With Old Major’s death, he symbolizes the idealistic, intellectual, and sometimes abstract vision that leads to the revolution. His death clears the path for younger figures to seize the revolutionary fervour, which is sweeping the farm, and use it to propel themselves to positions of power. Napoleon, Snowball, and Squealer are cleverer, sneakier, and more aggressive than the other animals, and they soon rise to power as the subtle leaders of the revolutionary movement. “The work of teaching and organizing the others naturally fell upon the pigs, who were generally recognized as being the cleverest of the animals.” This is the first step into the domination of the farm by the pigs, who “naturally” lead the animals from the start, because of their abilities and also the other animals inability to organize, lack of intelligence and ability.
The three pigs formulate the system of Animalism, and teach the rest of the group by organizing meetings, and “expound” on Animalism. Squealer’s persuasive tactics in convincing the animals to unite in revolution symbolize the personable, persuasive speaking powers of a charismatic political leader. This persuasive tactic has worked on the “most faithful disciples” of Boxer and Clover, who although are less intelligent than the teachers (pigs) but nevertheless they can convince other animals to join the cause using “simple arguments.” This all adds up to the second step to the domination of the farm, where the pigs gain control through education, and through improvements. As Napoleon served up “double-rations” of corn for the animals, which of course the animals liked, but nobody gave Napoleon the authority to serve or distribute the food like that, and it is with these acts, which are very subtle that the pigs gain control. Also the conditions are right for the pigs to be leaders, and take over, as the other animal’s hesitancy to accept the new ideology right away are symbolic of the suspicions of the motives of the revolution. The reservations that they express, such as the plaint that “Mr. Jones feeds us. If he were gone, we would starve to death,” symbolizes the animal’s reluctance to abandon the security of their familiar forms of governance in favour of a self-determined, less secure future. Therefore, with the pigs taking power, the animals would not mind, as it would be the same as Jones, with a familiar form of governance, and secure future.
Another example is where Snowball and Napoleon starts to lead the other animal into the farmhouse after the expulsion of Mr. Jones, “…this was theirs too, but they were frightened to go inside…” this plainly suggests that while the other animals don’t have the leadership qualities of the pigs, the pigs take advantage and lead in. Some of the “elite” pigs however, have already adopted some of Man’s ways; Snowball and Napoleon have taught themselves to read and write during the past 3 months and soon a list of the 7 Commandments are written down on the wall, also Snowball formally renames the farm to, “Animal Farm.” Already the pigs are shown to be cleverer and are leading the less able animals. Moreover, since education is power, and they have knowledge that other animals do not, they naturally are more powerful.
The 7 Commandments are significant, as Commandments 3-5 which, which forbid the animals to engage in human activities such as sleeping in beds, wearing clothes, or drinking alcohol, are fundamentally different to the other ones, which are aimed at reinforcing the unity of the animal world and establishing some basic beliefs for the animals to share. With these Commandments, the animals attach some sort of prestige and significance, to those vestiges of human life that they might not have developed otherwise. By forbidding these acts, the leaders turn the items into signifiers of prestige and social standing, making the pigs’ eventual adoption of human habits ironic, as they want to the of a higher social standing than the rest of the animals.
Snowball leads the others to the harvest, and it is a clear signal of leadership, and as well as the first unmistakable signs that the revolution will drift away from the common animals’ ideals, which were more aligned with Old Major’s vision of a classless society. The exclusion of the pigs from the farm labour marks the beginning of the social stratification, “with their superior knowledge it was natural that they should assume leadership,” which would have anathema to Old Major. The ideals, which are laid in writing on the walls, are perverted almost immediately.
This chapter also establishes the division between Snowball and Napoleon. Snowball is clearly the thinker of the movement, developing the flag-raising ritual and symbolism and creating the elaborate system of committees, (again, the teacher-pupil divisions between the animals exist). There are also education and improvement-minded groups like the reading and writing classes. These efforts establish Snowball as the symbolic descendant of Old Major’s vision of animal life. Napoleon in contrast, becomes subtly malevolent in his interactions with newborn puppies. Here, Orwell’s use of perspective is important, the scene as is all of Animal Farm, is narrated from the unquestioning animals’ point of view, and the narrator only remarks that Napoleon, “kept the puppies in such seclusion that the rest of the farm soon forgot their existence.” The tone of the narrator’s animal perspective is, as always, noncommittal and unremarkable. Here we can see the power struggle going on, naturally for leadership.
After the apple harvest, the pigs announce that they will reserve all the apples and milk for themselves, under the pretence of fuelling the strenuous efforts required to manage the farm, “Milk and apples contain substances absolutely necessary to the well being of a pig…” Squealer also convinces the animals in another manner, “The whole management and organization of this farm depend on us…it is for your sake that we drink those milk and eat those apples.” Ultimately, he sways the animals with fear, “…what would happen if we failed our duty? Jones would come back! “ Squealer affrights and alarms the animals into obedience with the ominous warning of the reinstatement of Mr. Jones. Squealer manipulates and exploits the other animals into accepting and embracing that the pigs should be the sole beneficiaries of these indulgences. Through concealing their true schemes, by means of deceiving the others, the pigs are shortly capable of receiving whatever they desire with minimal opposition. We see how now the social divisions are apparent, with the service of the pigs in stopping Jones from being master again, the animals will do anything, and naturally, the pigs are fast becoming the undisputed leader.
In chapter 4, one of the most notable features of the chapter is the conspicuous absence of Napoleon; this is the only post-revolution chapter in the book where Napoleon is not mentioned even a single time, (so is Squealer). In contrast with Snowball’s display of intelligence and bravery, Napoleon’s absence can only mean that he is not a participant in the fighting, which supports the growing body of evidence on the reader’s mind that Napoleon’s fidelity to the revolutionary cause is questionable. Throughout the battle scenes, Snowball is repeatedly shown leading the charge against the men and organizing the battle plan, after the narrator casually mentions that he has been studying a copy of Julius Caesar’s battle plans, which he found in the barn. The significance is that the pigs again have control over the animals, with their orders and their leadership. However, the implications of that are lost to the animals, as they do not have the capacity or the skill to govern the farm. It also contributes to the growing identification of Snowball with scholarship and intellectualism. Moreover, by bestowing a medal of “Animal Hero-First Class” on Snowball, the animals unwittingly raise the Napoleon/Snowball tension to a climax, resulting in an ideological face-off, which soon prompts Napoleon to take drastic measures. From this chapter, we can visibly see that the pigs now are the leaders, they have the animals in control, whether it be, farm labour, fighting, or meetings, the pigs are the directors, the supervisors and the generals.
In chapter 5, the strife between Napoleon and Snowball reaches its climax; the two pigs represent two divisions of the leadership, Snowball, the more intellectual, visionary, and idealistic, of the two and Napoleon, more economically minded and totalitarian oriented. Napoleon has Snowball chased off the farm by his attack dogs (trained, from the puppies), this has an important connotation, it gives the first strong sense of Napoleon’s ideological betrayal; the dogs were the resources of the farm, and Napoleon seized them and then turned them against the farm animals themselves. Squealer’s role becomes more central to the political development of the farm in these scenes as well. Is persuasive abilities are now used exclusively to pacify the animals after each of Napoleon’s disturbing proclamations. In this sense, Squealer functions as the charismatic and eloquent mouthpiece of the increasingly tyrannical government that Napoleon quickly puts in place. The animals are often perplexed but they absorb everything they are told and therefore are perfect subjects for manipulation. “The animals would still assemble on Sunday morning to salute the flag, and sing “Beasts of England” and receive their orders for the week; but there would be no more debates.” The democratic meetings are abolished and are replaced instead with assemblies where Napoleon issues his order on the stage surrounded by his dogs. The remainder of Animal Farm is a chronicle of the consolidation of Napoleon’s power through clever politics, propaganda, scapegoat and, terror. This is how the pigs took control of Animal Farm. Squealer is a follower rather than a leader, his abilities as a persuasive, manipulative politician is used by Napoleon to get control of Animal Farm, through devious ways. Squealer becomes an instrument of the regime, a device by which Napoleon communicates with other animals, like Boxer to persuade them for Napoleon’s personal gain. For example, Boxer devotes himself to the cause, pledges his allegiance to Napoleon and his mottos and speech is indicative of the discourse fed to him. Moreover, the threat of Napoleon’s dogs who are under Napoleon’s control shows clearly the developing state of tyranny and oppression, which will change the “unalterable” seven commandments into Napoleon’s own laws.
This is the start of the devolution of the original ideals of the revolution into a totalitarian regime. This will disintegrate in the final, climatic scene, where the animals finally see the parallels between the pigs and the humans, is both chilling and poignant. The animals are not as intelligent as the pigs, so it is with earnest and gullible faith that they have withstood the destruction of their revolutionary ideals and the advent of the totalitarian regime. The moment where the animals vividly recognize the pigs for the human minded and therefore hopelessly corrupted rulers that they are is a moment of disillusionment, and ultimately horror.