The Power Struggle of Napoleon

The Power Struggle of Napoleon
Napoleon uses the ignorance of the other animals to his advantage during his rise to power. The other animals are not smart like Napoleon, so they cannot make decisions regarding the running of the farm after it is taken over. Napoleon takes full control of the farm and gains more and more power every day. He ensures this power by making sure that no one gets in his way. In Animal Farm, a story by George Orwell, Napoleon is able to take control of the farm and rise to power because he is able to manipulate the other animals.
Napoleon makes sure that no one opposes him or his ideas during his rise to power; if they do oppose him, he uses any means necessary to remove them. Snowball's ideas about building the windmill are different from Napoleon's. Napoleon realizes that if Snowball's opposition continues he will never be able to take complete control of the farm. Since he needs to get Snowball out of the way, Napoleon tells the animals that Snowball is causing all of the problems that the farm is having. By doing this, he is able to unite them all against a common enemy and trick them into believing things that are not true. Also, Jessie's puppies are taken away from her and used as a private security force for Napoleon. He takes them so he can train them and educate them so that if anything ever comes between him and power, the trained dogs will be there to remove the obstacle and let Napoleon continue to gain power without opposition. Another time Napoleon removes those who get in his way is when he massacres all of the animals suspected of being involved in Snowball's plot to bring down Animal Farm. Napoleon is a bad power-hungry ruler who will not let anything get in his way during his rise to power.
Napoleon and his close comrades blind the other animal with a swirling wall of propaganda. Squealer, Napoleon's close comrade and propagator, tells the other animals a lot of false things about the pigs. When asked why the pigs get to eat all of the apples and milk, Squealer responds by saying that it isn't because the pigs want to eat them, it's because they have to eat them to stay healthy and well. Squealer uses this made-up story to convince the animals into believing the lies of the pigs. He also makes sure the animals know that they are in perfect health as well; the pigs just need to eat the apples because science has proven that it is good for them. Since the animals are so ignorant, they will believe almost anything. Squealer uses glittering generalities when talking about Napoleon as a great leader and talking about how selfless and nice he is. When Squealer tells the animals that Napoleon is taking extra burdens upon himself and they should be thankful, he is really lying. He is telling them that Napoleon doesn't want to be the ruler, when really, he does. Squealer convinces the animals that Napoleon fully believes in animal equality and is just taking on the extra responsibilities to better the farm animals' lives. He tricks all of the farm animals in a mean cruel way. Napoleon plays off of the animals' false beliefs in his honesty and gains more power over the animals.
To ensure his successful rise to power Napoleon keeps the other farm animals ignorant and misinformed at all costs. At first, Napoleon thinks it would be a good idea to teach the animals how to read and write. After realizing that he will be able to keep better control of the farm if he keeps them illiterate, he decides to do so. When the animals

start to catch on and learn some letters, he figures that his power might be in danger, and he quickly stops all the teaching, so they will not be smart and able to read. He figures that if they stay illiterate he can make more decisions regarding the farm and keep more power for himself. He also sees this as an opportunity to do things that would not be accepted under the previous commandments. Napoleon also uses tricky tactics to further keep his fellow animal followers misinformed. He begins doing things like sleeping in a bed and drinking alcohol. The only reason he is able to get this past the animals is because he secretly has other pigs change the commandments in the middle of the night. When it comes time for the other animals to question him, he just reads out the changed commandments to them and makes them think that they are the same commandments that have been up the whole time. The other trusting animals do not know the difference because the have to rely on the pigs to read the commandments to them. Sadly, because the animals are forced to remain unintelligent, they are played and taken control of. Napoleon uses the ignorance of the animals during his rise to power to better his own life and the lives of his fellow pigs instead of the whole farm's population.
During his rise to power Napoleon takes advantage of all of the other farm animals, and badly mistreats them. He is able to do this through the use of propaganda and his own intelligence and wits. Napoleon is a bad power hungry ruler, who uses many different tactics to take control of the farm and the once-trusting farm animals.