Snowball, who was chased out of the farm by Napoleon's personal bodyguards, portrayed by dogs, is being used as a scapegoat, "Whenever anything went wrong, it became usual to attribute it to Snowball." When the violent November storm blew the windmill down, Napoleon blamed Snowball for blowing it up instead of admitting that the windmill walls were not thick enough to support it against the strong wind. He even got Squealer to convince the fellow comrades that ‘Snowball was in league with Jones from the very start’.
Although Boxer is quick to help and shows much dedication to Animal Farm’s ideals, Napoleon and the rest of the pigs makes use of his weaknesses. For example, he accepts the pigs as his ‘teachers’ and believes and absorbs everything the pigs say and trusts the pigs to make all his decisions for him because he thinks that he and the other animals in the farm will be able to benefit from their leadership.
Boxer is slowwitted and naively decides to trust the pigs to make his decisions. The great cart-horse Boxer devotes himself to the cause, taking "I will work harder" as his maxim and committing his great strength to the prosperity of the farm. Boxer then pledges his allegiance to Napoleon; his speech is indicative of the discourse fed to him day in and day out. Boxer says aloud, "Napoleon is always right," intones the horse at just the crucial moment when a sign of his disapproval or even doubt might have stalled, if not thwarted, Napoleon's bid for sole power.
He even sent Boxer to the slaughterer for he thinks that Boxer is old and of not much use keeping him by his side. Boxer was dedicated to the completion of the windmill. One day while building the windmill, Boxer falls and hurts his lung. Napoleon knows he has gained all of Boxers trust. Napoleon sells his most loyal worker to a glue-maker for whisky-money, while claiming to have sent him to a human hospital, where, according to Squealer, he died in peace.
Napoleon looks as though he is a good leader that cares for his fellow comrades. But in fact, he constantly alters the commandments to suit his needs and made use of the animals which were not as clever and intelligent to serve him and listen to his commands blindly.
Besides taking advantage of Boxer and Snowball, Napoleon also makes use of the other animals in the farm. He uses the sheep as a tool of propaganda to promote the maxim “Four legs good, two legs bad!” which at the end of the book becomes “Four legs good, two legs better!” He also uses the pig Squealer as a minister of propaganda and a “mouthpiece” to pass on messages to the rest of the animals.
Eddy Ng (31)
2G
