Napoleon's Abuse Of Power In Animal Farm By George Orwell

     An important way in which Napoleon obtains and maintains power is by finding and utilising the weaknesses of others. Like himself, all of the other pigs are greedy, and soon begin stealing food from all the other animals. Napoleon knows that he can use their greed, to reinforce a group of companions who will support his decisions. He sets aside material things to entice their support, such as all the milk, apples, and barley, for which to make beer. This newfound pampering appeals to the pigs and they associate the upper-class society in which they live with Napoleon. This leads them to believe that if they follow Napoleon, and support his thoughts, their lives will be considerably better, so they follow and trust Napoleon. This is what Napoleon was aiming for, and the support of the pigs helps him to obtain and maintain power.

The written text ‘Animal Farm’ written by George Orwell is the story of animals that rebel against the human powers that control them. The story is inspired by the Russian revolution where the main character, Napoleon, is representative of Joseph Stalin. Napoleon is a character that helps us to understand many important messages throughout the text, the first being that passion creates change. The second message Napoleon helps us to understand is that power corrupts. The third being the effect a leaders manipulation can have on those they lead.

George Orwell in his novel Animal Farm explores the reality through the abuse of power using the character Napoleon. In order to gain absolute power, Napoleon eliminates any opposition, uses propaganda, and chances the commandments.

What defines a good leader? How they treat people? Or if they have good visions for the future? Leadership does not necessarily gain its definition as having good intentions but more as getting the job and going it efficiently. In Gorge Orwell’s Animal Farm, the pigs lead the rebellion against Farmer Jones but eventually Napoleon takes charge and leads them all. He directed the other animals on the farm and much got accomplished from the time he took charge to the end of the book. Napoleon was not a nice leader, but he was very efficient. Even though Napoleon did not have any moral qualities and broke all the rules of originally made for Animal Farm, he prospered as did the rest of the farm. Napoleon was an effective leader on Animal Farm because

Ruling dictators and leaders always gain respect and power through clever articulate plans and persuasion. In Animal Farm, by George Orwell, describes a civil farm when the idea of independence brings an uprising among the animals against farmer John. Napoleon, a pig, takes the leadership role and gains power by cheating the animals written constitution and killing anyone who gets in his way. Napoleon’s public companions who are nothing but for him are the sheep. The sheep in the novel are shown to be the illiterate population on the farm. Napoleon used this aspect for his advantage to gain the respect he needs. The sheep are also a danger and a threat towards the powerful animals on the farm. Their large numbers would be extremely difficult

Animal Farm, by George Orwell, is a tale of hope, a fall, and then absolute corruption. The book takes place on Manor Farm where the animals decide to take control in a rebellion. Pigs, the smartest of the animals, find themselves in charge of these freed beasts. The theme of the book centers on the unfair rule that the higher class of pig has placed upon the less intelligent animals. With the great power given to the swine, they begin to emulate the humans that they once wanted to eradicate.

Napoleon was able to keep the working animals from rebelling by instituting a deep fear of punishment if they did rebel. Napoleon used his guard dogs to scare the animal into submission by killing any animal that associated with snowball or followed his philosophies (Orwell 84). He also tricked the animals into submission by changing the commandments that the animals lived by (Orwell 109). The majority of the animals did not even realize that they were being tricked and generally followed what ever the pigs told

By using Napoleon’s character, Orwell effectively shows how fear and superiority can be used to intimidate the animals. The animals remember what life was like when a human was in charge and do not want any humans back; the pigs are aware and use it as leverage. Squealer, when he could not get the animals together, threatenly asked them that “surely there is no one among you that wish to see Jones back?”(pg 36) Life was Jones was harsh: minimum food, killed early, no free will. They much prefer the current state as they stop protesting and allow the pigs to do what they want. They think they have a voice when the pigs are leaders because they were allowed to take votes at first, when Snowball was around. Even though pigs are seen as superior, Napoleon does not care who gets in his way and will threaten them. The young pigs had protested but then “the dogs sitting around Napoleon let out deep and menacing growls, and the pigs fell silent…” (pg 54) Because Napoleon has the most power, no one wants to go against him since they could get injured by the dogs. With no one opposing Napoleon, he could do whatever he wants. This also shows how Napoleon is as a leader, a leader that does not even give a glance at his own kind and will threaten them. With this show of display, the animals will be will aware that Napoleon will threaten anyone if he needs to, causing the animals to feel frightened. By pinning blame on Snowball, Napoleon can achieve more authority as every other animals are told that Snowball

Animal Farm by George Orwell has addressed the theme that power corrupts those who possess it, especially Napoleon. Corruption of power is well defined in Lord Acton’s statement, ‘power trends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely’. Throughout the Novel Napoleon has absolute power, he uses manipulation over the other animals and demonstrates that Communism can contribute to corruption of power. Since the beginning Napoleon has had absolute power over Animal Farm. He used his knowledge and education to take over the farm.

The story of Animal Farm is not just one of a group of talking animals. Rather, the tale seeks to use specific animals to symbolize Joseph Stalin’s totalitarian government. George Orwell, in Animal Farm, expresses the bad actions of Stalin through the operations carried out by a fierce-looking Berkshire boar that goes by the name of Napoleon. Orwell depicts Napoleon as a villain in order to reveal the corrupt doings of Stalin such as his intense greed, manipulation, and use of terror tactics in order to keep control over the Russian people with help from the Soviet Press and Soviet Secret Police. Orwell’s novel is an allegorical writing that uses a fairy tale format in order to expose the wrongdoings of Stalin.

Animal Farm satirises politicians, categorically their rhetoric, insistent desire for power and capability to manipulate others. Despite Napoleon’s ‘professedly’ charitable motives, He is portrayed as the embodiment of a megalomaniac who conceals all of his actions with the justification that they are done for the ‘betterment’ of the farm. His stealing of the apples and milk, for example, is masked by the lie that the foods have nutrients imperative to the pigs, who need this nutrients to persevere with their ‘directorial’ work. His edging Snowball off the farm is justified by the lie that Snowball was an imposter, working for Jones, and that the farm’s state will improve without Him. Any time that Napoleon and the other Pigs hoped to break

George Orwell wrote Animal farm in 1945,and it showed many of his beliefs in a subtle way. It is mostly based on the Russian Revolution, which happened in 1917, however, after seeing the causes and effects of the second world war, Orwell believed that people were not learning from their previous mistakes. The themes he explored in his novel include the idea of equality, and how a dictatorship is started with good intention, however, due to human greed and corruption, end up with one person in power and everyone else in poverty. Animal Farm explains the failings of Human nature and how they are started. The novel was written to present these views, and to help people learn from previous mistakes.

In the novel, Animal Farm by George Orwell, the use of allegory and symbolism depicts the abuse of power which emphasizes the villainy of the character. Orwell’s use of allegory to characterize the villain, Napoleon, as Joseph Stalin emphasizes the use of power in both the fictional world and reality. The use of symbolism, like the windmill and commandments, show the change in characters over time and how a leader is able to manipulate their citizens with power. Napoleons dynamic characterization and innocence depicted in the beginning of the novel illustrates how power is abused when given to one specific group, who are considered the elite in the population.

The corrupting effect of power is one of the focal topic of George Orwell’s allegorical novel, ‘Animal Farm’. When too much power is given, a dictatorship government can shape, in which all choices are made by one authority, which Orwell depicts through Napoleon. George Orwell portrays how authority can without a doubt corrupt organised societies. In the novel Old Major, who is a valued animal on the farm, had given a speech to push the animals towards a rebellion.

Animal Farm written by author, George Orwell is a story arranged on Manor Farm by recapping the synopsis of the appearance and development of Soviet Communism. It was first published in England on August 17th 1945. As such, the narrator reports events of how the animals on the farm depicted occurrences.