George Orwell’s Animal Farm reflects the events of the Russian Revolution and the Stalin era in the Soviet Union through the story of a seemingly simplistic farm controlled by animals. One night, Old Major, a prize-winning boar, gives a speech on the idea that all of humanity is evil and rebellion is necessary to achieve freedom. After Old Major dies shortly after his speech, three pigs, Squealer, Snowball, and Napoleon, decide to take control and form the ideas of Old Major into a philosophy—Animalism—with seven principles inscribed in a barn to help maintain harmony amongst the animals. After driving out the human workers, the animals celebrate and begin their own farm. However, problems arise as Napoleon drives Snowball out and begins controlling …show more content…
Napoleon and Squealer use lies manipulate the other naive animals, leading to unjust treatment of the workers. when the windmill is knocked over by a heavy storm, Napoleon takes advantage of the situation and blames Snowball. “ ‘Do you know the enemy who has come in the night and overthrown the windmill? SNOWBALL!’ he suddenly roared in a voice of thunder. ‘Snowball has done this thing!’”(70). As shown, Napoleon is blaming Snowball for the farm’s failures, instead of taking the blame for mediocre planning of the windmill. Orwell uses auditory imagery combined with a metaphor to convey how manipulative Napoleon is, reacting emotionally when telling a lie. Here, Napoleon is using his eloquence to give a convincing argument and wrongly persuade the simple-minded animals into believing that Snowball was at fault. These actions demonstrate the dangers of an uneducated and gullible working class, ready to believe anything, making them believe that the leaders could not be at fault. In addition, after many years, …show more content…
Control of a working class leads to a loss of empathy from the leaders, as Squealer and Napoleon become harsh and selfish leaders. For example, the ruthless murder and slaughter of multiple animals for working with Snowball. “The three hens who had been….They, too, were slaughtered...They were all slain on the spot. And so the tale of confession and executions went on, until there were a pile of corpses lying before Napoleon’s feet and the air was heavy with the smell of blood.”(84). During this, Napoleon instills fear in the rest of the animals to bring his own dominance among the other animals. Orwell uses imagery to vividly describe Napoleon’s cruel retribution against these other animals. The retribution represents Napoleon’s dictatorial rule over the animals. The loss of compassion is also expressed through the cruel slaughter of so many animals to manipulate them through fear, as the sixth Commandment of Animalism was to not hurt any animals(25). Napoleon’s tyrannical personality further develops as he ruthlessly sells Boxer, his most loyal and hardest working animal, for profit. “ ‘Alfred Simmonds, Horse Slaughter and Glue Boiler’...and the word went around that from somewhere or other the pigs had acquired the money to buy themselves another case of whiskey.”(122-126). In order to buy a case of whiskey, Napoleon sends Boxer to his death, and has
“Surely, comrades,” cried Squealer almost pleadingly, skipping from side to side and whisking his tail, ‘surely there is no one among you who wants to see Jones come back?” (Orwell 15) This quote indicates the first signs of manipulation that became evident since the revolution. The pigs, Snowball and Napoleon to be specific, had begun to develop human characteristics as the story went on, which could be considered ironic, considering the fact that they had just overthrown the humans, for they were abusive towards them. As the novel went on, it is stated at the end that the animals had “looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.” (Orwell 54)
Orwell implements these techniques within the book through the action and communication between the characters. In most of the cases, power held by Napoleon, the leader of the animals, increases through the use of propaganda. As a leader, it is Napoleon's goal to gain the trust and loyalty of his followers, and he understands that sometimes honesty is not always the solution. One of Napoleon’s methods of obtaining power is tricking the animals in to obeying him. Napoleon controls the animals with the idea of Jones, the old farmer, coming back to take over the animals. Most animals on the farm despise Jones, and fear the idea of him coming back. Napoleon used this to his advantage, threatening that if the animals do not do what he asks, then Jones will take over again. This technique, called slippery slope, helps Napoleon gain power and manipulate the animals into changing their beliefs to fit his desires. The animals put their trust in Napoleon to keep Jones from coming back, and in return he is able to demand more from them and expect them to cooperate. He also uses Snowball, one of the other pigs, as a scapegoat to all the mistakes he made. He blames the destruction of the windmill, the shortage of food, and every other issue that arose, on Snowball, when in reality most of the problems are of the animals faults. This creates a common enemy among the animals, forming a stronger bond between each other and a higher trust for Napoleon. Being united and feeling loyal towards someone gives them the opportunity to take advantage of that
Napoleon’s disastrous reign only supports Orwell’s idea that revolutions always fail, tyrants are only replaced, and a new government is never established. Napoleon is a cruel ruler who, fearful of Snowball’s return, executes all the animals who “confess” to being in league with Snowball. Napoleon uses Squealer as a propaganda spreader to the other animals of the farm. Squealer tells the animals how wonderful life is on the farm, when in fact they
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.
This story Animal Farm by George Orwell is a novel about an animal revolution over an oppressive farmer. The irony in the story comes when the pigs turn into the very thing revolted against. They exhibit the same cruelty by treating the other animals the same or even worse than previous owners. This cycle of cruelty is shown in the Russian revolution by Joseph Stalin who is represented by Napoleon in the story. Cruelty in animal farm is shown by the human’s treatment of the animals, and the animal’s eventual treatment of each other and the ironic characteristics of the two.
In the book Animal Farm by George Orwell, he depicts the result of a people without a good education in an animalistic way. The story is about how Old Major, who in real life is Karl Marx, talks about why the animals should revolt because of their bad living conditions and the result of it. The man who is causing the farm animals to feel this way is Farmer Jones. He represents the czar in Russia. After the animals run Jones out of the farm the Pigs become in charge. Especially, Napoleon and Snowball, who represent Joseph Stalin and Leon Trotsky in real life. Soon, Snowball is exiled from the farm just like Trotsky and Napoleon takes charge just like Stalin. After this happens, everything goes downhill in the story. The reason why is because
Animal farm is a renowned, allegorical novella written by George Orwell in 1945, which can be interpreted to have a hidden political meaning behind it referring to the Russian Revolution. Throughout this novella, the author purposely positions the audience to make judgements based on sensible, moral perception to show that Orwell effectively revealed how the pigs exploited a vast majority of propaganda techniques to deceptively manipulate the values, attitudes and beliefs of the other animals, with full intention of complete social control. This was exposed to the reader when the three main values of ‘Animalism’, as outlined in Old Major's speech, which consists of freedom, unity and equality, are abused for the pigs own advantage. This task
The easy manipulation of human nature is illustrated in Animal Farm. Orwell presents ideas about manipulation through Napoleon’s method of gaining power. One of the ways that Napoleon controlled all the animals was by fear. In chapter 5, Squealer reassures the animals that whatever Napoleon is doing is for their benefit and that Snowball was nothing but a criminal. Squealer invented false information to suggest that Snowball was an enemy of the revolution. For instance, he said, “Snowball, who, as we now know, was no better than a criminal. And Snowball’s part in the The Battle of Cowshed was much exaggerated.” He instilled fear into the minds of the animals, describing Snowball as a troublemaker who was out to destroy the farm. And another
In doing this, George Orwell utilizes the manipulative techniques of scapegoating, the big lie, and rewriting history, which express his political views through the actions of Napoleon, with the intention of revealing the corruption of totalitarianism. The technique of scapegoating is heavily used in Animal Farm. Since Napoleon, the leader of the farm, has exiled Snowball, his biggest competitor
Orwell got his idea of Animal Farm as a boy when he saw a man whooping a horse and thought, if only the horse knew the power he had over the human, and began to think about Marxism from the animals point of view (Rodden 73). In the novel, Manor Farm represents the country of Russia and Mr. Jones is the parallel to Czar Nicholas II. The animals overthrow Mr. Jones and appoint the two pigs, Napoleon and Snowball as their leaders. Napoleon is Stalin’s parallel and Snowball is Trotsky’s. Orwell’s novel is a direct retelling of the Russian Revolution, but along the lines of Aesop’s fables and a warning to the destruction of communism. The major theme and well-known saying, “All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others” (Orwell 112) is the flaw Orwell is trying to expose. Orwell is desperate for us to get the point not a point of this novel, that communism will inevitably fail because the one who takes power is corrupted by it and turns from the values they originally held (Foster 98). America has got to realize that if communism happened in Russia it can happen anywhere during any era (Rodden 72). These statements are just as true
George Orwell’s Animal Farm tells the story of barn animals that desire, and achieve, independence from the humans. However, their ideal paradise is lost and things only get worse for them all. With various references laced within the story, it is clear that Orwell’s idea is not a typical fiction novel. From a historical perspective, it can be seen that Animal Farm is a reference to Stalin and his reign over the Soviet Union. This is revealed through the events of the story, the side characters, and Napoleon.
In George Orwell’s novel Animal Farm, Napoleon, a boar whose lust for power corrupts comradeship, embodies a despotic leader by exploiting the farm’s resources for his benefit and applying excessive force in order to maintain total authority. Animal Farm serves as an allegory to the Russian Revolution in 1917; and like Joseph Stalin, Napoleon exerts full power over his subjects when he takes control the food rations. Despite the rebellion’s aim for equality among all animals, Napoleon supports the decision “that the milk and the windfall apples (and also the main crop of apples when they ripened) should be reserved for the pigs alone” (Orwell 36). Furthermore, as the productivity on the farm declines, “rations were reduced, except those of
Squealer convinces the animals that everything Napoleon does is good for the sake of the rest of the farm. Orwell demonstrates this by, "He (Napoleon) would be only too happy to let you make your own decisions for yourselves. But sometimes you might make wrong decisions, comrades, and then where would we be?" (Orwell 86). Squealer explains to the other animals that Napoleon may make decisions for them, showing how Napoleon takes leadership and responsibility over the other animals.
To achieve a perfect, socialist, and utopian society is the primary aim of the characters, however when too much power is granted to one class, or animal in this case, their dreams are shattered. The aspects of this book perfectly capture the essence of not only the meaning, but the abundance of symbolism used within the tale as well. Early on, a power-hungry atmosphere accompanied by an austere tone and connotative vocabulary is assumed, driving the audience to make many historical connections. These connections can also be drawn from the animals themselves. Pigs, typically seen as greedy and lazy, were well-suited to represent Napoleon, Snowball, and Squealer, who wanted the power without doing any of the labor. This abuse of power caused
Animal Farm George Orwell’s political satire and fable tells an entertaining story about the lives of the animals on Manor Farm. However, Orwell’s novella offers deeper meaning than a typical fable. He provides the reader with an allegory have the Russian Revolution. At the same time, he conveys what happens when power gets into the wrong hands. In Animal Farm by George Orwell prized boar Napoleon methodically gains power through intellect, manipulation, and elimination. In turn, he creates a society where not every animal is equal and nothing it what it seems.