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Animal Farm Essay Lord Acton, the British historian once said, “Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely.” In the novel Animal Farm by George Orwell, the author gives many examples of how power is used to manipulate and produce fear. In this book the main character, Napoleon, became a master of using various tactics to gain and maintain power over the rest of the animals. Napoleon used propaganda, manipulation and fear to gain more loyalty and power throughout the farm.
Napoleon uses propaganda to persuade the animals in his favor and to change history. He is able to use propaganda effectively because he has the brains to do so and has the power to make the other animals believe it. He knows that the other animals are not as
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Napoleon often used his main sidekick, Squealer, to help in is manipulation efforts. Napoleon knew that the animals looked up to Squealer. He was very well spoken and talked in a hypnotic voice. For example, when the farmers begin to attack the farm, Napoleon yells out, "Impossible!" cried Napoleon. "We have built the walls far too thick for that. They could not knock it down in a week. Courage, comrades!" (Orwell, ch7). Napoleon convinces the animals to attack and keep Napoleon safe from danger. He would use his words to hearten the animals in doing what he says. Napoleons words really made them forget about fear and keep fighting. The animals had a lot of trust in him already so it wasn’t hard for them to be convinced. Before the battle had started Napoleon announced, “in a terrible voice pronounced the death sentence upon Frederick. When captured, he said, Frederick should be boiled alive” (Orwell, ch6). At the beginning Napoleon uses his speeches to convince the animals that Frederick is their friend. Now, Napoleon gives Frederick a death sentence and they now believe that he is the enemy. Napoleons words made them convinced to fight even before the battle had actually happened. Napoleon was a master manipulator. Whether it was through the use of his sidekick or through his own lies, he knew how to manipulate the truth to gain power over the animals, yet Napoleon uses one …show more content…
Napoleon would use fear to stop any arguments or dissent. Napoleon introduces his dogs by having them attack Snowball, and then, “He was running as only a pig can run, but the dogs were close on his heels. Suddenly he slipped and it seemed certain that they had him (Orwell, pg 35). Napoleons dogs would get rid of Snowball even when the words in propaganda could not effectively do so. Since this is the first incident the other animals do not know how to react to this situation. Snowball was only capable of running. The use of dogs created fear in all of the animals and made it very easy for Napoleon to ascend to the position of the leader of Animal Farm. Napoleon appeared to change countenance, and sharply ordered Boxer to let the dog go, whereat Boxer lifted his hoof, and the dog slunk away, bruised and howling” () Despite the dogs effectively use fear against the animals it didn’t always work as planned. This is why Napoleon had to get rid of Boxer. Napoleon uses the dogs’ violence to threaten the other animals as well as Boxers fate. Napoleon was a master of using fear to his advantage, and through this fear the other animals followed
First of all, Napoleon and the pigs used propaganda to tell lies the animals would
The Roles of Propaganda and Terror in Maintaining Napoleon's Domination In my point of view propaganda and the use of terror were both important in maintaining the domination of Napoleon. By printing false ideas and information to the animals plus by using terror in the right time and order, Napoleon slowly managed to over control the animals. From the beginning, Napoleon was the only one from the leaders who used tactics, a fact that helped him a lot later on. These tactics also helped him expel Snowball who wasn’t as selfish as he was.
Manor Farm is a large farm located in Willingdon, England. Mr. Jones, the owner of the farm is a tyrant person that treats the animal of the farm bad. He drinks too much and doesn’t really care about the farm, “Mr. Jones of the farm, had locked the hen-houses for the night, but was
In order to secure a life of luxury for he and his fellow pigs, Napoleon, along with Squealer as his spokesman, uses language that intimidates, language that distorts the truth, and language that appeals to the emotions of the others to manipulate the gullible animals of Animal Farm. Napoleon's life of luxury included the milk, human beds, alcohol, money, a par education, and the surrounding of his fellow pigs to emotionally and physically stabilize him. However it tampered with a more crucial goal, which was the goal for the equivalent animals lesser than him to prosper equally with him as well. His abuse of his absolute power by ordering his guard dogs to drive his adversary out of competition, and his tactics to silence the animals from rebelling again made his leadership corrupt, and the entire existence of the post-rebellion corrupt as well.
..., wearing clothes, drinking alcohol, and engaging in trade. He even resorts to tyrannizing and killing his own kind. When Napoleon distorts the constitution he uses trickery and propaganda to persuade the other animals of its importance, and when this fails he uses fear. In the end, the animals become weak and Napoleon dominates them with his strength using fear and trickery as his tools.
Napoleon imbues the animals with his subjective ideologies and indoctrinates them in order to cloud their thoughts and dominate their lives. Napoleon persuades the animals to act in accordance with his ideas and to surrender to his will by constantly bombarding them with persuasive messages of propaganda. Such devious efforts are highlighted by the cows in their statement, “’Thanks to the leadership of Comrade Napoleon, how excellent this water tastes!’” (page 62). In the cows’ words it is clear that Napoleon strives to control the animals by using the influence of reciprocation as conveyed through propaganda. The cows’ testimonial gives the animals the impression that Napoleon is working to help them and in turn the animals feel an obligation to surrender to Napoleon’s will in order to reciprocate the favor. Thus, Napoleon uses propaganda to apply the rule of reciprocity and gain control of the animals. Additionally, Napoleon wields charisma as a tool for indoctrinating the animals a...
Although Napoleon was not a strong public speaker he was very manipulative and used propaganda to persuade others to listen to him. The most obvious example of Napoleon's manipulation and use of propaganda would be through the sheep. Whenever someone questioned Napoleon the sheep on the farm would burst into a cry of “four legs good two legs bad” and everyone would forget about their speculations ( ). Since Napoleon was not a great speaker he used Squealer as his public voice. When the animals wondered where the apples and milk went Squealer was sent to give the other animals an explanation ( ). Squealer would also change the commandments whenever the pigs would break them ( ). If Napoleon got into a tough situation he would either say “you wouldn’t want Jones back,” or he would use Snowball as a scapegoat.
Napoleon is an extremely deceitful character in numerous ways. For example, Napoleon tricks the animals into thinking concepts that are not true. “Throughout the whole period of his seeming friendship with Pilkington, Napoleon had really been in a secret agreement with Frederick,” (31). This shows that Napoleon lied to the animals about which farm he was going to sell wood to. Furthermore, this also illustrates that the animals might not trust Napoleon if he continues to lie to them. Additionally, Napoleon is an untruthful menace who will do nothing to help the farm or the animals. “Day and night we are watching over your welfare. It is for YOUR sake that we drink that milk and eat those apples,” (12). This shows that Napoleon is trying to
So it would be reasonable for the animals not to stand up and say something to their “great” leader. An example of how Napoleon scares the animals into doing what he wants is by having the big dogs around him all the time. Those dogs were trained by Napoleon to be his guard dogs and whenever any animals did something wrong, the dogs would kill them alive in front of everyone. There was one occasion where some animals confessed to doing wrong and got their heads ripped off in front of everyone. Instead of the animals telling Napoleon that his behavior is wrong, the animals blame themselves for not working hard enough and due to this, their comrades have been killed. They blame themselves because they are afraid that if they blame Napoleon, then the same thing will happen to them as their past friends. Also once the pigs assume leadership, Fear is then used by the propaganda master Squealer when he stresses to the animals that they have to struggle in order to avoid Jones' return. Squealer uses the fear of Jones as sort of the ending to all arguments if any animal voices their discontent about life under the pigs. Orwell demonstrates that political regimes often use tools such as playing on fear as a way to consolidate their own power and ensure that there will not be any questioning of their ways. This is very much shown through the
Napoleon, the pigs’ leader and ultimately the dictator of Animal Farm, recruits an army of dogs by kidnapping them at birth and raising them to be “huge…and as fierce-looking as wolves.” (p. 53) They, too, were blindly loyal to Napoleon, but their brainwashing ran far deeper, and they possessed the strength to keep others in line. They “[keep] close to Napoleon” (p. 53) at all times, and strike down his enemies. Having not only blindly loyal followers but an army of them truly gives Napoleon the power to do anything, and he abuses it, which is yet again a warning from Orwell of what happens when one has too much power. This is exemplified on page 84, when Napoleon calls forward animals whom he says are traitors and the dogs are seen “[tearing] their throats out.” Napoleon is also seen using his army even against his fellow pigs, in order to obtain more power (which in turn leads to more corruption, per Orwell’s warning) for himself. Napoleon’s fellow leader, Snowball, possessed too much power for Napoleon’s liking, and so Napoleon had his dogs “[dash] at Snowball…[with] their snapping jaws.” (p. 53) They then chased Snowball “through a hole in the hedge” at the edge of the farm, and Snowball is never seen again. Just as Stalin “eliminated” Leon
Napoleon was a leader who led with an iron fist. A fist he used to secretly abuse his fellow animal. He began by raising several ferocious dogs to aid him in enforcing his rules, laws, and expectations. Using them, he abruptly ended Snowballs reign by using the dogs to exile him from the farm. Shortly after, he halted the construction of the windmill. More often than not he would cleverly work his way around the seven commandments by altering them to his pleasure. For example, 'Now animal shall drink alcohol to excess.'; Or 'No animal shall sleep in a bed with sheets.'; Napoleon grounded the rations of each and every animal. The farm slowly fell into a dark abyss with every wretched move Napoleon made.
First of all, Napoleon is a huge Berkshire boar and he clearly is the most powerful of all the animals. He was able to take complete leadership of the farm because he secretly trained the dogs to attack Snowball. George Orwell writes, “ ‘Never mind the milk, comrades!’ cried Napoleon, placing himself in front of the buckets. ‘That will be attended to, the harvest is more important’ (817). Napoleon is quite demanding none of the animal’s even question his authority because they know that he has more control than any other animal. Throughout the novel Orwell has many quotes that describe Napoleon as a leader, “ ‘long live Comrade Napoleon’ ” (846). All the animals on the farm (no matter what Napoleon did to them) would treat him as a powerful leader and whatever he said they would do. Often Orwell stirs up controversy about the rebellion, “ ‘forward in the name of the rebellion. ‘Long live Animal farm!’ ‘Long live Comrade Napoleon!’ ‘Napoleon is always right.’ Those were his very last words, comrades’ ” (849). Squealer’s letting everyone know that no matter what happens to Animal Farm, just remember that Napoleon was an outstanding leader most of the time. Napoleon was an outstanding leader and contributor to Animal Farm without his power the farm would have collapsed earlier.
Napoleon became my least favorite character in the book, Animal Farm, because he is a controlling, cold-blooded, murdering hypocrite. One way that shows Napoleon is controlling is when he uses his guard dogs to intimidate the animals into agreeing, or at least not object out loud with what he says. A quotation that shows this is “Four young porkers in the front row uttered shrill squeals of disapproval. . . the dogs sitting round Napoleon let out deep, menacing growls, and the pigs fell silent and sat down again” (Orwell 54). When Napoleon ended Sunday morning Meetings and debates, four pigs questioned and protested, but instead of listening to their thoughts, Napoleon used his guard dogs to scare them into keeping quiet. This portrays him
As this story shows, propaganda can enable governments to bend people to any purpose. By spreading positive messages about Napoleon, persuading the animals that Snowball is an enemy, and convincing the animals that they can’t survive without the pigs, propaganda helped give rise to a vindictive and selfish totalitarian government. By first using propaganda to persuade the animals that Snowball was an enemy, Napoleon’s rise to power began. Snowball was Napoleon’s only real threat to assuming leadership. In the story, the two pigs always disagreed with each other.
In George Orwell’s Animal Farm, a main theme is that power corrupts those who possess it. A definition of corruption is,“dishonest or fraudulent conduct by those in power, typically involving bribery.” Orwell develops this idea through the character Napoleon in various ways. Looking back in the book, the animal’s rebellion quickly turned political and revolved around, “Leader, Comrade Napoleon (Orwell 81)”. The power Napoleon possed was executed through lies and selfishness, aided by the lack of intellectual ability in the other animals. The corruption of Napoleon’s power is displayed when he favors himself, along with the other pigs, and eventually the dogs, who all get better rations of food compared to the other animals. Another main demonstration of how power corrupts Napoleon is how he separates himself from the other animals on the farm, displaying his feelings if superiority to the other animals. A ceremonial nature develops towards Napoleon. The last way power corrupts Napoleon is how he acts recklessly; killing other animals and lying about