Napoleon was one of the pigs that started to take control on the farm. He isn’t a good speaker and not as clever as Snowball. “Not much of a talker but with a reputation for getting his own way” (Orwell 10). While Snowball took good care of the animals, Napoleon had done the opposite. At the time that Napoleon took over the farm, everything started to change. He had full control over Animal Farm and had declared that there would be no more general meetings with all of the animals to decide the rules. “Napoleon raised the trotter for silence and announced that he had already made all the arrangements” (Orwell 42). In other words, the pigs would now make all of the decisions for everybody and would decide to make their own new policies without needing to ask for the opinions of the rest. Compared to Snowball, Napoleon never bothered thinking about the opinions and the point of view of his comrades. He never asked about their own judgment, he would just tell them to do as they were told. Napoleon now controlled the farm without further interference from other animals, with some persuading, of course. However, he used the dogs to put fear in the animals so they would become loyal. He trained the dogs so they would help his cause of being supreme ruler of Animal Farm. On the other hand, Snowball always wanted to make sure every animal was secure and happy. Secondly, things started to gradually change for the worst. Napoleon and the pigs were breaking all of the seven commandments but the others didn’t have much objection because they were too uneducated to really know what was going on. Snowball had proclaimed the seven commandments in order to adjust equality, but Napoleon was started to transform them into his own beliefs. Snowball believed in Animalism and tried to make all animals equal. Napoleon, however, didn't want Animalism, he wanted a dictatorship. Napoleon wanted a dictatorship government where he could rule the entire farm for his own greedy self. He wanted to control the farm so that his needs were met but as for the other animals, Napoleon didn't care for them. Napoleon had also abolished the song Beasts of England because it symbolized freedom and Animalism. The song that replaced it, however, was a new song called Comrade Napoleon. “The general feeling on the farm was expressed in a poem entitled ‘Comrade Napoleon’ which was composed by Minimus” ( Orwell 63). All the pigs were beginning to become more human-like and things were getting worse. Eventually the pigs were walking on two legs, which was prohibited, and they were even talking with humans and making friends with them. In the end, the other animals couldn’t tell the difference between the pigs and humans, but they never did anything about it. “The creatures outside 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 95). This passage portrays how Napoleon is not treating the animals equally. He is giving more superior power and more privileges to the pigs and less to the rest of the animals. Napoleon clearly held a more dominant role on the Animal Farm because he would always receive the larger portions, where as the other animals would receive about the same and sometimes less than what they had received in the past. This also shows as Napoleon continues to elect not to work and he is only seen at the gatherings accompanied by his bodyguards. The animals were not sure who to choose because they knew both had two different approaches in how they would run the farm but they were positive about which one would work best. And finally, throughout the book we realize how Napoleon never liked the fact of having Snowball more followed as a leader. He was always jealous that Snowball always had better ideas to proclaim to his comrades. For example, when Snowball introduced the plan of the windmill, Napoleon came to a disagreement with the idea. “He refused to believe either that food would become more plentiful or that the windmill would save work....that is, badly” (Orwell 34). They always came to a disagreement, and Napoleon always believed that animals should procure firearms and train themselves to know how to use them instead of building the windmill. He thought the plan of the windmill was nonsense and supposed to his comrades that nobody should take part of it. However, after Snowball’s expulsion, “Napoleon announced that the windmill was to be built after all” (Orwell 38). All he wanted to do is to take benefit from it. His motive of building the windmill was also to help the farm prosper, but at a higher cost, and more attributes to himself. The more logical meaning of the windmill, in Napoleon's case, is to force labour upon the animals so that the animals cannot find strength and will to overthrow Napoleon, no matter how harsh their life becomes. Napoleon could have been plotting to gain some respect from the animals. The animals believed that the windmill was a goal, and achieving that goal would achieve an improved life. The windmill, which started out as a plan to improve the animals' lives on Animal Farm, was turned into a tool of propaganda for Napoleon. The hard life of working on the windmill reduces the animals to skin and bones, the lack of proper rations also contribute to it. The windmill could have been the thing that sets Snowball away from Napoleon, and show to the animals that Snowball is the more capable leader of Animal Farm, and to Napoleon, that is something not worth risking.
Although Napoleon and Snowball had different ways of going about things, they were both united in trying to reach one cause, they both wanted a rebellion. Snowball and Napoleon, having their own similarities and differences, both seem to fight an endless war of being the best. They both struggle for leadership. Napoleon and Snowball share their characteristics in many ways including intelligence, how convincing both pigs are, and leadership traits. Firstly, Napoleon and Snowball both have similar intelligence traits. For example, both Napoleon and Snowball could read and write perfectly. The pigs were known for their high knowledge and leadership on the farm. “The pigs did not actually work, but directed and supervised the others. With their superior knowledge it was natural that they should assume the leadership” (Orwell 17). Snowball had written all the windmill plans with careful thinking and use of time. Napoleon, however, had used his knowledge to write a fake letter said to be written by Snowball to have agreed to be a secret agent to the Foxwood Farm. Napoleon knew that the other animals could not read very well and so by making his letter, no one could prove the letter was false except for the pigs that knew very well what Napoleon did. In addition, both Napoleon and Snowball were the most active in the speeches and the planning. Both pigs wanted to establish a social and economic system and be the leader of the farm. Furthermore, both pigs were smart enough to confuse the animals in order to get their way. They used the same excuse of “Do you want Jones and his men to come back??”. The animals, however, were too stupid to think for themselves, which let the two pigs get what they wanted. Secondly, the two animals were very convincing to the other animals. To illustrate, Snowball said that if a windmill was built, electricity could be used; there would be heat and hot and cold water. Work would also be cut down to three days per week. This, obviously a great deal, convinced the animals very easily that they wanted a windmill. Also, Napoleon convinced the animals very easily when he blamed all the farms troubles on Snowball. Napoleon said Snowball was a traitor and was working for Foxwood farms. Napoleon said he even had "proof" of secret documentation that Snowball was working for the humans. Furthermore, both animals knew that convincing the animals would be easy and effortless. The animals usually found themselves agreeing with the pigs. Thirdly, both Napoleon and Snowball had matching leadership traits. For instance, Snowball was in charge of educating the animals. All the animals got some kind of a degree although the hens and sheep only got to the letter A. The reading and writing classes, however, were a great success. “By autumn almost every animal on the farm was literate in some degree” (Orwell20). Additionally, the two pigs fought for the leadership place. Finally, both of the pigs were greedy in their own way. It was Snowball who declared that all apples and milk was to be in with the mash of the pigs “So it was agreed without further argument that the milk and the windfall apples should be reserved for the pigs alone” (Orwell 23). Napoleon also ordered that the barley field for beer be reserved to the pigs only. “The pigs had acquired the money to buy themselves another case of whiskey” (Orwell 84).
In conclusion, Animal Farm is a good example of human behaviour. Napoleon by the end of the story is making deals with humans and has every characteristic of one. The roles of Napoleon and Snowball are similar, yet different, in shaping the social structure of Animal Farm after the Rebellion. Snowball unlike Napoleon is trying to make animal farm a free place where no one should be laboured and everyone was equal. He was around before the revolution, giving the animals hopes that if they work hard during this lifetime they will live in a paradise. Snowball was more concerned and worried of the welfare of the animals. The dogs in this novel that have been taken away from their mother and secretly raised by Napoleon serve their master at all times. He also uses Snowball as an animal to place all of the blame on whenever something goes wrong creating Snowball to be a sort of enemy to the animals on the farm. Eventually Napoleon manipulates every commandment to suit him and has all of the animals working for him. George Orwell does an excellent job of mocking and characterizing humans into different categories. The animals were therefore never able to keep the balance and the plan of Animalism. Accordingly, the ending wasn’t a pleasant one, because not all struggles have happy ending.
