animal farm

Fiona Martin 1-20-2014
Mt. Greenwood Animal Farm Essay In the novel Animal Farm by George Orwell, Orwell tells the tale of how a farm is taken over by its overworked, mistreated animals. But there is more to the story than meets the eye. Animal Farm allegorically represents communist Russia and how devastatingly the cost of freedom can be. In the novel, one of the leaders is the selfish Napoleon and his follower is the manipulative Squealer. Though there are differences that separate them from each other, the one similarity they have is that they are both solely responsible for the loss of freedom and equality on Animal Farm. Although Napoleon is the leader of Animal Farm, that doesn’t mean that he is a good leader. Napoleon weakens the freedom on Animal Farm by taking away the animals’ right to have a say in new rules or decisions made on the farm, making them work six to seven days a week, and giving the pigs more privileges than the other animals. He also turned puppies into blood-thirsty bodyguards to scare the animals into doing what they are told. He even breaks all commandments that all animals were supposed to follow. The behavior of this leader is selfish and manipulative. Napoleon is selfish because he always takes for himself and never acts in the best interest of the animals. He also always blames others to make himself look better. Napoleon is manipulative because he manipulates the animal’s thoughts and the way they feel into what he wants them to think and feel. For example, when the animals thought that it was wrong that Snowball, the previous leader, was chased off the farm, Napoleon convinced the animals that he was a traitor to the farm. Napoleon gains his power by chasing Snowball off the farm and makes him look bad after he is gone. He makes the animals think that he did a good thing for them by getting rid of Snowball. He uses their lack of knowledge against them. He keeps his power with the help of Squealer, who manipulates the animal’s thoughts and forces the dogs to do whatever Napoleon wants them to. The goal or aim of Napoleon is to be to have complete control over everything on the farm. He seems to be achieving this by manipulating the animals and making them afraid of him. However, Napoleon doesn’t act alone. He weakens the freedom and equality on the farm with the help of Squealer. Squealer weakens equality by lying to the animals and making them believe that a windmill on the farm was Napoleon’s idea (when it wasn’t), and that Snowball was an awful leader and that it was good that he was off the farm (which was not true), and that it is fair for only the pigs to sleep in the farmhouse while the rest of the animals sleep in their stalls. Squealer does realize that the animals are losing their freedom because he knows that what he is making them believe isn’t the truth. Squealer’s behavior does influence the animals on the farm because they start to believe that whatever Squealer tells them is the truth. If they question him, Squealer would find a way to convince them that he is telling them the truth, even though he is not. Squealer teaches the animals to follow Napoleon blindly. The behavior of Squealer is not typical of the other followers because he knows more than the other followers because he is so close with Napoleon. Napoleon gives him more knowledge and more responsibilities that the other animals on the farm. Napoleon and Squealer put the ideals of freedom and equality in jeopardy when they lie to the animals and give the pigs more privileges than the rest of the animals because they are the same kind of animal. This type of behavior that puts the ideals of freedom and equality in danger because the animals are fearful of their leaders and are told that one kind of animal is better than others. They must feel and think what Napoleon wants them to think and feel. In conclusion, it is evident that in the novel Animal Farm by George Orwell, Napoleon and Squealer are solely responsible for the loss of freedom and equality on the farm by being selfish, sneaky, and manipulative. A typical leader is supposed to always act in the best interests of their followers and try to be fair and equal. Instead, Napoleon is the complete opposite of this and leads the animals by lying to them, making them fearful, and making one group of animals superior over the others. This is an example of “Absolute power corrupts absolutely”, which means that people with absolute or total control can damage or corrupt their followers because there is no one to question their decisions or power.