Animal farm
George Orwell’s animal farm has a few important characters, one being Napoleon and how he changes throughout the text. (Napoleon is a wild boar based on Joseph Stalin) who takes over the farm one old major dies. He gets a taste of what it’s like to have power and gets hungry for more.
Animal Farm is based on a farm that had farmers who the animals were slaving for, the animals protested and chased the farmers off the farm. The animals leader old major dies and Napoleon takes over the farm and manipulates the other animals to thinking he is always right and uses their lack of knowledge against them. George Orwell wants us to be aware of what can happen when their leader lies and how power can corrupt people.
The importance of Napoleon was shown in ‘’Animal Farm’’ when he used the 9 attack dogs to scare the other animals and consolidate his power, for example when the windmill fell down Napoleon blamed it on snowball ‘’ he has betrayed us’’ said Napoleon, and because of the other animals lack of knowledge they believed him. This resulted in Napoleon and Snowball fighting and Napoleons 9 attack dogs (military forces) chased Snowball away and off the farm. This shows that his power is making him manipulative and he makes people think that he is right.
Napoleon’s importance was also shown in ‘’Animal Farm’’ when he sold Boxer to a horse slaughtering company after Boxer injured himself working in the quarry. Boxer worked too hard and collapsed. Napoleon told the other animals that he is going to the hospital but was really going away to get slaughtered, in exchange for Boxer, Napoleon got a box of whisky and eventually broke the commandment ‘’no animal shall drink alcohol’’ and changed it to ‘’no animal shall drink alcohol, to excess’’. Napoleon told the other animals that Boxers last words were ‘’Napoleon is always right’’. This shows the importance of Napoleon and how he is manipulative and how he does things for self benefit.
Lastly Napoleon’s importance in ‘’Animal Farm’’ was shown when Napoleon was hungry for more selfish needs and canceled all meetings around the farm, ‘’they were a waste of time’’, Napoleon said. After Napoleon chased Snowball off the farm he took the opportunity to end all meetings. This shows Napoleon’s manipulative, he is selfish and he is transforming from a leader to a dictator.
So to summarise in ‘’Animal Farm’’, the importance of Napoleon and how he changed throughout the text is a key theme in this novel, the way that Napoleon took over from Old Major and wanted power and control over the farm, it made him selfish and he prioritizes himself over the farm. He uses his power in the struggle of his citizens (like Stalin). He transforms from a leader to a dictator and shows conflict and how the abuse of power can lead to corruption.
