The pigs also agree between themselves that they should also have all the apples. Napoleon uses Squealer to defend the pigs’ devious actions and explain to the other animals. He says, “It is for your sake that we drink that milk and eat those apples. Do you know what would happen if we pigs failed in our duty? Jones would come back.” This scares the animals and they are not as intelligent as the pigs so they cannot put together any arguments against this. They fail to see that there is already an inequality between the pigs and the rest of the animals.
Napoleon again shows his actions to be tyrannical when he uses the puppies to expel Snowball from the farm. This shows Napoleon’s lust for control as he felt Snowball was in the way of him gaining complete power so seems to have plotted behind the scenes to get rid of him. Napoleon took the puppies when they were born saying, “he would make himself responsible for their education.” It is now clear that he has used them for his own benefit so that he could take control of the farm. Napoleon has only gained control of the farm through pure force and fear. He has become the dogs’ master and trained to be vicious. He continues to use them to his benefit to stop the other animals from speaking up.
The democratic side of the farm is slowly removed without discussion and Napoleon takes on the leadership of the farm. This now sees the end of the debates and discussion. Napoleon uses his leadership to issue weekly orders to the other animals which now shows a definite inequality. The other animal do not see this and Napoleon uses their lack of intelligence against them as he again gets Squealer to explain to the other animals. He says, “Do not imagine, comrades, that leadership is a pleasure!” Squealer also uses this as an opportunity to call Snowball a criminal which is again taking the animals attention away what is really happening. We can also see the seven commandments slyly changing and now the animals memories are being falsified by Squealer as he says, “Are you certain that this is not something that you have dreamed?” This shows that Napoleon is now trying to control the other animals thoughts.
Napoleon uses Snowball as a scapegoat as he is blamed for everything that goes wrong on the farm. When the windmill is ruined Napoleon blames this on Snowball and uses this adversity to his advantage, “We will teach this miserable traitor that he cannot undo our work.” He uses this to vilify Snowball further and therefore pushes the animals thoughts onto an enemy rather than the hard work that lies ahead in rebuilding the windmill. This shows more cunning on Napoleons’ part as he is making the animals work harder by manipulating them.
Napoleon’s actions aren’t for the benefit of the other animals or indeed the farm. His bullying tactics are shown when the hens didn’t want him to take their eggs. Nine hens died as he took away their food and threatened the others with death so that they wouldn’t give them any. This shows a complete ruthlessness and that they are no longer equal. Napoleon also shows his ruthlessness when the animals are to be punished if they do not take part in the voluntary extra work. Napoleon is clearly becoming a harsh and ruthless character as all of his actions are unfair to all the other animals and only satisfy his own needs and greed.
Napoleon shows total brutalness when he uses fear and force to get some of the animal to confess to crimes that they clearly have not committed. He does this to get rid of the enemies which are all of the animals who have questioned him and his actions. These actions are entirely tyrannical as they show that Napoleon is not willing to let anyone stand in his way of his leadership and control over the farm. The animals show signs of hysteria as they have got to the stage that they believe anything that is told to them. The cows say, “Snowball crept into their stalls and milked them in their sleep.” The animals are not showing rational thinking and this is all because of the pigs systematic abuse of logic and language. The other animals are not clever enough to understand that they are being exploited and cannot put their thoughts into arguments.
The other animals could not see what Napoleon was doing and Squealer has succeeded in challenging their memories so that they questioned themselves. They had nothing now to compare their current lives with and therefore Napoleon had succeeded in gaining full control over the farm and the animals.
Napoleons betrayal towards Boxers shows him to be a brutal tyrant because Boxer had been the hardest, most loyal worker on the farm. The pigs show no compassion as they send him to his death. Boxer is of no use to them anymore so they just dispose of him. Only Benjamin notices what has happened but again when Squealer explains, the other animals accept what they are told. Squealers false account of Boxer’s last moments shows the pigs to be very cruel and harsh.
We can see that all of Napoleon’s actions show a picture of brutal tyranny. He at first seems to be kind and to be acting for the benefit of all the animals but this soon stops and it is clear that he wants control of the farm and he does this by using many techniques to keep the animals in order. He manipulates and exploits the other animals. Napoleon is cruel towards the other animals. He uses their lack of intelligence against them and succeeds in controlling not only the farm but the animals thoughts and memories also.
