Napoleon Squealer's Animal Farm

By painting him in a positive, almost God-like light, Squealer gets the working class to worship their dictator. The animals believe that Napoleon works harder than the rest of the animals to only give back to them. They even believe that Napoleon is making a sacrifice by assuming the role of the leader. When in power, Napoleon suggests building a windmill to increase food production as a solution to the mentioned food deficit from before. However, the windmill is actually built for the pigs to earn more money and power.

Think about the last time you lied to someone. Over time, or maybe no time at all, your lie will have reached several other people who now believe this statement is true. They think this way because they have heard your lie over and over and over again. In a book by George Orwell, Animal Farm, Napoleon and Squealer, who are both pigs, take over the duties of Old Major.

Napoleon being another intelligent pig on the farm believed he could become the leader and have all the power on the farm by scaring the animals. He does so by telling the animals they will work more or there will be punishment “Throughout the spring they worked a sixty-hour week, and in August Napoleon announced that there would be work on Sunday afternoons as well. This work was strictly voluntary, but any animal who absented himself from it would have his rations reduced by half” (Orwell 40). “The animals believe what the leadership tells them—that they are working for their own good now, not for Mr. Jones’s—they are eager to take on the extra labor”

Animal Farm is created as an egalitarian utopia when the animals overthrow Mr Jones. An ambitious pig, Napoleon exploits this utopia and seizes power through violence. Readers view this objectively through the text’s third-person narration as shown by this quote. ‘Napoleon himself, majestically upright…he carried a whip’. This quote shows, from an objective viewpoint, how Napoleon elevates himself to a higher status, ‘majestically upright’ and how he reinforces this with the threat of violence, ‘he carried a whip’.

Crucially, the pigs understand that their songs and sayings must be easy to memorize and repeat if the other animals are to internalize their precepts. When written commandments prove too difficult for many of the animals, the pigs synthesize them into a single, brief catchphrase: “Four legs good, two legs bad.” The slogan inspires the animals to adore their leaders rather than fear them, and by repeating it they deepen their commitment to the pigs. Boxer, the loyal cart-horse, continuously reaffirms his faith in the pigs’ judgment by repeating the slogan “Napoleon is always right” in addition to his usual mantra, “I will work harder.” He’s a

The animals, with a smaller work ethic than Boxer’s, need Boxer’s nobility to help them work hard for Animal Farm and acquire an equal amount of enthusiasm as Boxer’s already optimistic outlook on work. For the farm to run successfully, Napoleon and the pigs require the animals’ utmost allegiance to the farm’s cause and to the leaders’ changes of the farm. Boxer takes this allegiance and makes it appealing and almost inspirational for the animals. When the animals are first starting to take control of the farm, Boxer’s optimism and simplification of the leaders’ ideas to the ignorant animals help the animals understand and become more familiar with their new government. Boxer, a true comrade of promoting the farm’s humble beginnings, “absorb[s] all information” then “pass[es] it on to the other animals by simple arguments” (14).

The Animal Gazette Napoleon: an inspiration to us all Our savior; Napoleon! The leader who lead us to victory against our enemy, who takes on the extra labour on himself so every animal can become one in animalism. We cannot imagine, comrades, that leadership is a pleasure! On the contrary, it is deep and heavy responsibility.

The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig; but already it was impossible to say which was which. ”(141) This last line of Animal Farm summed up the transformation Napoleon went through. Revealing a case of situational irony to the reader. But this example did not bring ironies associated humor, but rather hinted to a fuller and more satisfying end to the story. Napoleon being depicted as a humanoid being rather than an animal backs up the theme of revolution.

A normal day under Napoleon's rule is attending morning meetings then performing their specified jobs. The oppressed animals are constantly watched by the ferocious watch dogs making them scared to freely voice their opinion. However, the frequent chant of “Napoleon is always right” (Orwell 48) contradicts their first thought of Napoleon’s odd way of ruling. Squealer reminds the animals with the following statement “One false step, and our enemies would be upon us. Surely, comrades, you do not want Jones back” (Orwell 56). Squealer persistently tells his fellow comrades to follow the rules, if they do not want the farm to fail. The thought of Jones coming back makes the animals fearful of failing. Napoleon continues to gain trust from the comrades because there is no animal, on the farm, willing to go against their leader.

In Animal Farm the pigs tell the sheep to chant “Four legs good, two legs bad”, distracting the other animals on the farm from reality, while also distracting themselves. The repetition of the sheep shouting these words helps to engrave the idea that humans and anything human like is bad. Ironically, Napoleon soon after this time in the plot drinks alcohol and walks on his two hind legs, frequently interacts with humans by trading with them, and takes advantage of human luxuries such as a house, bed, and sheets. The animals soon begin to be hopeless on the success of their animal farm because even their most trusted leader and friends have been turning on them and acting more and more human

This all went very well for a while, but the revolution then took a drastic downfall. The animal’s freedom and individuality was slowly taken away. Napoleon took the dogs freedom away by “making them bow, “ and obey him only. The animals also began to have no freedom of speech, “ raised their voices timidly but they were promptly silent by a tremendous growling,” which shows us that the farm was no longer run by all the animals but rather by the pigs, anything they say is right and you may not argue. The animals no all had to be the same, which can be taken as equality, but it was taken to the extreme. The animals had to call each other, “comrade,” and they weren’t even allowed to stick out in the smallest ways, ” Molly’s ribbons were taken,” which was fine at first but then slowly the animals started forgetting who they were.

When Napoleon announced to the farm that they would begin to trade with neighboring farms to get additional materials, some animals originally were skeptical to if it was allowed in the commandments. However, before anyone could speak up, the sheep silenced them with their chant of “Four legs good, two legs bad!” (Orwell 65). In Tilford’s pet shoppe [SIC], after the animals all escape from their cages many animals ask the question of what to do without Tilford. The fish fuel this question even more by asking Berkeley if it were true that it would then be their shoppe. Both animals were followers of the current leaders, Napoleon and Berkeley. They further each revolution for freedom in unique ways. The sheep prevented Napoleon from being questioned

After the revolution, Manor Farm was renamed to Animal Farm and the Seven Commandments of animalism were established to ensure equality. The pigs became the supervisors of the farm. However, the rivalry between two pigs Snowball and Napoleon made Napoleon use force. Napoleon ordered his dogs to chase out Snowball from the farm in order to become the only leader. Napoleon’s selfishness and corrupt power made him commit different atrocities against his own comrades. As a result, the lives of the animals except for the pigs and dogs were of tyranny and inequality. Napoleon became worse than their former human master. The animals spent the rest of his life almost starving and working in the construction of the windmill that was destroyed several times. The abolishment of Sunday morning meetings, the public execution of animals, and the drinking of alcohol were the most important changes that facilitated the transformation of animal farm, and Napoleon as the most responsible for the downfall of the utopian vision of Animal Farm.

The antagonist of the book ‘Animal Farm’, Napoleon was highly emphasized for his cruel tactics that he upheld against his fellow animals. He tortured and tormented them giving himself the title of a cruel leader. This sense of tyranny is why he resembles Mr.Jones the previous owner of Manor Farm. Similar to Mr.Jones, Napoleon has created a caste system in which he is the “farmer” and the rest of the animals are his “slaves”, he has shown that he only uses the animals for his own monetary gain, and that he uses fear and propaganda to control the rest of the animals. In this essay I will compare and contrast the two individuals.

Hypocritically, they have become what they once hated. “It was a pig walking on his hind legs… And finally there was a tremendous baying of dogs and a shrill crowing from the black cockerel, and out came Napoleon himself, majestically upright, casting haughty glances from side to side, and with his dogs gamboling round him.” This quote shows the condescending change in demeanor of Napoleon and his two-legged walking acquaintances. Eventually, this quote was changed to “Four legs good, two legs better!” At this point the other farm animals are in shock, but they have lived for so long without questioning, criticizing, or putting in their input, that they are blown away and speechless.