Examine closely the means by which Napoleon establishes a personal tyranny over Animal Farm.

GCSE ENGLISH COURSEWORK PHILIP XIU

Examine closely the means by which Napoleon establishes a personal tyranny over Animal Farm

From the very beginning of the novel, Napoleon emerges as an utterly corrupt opportunist, though always present at the early meetings of the new state, Napoleon never makes a single contribution to the revolution-not to the formulation of its ideology, not to the bloody struggle that it necessitates, nor to the new society’s attempt to establish itself. He never shows interest in the strength of Animal Farm itself, only in the strength of his power over it. Thus, the only project he undertakes with enthusiasm is the training of a litter of puppies. He does not educate them for their own good or for the good of all, but rather for his own good: they become his own private army or secret police, a violent means by which he imposes his will upon others.

The only thing obstructing Napoleon’s personal rise to power and domination of all the animals in the farm at the start, is Snowball. Snowball and Napoleon disagrees on everything, from the windmill incident to the best course of defence of Animal Farm, with Snowball advocating the spread of the revolutionary spirit to neighbouring farms, while Napoleon feels that the animals should procure weapons and develop a military force (this is apt as Napoleon already has an attack force of killer attack dogs). Snowball represents the more intellectual, visionary, and idealistic fervent ideologue who throws his heart and soul into the attempt to spread Animal Farm’s infrastructure while Napoleon represents the more economically minded and authoritarian of the two. The incident over the windmill shows all too clearly the real intentions of Napoleon. The animals are naïve and confused, not knowing for whom to vote. In reality, the whole idea of needing a majority vote to secure a motion is irrelevant as all Napoleon is waiting for, is to become the dictator of the farm. Snowball’s reliance on the force of his own logic and rhetorical skill to gain his influence proves no match for Napoleon’s show of brute force. The idealistic but politically less powerful Snowball is expelled from the revolutionary state by the malicious and violent usurper of power, Napoleon.

The attack dogs leaves the other animals with fear and terror (the animals are left, “silent and terrified”), it is described that the dogs were, “as fierce looking as wolves” who will obey only Napoleon. This is the first strong sense of Napoleon’s ideological betrayal: the dogs were the resources of the farm, and Napoleon seized them and turned them against the farm animals themselves.

The dictatorship of Napoleon is further entrenched with the abolishment of the Sunday morning meetings, the farm is then to be run by a special committee presided by Napoleon himself and the animals would receive, “their orders…there would be no more debates”

To further Napoleon’s grip on the farm, Squealer is then sent in to subdue the animals. He says with hypocrisy that, leadership is a labour and that, “no one believes more firmly than Comrade Napoleon that all animals are equal.” The meaning of the word ”equal” is twisted and of the ideal of equality in general typifies the pigs’ method, which becomes increasingly audacious as the novel progresses. All this is propaganda, Squealer the silver tongued pig abuses language to justify Napoleon’s actions and policies to the animals by whatever means necessary. He plays on the animal’s fear, anger, love, hate, hope, and their guilt. Squealer uses every trick he knows to deceive the animals, his blatant lies, his constant sophisticated threat of, “surely there is no one among you who wants to see Jones come back” keep the animals in a state of confusion and enforces their total submission and admiration for their leader, Napoleon. Squealer also uses another tactic to win the animals over, he complicates the languages unnecessarily, he confuses and intimidates the uneducated, “tactics, comrades, tactics…the animals were not certain what the word meant…”Squealer thus employs jargon. Boxer on the other hand, responds to Napoleon’s increasing control by giving himself a new mantra, “Napoleon is always right.” Here Orwell satirizes the blind, unthinking devotion of the animals towards the political figure they originally supported, despite the leader’s devolution into tyranny.

As Animal Farm shifts gears from its early revolutionary fervour to a phase of consolidation of power in the hands of the few, national rituals become an ever more common part of the farm’s social life. Military awards, large parades, and new songs all proliferate as the state attempts to reinforce the loyalty of the animals. The increasing frequency of the rituals bespeaks the extent to which the working class in the novel becomes ever more reliant on the ruling class to define their group identity and values.

Life becomes harder and harder for the animals while Napoleon’s ...

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Life becomes harder and harder for the animals while Napoleon’s power becomes increasingly terrifying and despotic. The animals are constantly under threat. When Napoleon announces that there will be work on Sunday afternoons as well, the decree leaves the animals no choice. The animals are informed that, “this work was strictly voluntary, but any animal who absented himself from it would have his rations reduced by half.” Another twist on the meaning of the word “voluntary.” The corruption now intensifies, Napoleon would now on, “engage in trade with the neighbouring farms.” The hens must “sacrifice” their eggs (despite the promise of Old Major that they could keep them) Napoleon’s reintroduction of trade to Animal Farm is the first steps towards the reappearance of human customs. Not surprisingly, the pigs’ move to the farmhouse follows shortly thereafter. His attempt to hide the illegality of this move by literally changing the wording of the commandments is quite telling, symbolizing the tyrant’s disregard for truth and ethical considerations. The narrowing down of the fourth commandment is also significant. This narrowing of broader ideas (not sleeping in beds to not sleeping in beds with a sheet) is the key to Napoleon’s slow transformation of the farm. He takes the revolution’s original general ideas and language and alters, appends, and incorporates them into his own reign.

Also through propaganda, Napoleon plans to assassinate the character of Snowball, which is obvious in the novel, “I believe the time will come when we shall find that Snowball’s part in it is very much exaggerated.” The events that have happened in which Snowball is involved will be given a new interpretation. Snowball is then portrayed as an enemy, “a dangerous character, and a bad influence.” An outside threat to the security of the farm, while all the problems that occur on the farm from now will be the malicious work of Snowball, for example Napoleon blames the destruction of the windmill on Snowball and not the storm. This lie unites the animals against a common enemy, however ironically though; the true hero of the revolution is twisted into a common enemy under Napoleon’s propaganda. Snowball is branded a traitor, which is another form of propaganda, Napoleon orders the rebuilding of the windmill to begin at once, the animals are now the slave of Napoleon whereas before they were the slaves of Jones.

The animals are “cold, and usually hungry as well.” Their rations keep on being reduced and Napoleon sees that all the necessary window dressing is done when Whymper comes on his weekly visits to the farm, so that the truth of the hardship is hidden from the outside world. Napoleon however remains in the farmhouse in isolated splendour, or if he does emerge, “it was in a ceremonial manner, with an escort of six dogs who closely surround him and growled if anyone came too near.” Any rebellion, e.g. that of the hens who do not want to surrender their eggs, is dealt with ruthlessly. The character assassination of Snowball intensifies, as past events are re-written and anything that goes wrong is blamed on him, by convincing the animals to go along with this toughest ideological shift; Squealer and Napoleon pave the way for future changes. In addition, any criticism from the animals is treated as treachery. All the marks of a totalitarian government.

To keep the animals in order Napoleon uses fear to achieve that aim, through his purges and show trials with which Napoleon eliminates all the opponents and likely enemies (e.g. 4 pigs, hens’ uprising ringleaders) and solidify his political base are done in show trials. The false confessions abound because of the animals’ “conscience” and the executions of animals that Napoleon distrusts following the fall of the windmill. After the killings, the animals “crept away” and “huddled together for warmth.” Old Major’s ideals are censored; destroyed and even Beasts of England is forbidden. A new song takes its place, “Animal Farm, Animal Farm Never through me shalt thou come to harm” all the songs, poems, slogans, chants and so on serve as propaganda, one of the major conduits of social control. By making the working class animals speak the same words at the same time, the pigs evoke an atmosphere of grandeur and nobility associated with the recited text’s subject matter The songs erode the animals sense of individuality and keep them focused on the tasks by which they will purportedly achieve freedom.

Napoleon’s unchallenged power becomes increasingly excessive. He is worshipped as a god, and the pigs refer to him in the most extravagant terms. He is “Father of all Animals,” “Terror of Mankind” etc. Everything is seen through the light of the grace of their leader, Napoleon. Napoleon obsessed with absolute power, total control, and blind obedience, Napoleon has ensured that no animal dare question the noble concept that “all animals are equal.” However, this just intensifies the lies and corruption of the farm under the iron control of a ruthless tyrant. Squealer reassures everyone that they have more food than they had under Jones’s rule, he uses a baffling vocabulary of false and impenetrable statistics, endangering in the other animals both self-doubt and a sense of hopelessness about ever accessing the truth without the pig’s mediation.

Again, the sixth and fifth commandments are changed and added to suit the pig’s way of ruling. However, the cause of all the differences between the memory and the laws are put down to the animals ”remembering wrong.” This represents the effectiveness of the propaganda at erasing and calling into question the collective memories of the entire farm. Indeed, after having witnessing the fall of Squealer off a ladder, the animals still do not understand that Squealer has been changing the laws. The pigs start drinking alcohol but it is still clear in the reader’s mind that the reason to why the revolution took place in the first place is that Jones drank too much, it also symbolizes more than anything a corrupt government. A government drunk on prosperity, a prosperity which never trickles down to the common people.

Squealer continues to brainwash the animals with false statistics and carefully chosen diction that disguises that truth. He never stops reminding the animals that they are free and that is a priceless gift and is to be treasured. Napoleon’s god like status continues to grow through the introduction of processions, titles (President, Leader) and Spontaneous Demonstrations “the object of which was to celebrate the struggles and triumphs of Animal Farm.” Squealer uses the word “readjustment” rather than “reduction” to declare the ration cuts, this aside from all else plays up the use of language to enforce and distort public perception. However, while the other animals are near starvation, the pigs and the dogs are not and surely even now, one can see the absolute personal tyranny that Napoleon has over the other animals. Boxer after working so long for his master Napoleon, is destined to a gruesome death, the troubling part is however is how the pigs handle the situation, instead of letting Boxer enter retirement they force him onto a glue making truck and tell the other animals that he is going to the hospital. What is sadder is that the animals believe Squealer and the proceeds from Boxer’s death goes to the alcohol drinks served to the pigs at Boxer’s a funeral party.

In the final chapter there is no doubt that Napoleon has an grip on the farm, no animal is allowed to retire and the windmill now provides profit to the pigs instead of creating comfort and luxury for the animals. Napoleon in a final ironic twist denounces luxuries and says that he believes in the value of hard work and labour. Any independent, hopeful thoughts that the animals may once have had are totally annihilated. They are helpless pawns in the grip of the pigs. However, the final twist is that the pigs now carry whips and start walking on two legs (going directly against the first commandment. This time there is no Squealer to reason out the motive anymore, it is more of what the pigs does, and it is taken for granted by the rest of the animals) which in the final climatic scene, where the animals finally see the parallels between the pigs and the humans, is both chilling and poignant. In the end, it is with the aid of Squealer with his lack of conscience and his rhetorical skills maintains the social and political control steered on by Napoleon, Squealer demonstrates how language can be manipulated as an instrument of control, he gradually twists and distort a rhetoric of the original revolution to justify their behaviour and to keep the other animals in the dark, including twisting the meanings of Old Major’s commandments. As a result, the other animals seem unable to oppose the pigs or that by opposing the pigs they oppose the revolution’s ideals. By the end of the novel after Squealer’s repeated reconfiguration of the seven commandments in order to decriminalize the pigs’ treacheries, the main principle of the farm now is openly stated as “All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others.” This outrageous abuse of the word “equal” and of the ideal of equality in general typifies the pig’s method, which became more audacious as time went on. Propaganda was used, by Napoleon to subdue the animals and entrenching the pigs in a position of power, they used various techniques such as the threat of an inner danger (Snowball and agents) an outside threat (Jones and Farmers), the glorification of Napoleon, the hatred of an enemy (Snowball). In the final show down, the use of terror, where opponents and likely enemies are eliminated and the rest of the animals subdued and under the threat of death. However not all is due to the skills of Squealer, for example when presented with a dilemma Boxer prefers not to puzzle out the implications of various possible actions but instead to repeat to himself that “Napoleon is always right.” Moreover, it demonstrates the inability or the unwillingness to question authority condemns the working class to suffer the full extent of the ruling class’s oppression.

The animals are honestly not as smart as the pigs, so it is with earnest and gullible faith that they may have withstood the destruction of their revolutionary ideals and the advent of the totalitarian regime. No longer is Animalism just a generic belief that all animals are equal, but now it is a money hungry powerhouse of oppression run by Napoleon. The moment where they vividly recognize the pigs for the human-minded, and therefore hopelessly corrupted rulers that they are, is a moment of disillusionment, and ultimately horror.

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