught never to do anything of that intention. The verb “decreed” is a strong word used
“Outline the ways in which Napoleon obtained and maintained power on Animal Farm. What message is Orwell conveying to the reader through these processes?';
He wants full leadership of the farm and will stop at nothing less. Napoleon makes the animals believe that if they follow him he will lead them to a luxurious human free life. Soon they will find
George Orwell created and developed the complex character of Napoleon to show how easy it was to change everything in his favor to gain control. When the animals don’t like how their owner, Mr.Jones, runs things they overturn him so they could gain control, and get the treatment they thought they deserved. To run the farm however they want. However, some have different ideas of being in control. At the beginning of the story Napoleon agreed with the rulings Old Major, but his taste for power slowly drew him closer to the feeling of dictatorship.
Napoleon was an exquisite character in the book: Animal Farm. He overpowered all the animals, and they followed. He was acknowledged as the leader, and the creator as their “Animal Farm”. No humans, no using human-made items, and never lay where a human has laid. Napoleon’s rules were simple. However he grew to the point where he wasn’t even following them, and was changing them as life went on. Animal farm included many instances where Napoleon was commanding as a dictatorship rather than a democracy.
Firstly, Napoleon uses manipulation to generate a cult of personality in the Animal Farm. Napoleon directly shows how he manipulated the animals as he believed “...[weaker] animals on Animal Farm did more work and [would] receive less food than any animals in the country” (92).Napoleon shows how he only cares about himself as he uses the animals. He would make the animals do labour to support himself and to be powerful.The animals would agree to everything that he said because they believed that Napoleon wanted the best for them. Napoleon made the animals believe that they were in better conditions even though “starvation seemed to stare them in the face.” (50). He did a great job to hid the reality from the animals. His thoughts and
First of all, Napoleon is unjust, does not demonstrate good leadership qualities and has poor reasoning. Napoleon has just held executions for animals he considers traitors and scares the animals while killing without reason. Orwell shows this as he states how, "the tale of confessions and executions went on until there was a pile of corpses lying before Napoleon's feet and the air was heavy with the smell of blood, which had been unknown there since the expulsion of Jones," (Orwell 84). This proves how Napoleon is unjust and doesn't care for the animals at all. He is only concerned with the efficiency of the farm and does not show sympathy for the animals, but treats them as though they are machines only there to do his work. Similarly, another example of Napoleon being corrupt as a leader is when he is becoming more secretive and separates himself from the other animals on the farm. For example, "Napoleon inhabited separate apartments
While Napoleon was gaining power over the animals he had to get rid of other politicians and opposing citizens. He did this by raising dogs that would strike fear into citizens and end up chasing Snowball out of the farm making Napoleon have total power. “Four young porkers…uttered shrill squeals of disapproval…. But…the dogs sitting round Napoleon let out deep, menacing growls, and the pigs fell silent and sat down again.”(document B). This made it so the animals were too scared to oppose or overthrow Napoleon. He also made it so no one could challenge him politically. He did this by having his dogs kill masses of people so no one would dare have different opinions and speak out against him. “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”(document B). The mass murder made it so Napoleon had total control of the farm. The violence of Napoleon’s leadership caused the animals to fear to have their own opinions and forced them to conform to Napoleon’s
His main way of getting people to listen to him is by using his dogs to force people to do the required task or else they will get their heads bitten off along with the sheep saying ¨four legs good, two legs better¨ (Orwell, pg. 134) to help reinforce the idea that pigs are superior to the other animals. Another way Napoleon uses fear to gain the control over the animals at the farm is he threatens them with starvation. Both of these methods used by Napoleon were also used by Joseph Stalin to gain control over the masses. If society gives in to these methods then they are just giving more power and control to the higher power. Napoleon also threatens the animals with saying jones is going to come back and that is a reference back to when Stalin told his people that if they didn’t do what he wanted the old way of living was going to come back to them. With that much power and having all those people listen your commands can make you feel like you are unstoppable and greedy.
argue about what he says. This allows him to run the farm in his own
The novel Animal Farm, by George Orwell, was an allegory about the Russian Revolution in which the author used a farm and it’s members to symbolize major characters and their actions. In this composition, I will reveal to you many of Joseph Stalin’s important contributions and how they relate to the actions of Napoleon from Animal Farm. I will break this topic down into the following three parts, their rise to power, how they maintain power, and how they use and abuse their authority.
Napoleon used propaganda of fear to convey a message that he is in control. He demonstrated this by holding a purge for anyone who confessed being an ally with Snowball. The animals that confessed being involved were instantly executed by Napoleon's “nine enomouse dogs promptly tearing their throats out” (62). Another example of Napoleon's abusive of power is shown again through the actions of his pet dogs. These “fierce, growling dogs roamed everywhere” (64), and as a result no animal disobeyed Napoleon, due to the amount of control he had. This portrays Napoleon to be an oppressive leader that resorts to violence for more power. Overall , this signifies how propaganda of fear was used to control the animals which slowly lead to the fall of Animal
The novel Animal Farm, by George Orwell, was an allegory about the Russian Revolution in which the author used a farm and it’s members to symbolize major characters and their actions. In this composition, I will reveal to you many of Joseph Stalin’s important contributions and how they relate to the actions of Napoleon from Animal Farm. I will break this topic down into the following three parts, their rise to power, how they maintain power, and how they use and abuse their authority.
After the expulsion of Farmer Jones and Snowball, it was only expected that Napoleon would take leadership of Animal Farm and, of course, continue practicing the principles of animalism. Animalism is the belief that all animals are created equal and should be allowed and, in fact, encouraged, to speak their mind and never lie or manipulate other animals, or other comrades. However, as Napoleon's reign of dictatorship progresses, we, as the readers, see him becoming more of a tyrant than a trustworthy ruler. Napoleon has truly started developing the characteristics of a human and acting more like Mr. Jones. We see him acting like a human through his use of brutal force, fear, and slander to keep the animals in line and working to the bone; he also uses these characteristics to benefit himself.
For instance, “ Immediately the dogs bounded forward, seized four of the pigs by the ear and dragged them, squealing with pain and terror, to Napoleon’s feet” (26). This demonstrates that Napoleon, consequently, will take any actions, even if it involves cannibalism to maintain his position as leader. This also demonstrates that his actions are to show the others what will happen to them if they betray or disobey him. Overall, Napoleon was filled with malignity due to the power of his position of being head of the Animal
In the novel from George Orwell, Napoleon puts more consequences in place when he finds out what the animals are doing. Napoleon finds out that the hens are knocking their eggs off the rafters. Napoleon then cuts the hens rations so they will stop knocking their eggs off the rafters. Also, a few of the other animals confessed to being traitors. When Napoleon finds out that they have been working with Snowball, he alters a rule to make it read, “No animal shall kill another animal without cause.”