How Does Napoleon Take and Maintain Control Of Animal Farm?

Not only did Napoleon instill fear upon the animals, he exploited them and did other things such as establish trade links to deal with the financial side of keeping control of the farm. Boxer was the most loyal, hard working “comrade” on the farm. Napoleon abuses his loyalty by getting all the work out of him that he can, then selling him to the slaughterhouse to get the last possible bit of money out of him. Also Napoleon uses the convincing speeches of Squealer as a way of preventing the animals being enraged by the killing of Boxer “the van had previously been the property of the knacker and had been bought by the veterinary surgeon, who had not painted the old name out.” The Squealer promoted Napoleons love saying he had paid out much money on expensive medicines leading the animals to think that Napoleon was kind and caring. However in fact he was using boxer for personal benefit before he could reach retiring age. Also, Napoleon established trade links with neighboring farms to allow more income in exchange of overly produced goods. It shows hat napoleon knew he needed more than just control of the animals to keep control of the farm.

Napoleon took full advantage of the fact that most of the animals could not read or write and that they had bad memories that didn’t nearly match those of the pigs. To allow himself a more comfortable living standard and to create a higher place for himself in society, Napoleon alters some of the commandments set out in the early days of the rebellion. For example, Napoleon sleeps in one of the beds which is forbidden, but he gets Squealer to edit the commandment to “No animal may sleep in a bed with sheets” to ensure that Napoleon is not “breaking” and rules and can live more comfortably. Also, toward the end of the book, a new commandment is made to replace the other commandments. “All animals are equal but some are more equal than others” this basically gave the pigs a higher status without letting the less intellectual animals realise what was going on. This all led to a more comfortable life for Napoleon and the pigs.

In Animal Farm Napoleon uses many methods to keep and maintain control. The book is based on the Russian Revolution with Napoleon representing the dictator, Stalin. Towards the end, Animal Farm looses its democracy. Napoleon used other animals such as Squealer to maintain control and did not give ant of the other animals a say in what went on. This allows Napoleons self-interest to be fuelled by the power that comes to him. To keep that power Napoleon engraves fear into the animals’ minds, exploits their hard work and bends the rules to suit his needs. He uses militaristic tactics such as biding his time for example when he waits until Snowballs windmill plans are finalised before using them himself. This again ties in with the Russian revolution. Orwell uses Napoleon to express his view on Stalin in the ways that he keeps and maintains control of animal farm as Stalin did of Russia.