Don’t be the enemy. Now that Napoleon is in charge life is getting a whole lot worse because is has complete power of Animal Farm. Napoleon from Animal Farm written by Orwell maintains control by using ideology, propaganda, and fear. Napoleon uses ideology of Animalism to give him more control over the animals. One way he does this is by, using propaganda by making the sheep walking around say one of the seven amendments which were, “Four legs good, two legs bad’!” (Doc A, Chapter 2-3) This helps Napoleon stay in power because Napoleon created the statement and the sheep keep saying it, so the other animals will think that Napoleon should stay in power because he has good ideas.
Trying to gain freedom on the farm, the animals obtain a leader, Napoleon, who is much more harsh and stern than the former farm owner, Mr. Jones, has ever been. Symbolizing a ruler from the Soviet Union, Joseph Stalin, Napoleon brings the farm into a hole, they have a hard time getting out of. Napoleon kills various animals, and has also broken the Seven commandments the animals promise to abide by. In the beginning, the farm was run by Mr. Jones, who is later overpowered by the animals on the farm. To gain power, Napoleon starts to earn their trust by making it seem as if he is a trustworthy comrade.
In the book, Napoleon uses dictatorship to order other animals, uses accuration, and give harsh punishment who block his way. George Orwell portrays Napoleon as Stalin in many similar ways. Just as some leaders use dictatorship to control political aspects, pigs also use dictatorship to control animals. Animal Farm uses characterization to suggest that although cruel leadership can be effective, it will lead to
Orwell’s novella Animal Farm shows how power gets to one’s head through dishonesty. Squealer demonstrates this by tricking the animals into doing many things that they are unaware of doing themselves. He uses propaganda to help Napoleon because it will give him access to power, which he, too, desires. Squealer is able to use their stupidity against them and make them do unreasonable things. He also gives Napoleon more publicity than he deserves, which leads to him being elected as leader.
Animal Farm is about a group of animals that live on a farm and they are treated unfairly by their owner Mr. Jones so they rebel against him and start their own farm. As the story goes along the pigs start to take control and they act like the humans did and they start changing the rules that were made in the beginning. Animal Farm represents communism and the Russian Revolution. Each character represents a different person or idea during the Russian Revolution. In Animal Farm the author, George Orwell, illustrates how the pigs use propaganda by manipulating the animals using fear, logical fallacies, and bandwagon.
Another instance where a comparison between Stalin and Napoleon can be seen is when Napoleon begins to bend the Seven Commandments in favor of himself. He changed the amount of work the animals needed to do and added onto the rules in order to make exception for himself. In the text, it says, “ Throughout the spring and summer 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 42) This quote relates to Stalin when he combined many farms to create one large one and forced the workers into labor. On Biography.com, it said that many starved to death from the forced labour which Stalin had bestowed on them.
When the animals learned that the pigs had been taking the milk and apples, Napoleon ordered Squealer to relieve the animals of their worries. He started yelling at the animals, “Do you know what would happen if we pigs failed in our duty? Jones would come back! Yes, Jones would come back!” (Orwell 36). Squealer’s main responsibility on the farm involves convincing the other animals that Napoleon is clearly the most qualified animal to act as their leader.
a. Orwell’s Animal Farm is an allegory because the events that happen on Manor Farm are very similar to the events that happened in Russia. For instance, when the animals overthrew Mr. Jones, this was to illustrate the Russian Revolution where the peasants overthrew the ruling party. The characters in Animal Farm symbolize historical figures such as Joseph Stalin (Napoleon), the KGB (the dogs), and the working class (Boxer). The windmill project causes the feud between Napoleon and Snowball, and Snowball is forced to leave the farm much like Stalin caused Leon Trotsky to leave the country. The chickens being coerced to produce more eggs resembles the Stalinist period that the Communist state set impossible industrial and agricultural production
If the other animals on the farm knew that the pigs were lying to them about the food supply they would probably rebel and question Napoleon’s leadership. He lies to the animals so that they don’t rebel and so they are content with working under Napoleon’s
Animalism is the philosophy created by the pig Old Major in the book Animal Farm. The system is based on the idea that humans are oppressive and that animals should overthrow them and create their own system of government that promotes equality among all living things. Old Major dreams of a land where man has vanished and all animals are equal. Now, this sounds like a wonderful idea in theory, but when the animals eventually overthrow their human masters and take control of the farm they used to belong to their government fails and becomes a dictatorship. Which begs the question, What went wrong?