Followers and Leaders of Animal Farm

Animals on Manor Farm over throw their mean and evil rulers who have overworked and mistreated them. Once the animals get control over the farm they set up slogans and rules the animals must follow in order to have equality and justice on the new farm.

The farm is mainly ran by the pigs, who are considered the most intelligent, and also the two main ruler pigs named Snowball and Napoleon. Napoleon uses dogs he took away as pups and trained them to follow his words and also uses them to chase Snowball off the farm. Now Napoleon has complete control over the farm along with the other pigs and the dogs.

Napoleon’s number one pig who helps him run the farm the way he likes is named Squealer. Squealer is very persuasive and can manipulate any animal he needs to. The author of the book Animal Farm is named George Orwell and he wrote this story to have a allegorical representation of the Russian Revolution. Orwell shows in this piece of writing that both leaders and followers in a society can act in ways that destroy certain rights such as freedom and equality. One of the followers name is Boxer and this horse believes that everything the pigs say about napoleon is always right.

Overall, Napoleon’s right hand pig, Squealer, uses persuasive wording and powerful speeches to manipulate other animals on the farm that Napoleon is always right. In Animal Farm one of the leaders name is Squealer and he is a pig who is very persuasive.

The text states, “The others said of Squealer that he could turn black into white. ” (pg:16) When George Orwell describes Squealer as being able to "turn black into white", he is in fact referring to Squealer's persuasive skill. In other words, Squealer has enough persuasive talent to be able to convince the animals in Animal Farm that black is white or vice-versa.

Squealer uses his wonderful way of talking persuasively towards the other animals on the farm. When Squealer does this he is being manipulative words to make the animals think what he wants them to.

This effects the equality on the farm because the animals may not realize that they are being cheated out of their rights they originally fought for when they ran the original farm hands off the farm. Squealer’s persuasion is powerful because he influences the animals into thinking only positive ideas about Napoleon. This shows that Squealer is very manipulative and takes advantage of his power of manipulation.

Squealer keeps his power throughout the novel is by staying as an important aspect to Napoleon. Napoleon uses Squealer to go out and persuade the animals on the farm that the pigs aren’t doing anything wrong or against the rules. This is very relevant to the story because if Napoleon didn’t have Squealer to help him run the farm than Napoleon wouldn’t have too many supporters and without his supporters he wouldn’t have any power. In Animal Farm, Orwell chose the characteristics of the animals to allegorically represent people or groups from the Russian Revolution.

Napoleon plays Stalin who was a cruel ruler who used military tactics to enforce his rules. This overall represents how in Animal Farm Orwell used all of the characters to have an allegorical meaning. Squealer is a representation of the Propaganda Department, and Napoleon represents the Russian Revolutions cruel leader. Squealer’s overall goal is to persuade all of the animals to becoming loyal to Napoleon like how the propaganda department was a way of persuading the people of the Soviet Union to become loyal to Stalin.

Squealer is reaching his goal one by one and gains support every time he talks to the animals. Next, in Animal Farm one of the animals who follow Napoleon and Squealer’s words is a very strong and hardworking horse named Boxer. At first, things seem to be going well. He's a hard worker, making "I will work harder" into his personal motto (ch-3). He's a brave fighter, and the narrator tells us that, during the Battle of the Cowshed, "the most terrifying spectacle of all was Boxer, rearing up on his hind legs and striking out with his great iron-shod hoofs like a stallion" (ch-4).

But it's not enough to keep him safe. At the beginning of the novel, Old Major warns Boxer that he's disposable: "the very day that those great muscles of yours lose their power, Jones will send you to the knacker, who will cut your throat and boil you down for the fox-hounds" (ch-1). Boxer can see that—but once Jones is forced off the farm, Boxer thinks the threat is gone. He's just not smart enough to see that he's got a whole new species to worry about. Boxer worries about the farm, but he's not smart enough to figure things out on his own.

Instead of thinking for himself, he decides to be loyal no matter what—to follow the Party (as in, Communist Party) line. Like, after Snowball is sent into exile, Boxer tries to think things over for himself, but all he can come up with is, "If Comrade Napoleon says it, it must be right," and he takes up a new personal motto: "Napoleon is always right" (ch-5). Boxer is one of the animals who is easily persuaded and this is why the pigs think of him as a powerful disciple. Boxer absorbs everything the pigs tell him.

Boxer would work so hard that it would influence the other animals to want to start and work also. This is not a good thing that is happening because when they are working on different projects on the farm they are taking orders from Napoleon and if they do that than there isn’t equality because this means that Napoleon is of a higher authority. If Napoleon is a higher rank in the social class than there isn’t equality. Boxer does not realize that he is giving up his freedom and he certainly doesn’t know that he is causing the other animals to also.

He doesn’t realize this because all he does is follow Napoleons rules and work as hard as he can. Boxer motivates the other animals to work harder when the animals see him trying so hard to work. Boxer’s behavior is not typical of the animals on Animal Farm because he doesn’t ever question Napoleon like some of the other followers on the farm have. Also Boxer is not like the other animals because even though he is a follower he influenced other animals to follow in his footsteps and work harder.

This shows that because Boxer is listening to Squealer he worked harder and that influences the other animals to work but also to give away their right to freedom and equality. In Conclusion, Napoleon’s second in command, also known as Squealer, persuades the animals on Animal Farm into thinking he is a wonderful leader. One of Squealer’s followers is a very work dedicated horse named Boxer. The author of this story is name Orwell and his purpose of writing this piece was to have the allegorical purpose of symbolism of the Russian Revolution.

Orwell may have written this as a warning to the readers about how human behavior is when they get to much power. When someone gets too much power it goes to their head and they can’t function like they use to and may make bad decisions. From this novel the reader has learned that society is always adjusting itself. Not every situation is perfect nor can one expect perfection. However, the reader also learned that people have morals by which they hold themselves. Any leader who pushes his morals upon a group does not deserve power.

Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely animal farm

When the animals take over the farm the pigs become the animals’ leaders, as they are the smartest of the animals. Major starts out telling the animals about his dream and convincing them that’s how the farm should be like. The pigs encourage that all animals are equal and have 7 commandments to keep the farm in order. After the animals start to agree with Napoleon more and more, Boxer says “If Comrade Napoleon says it, it must be right” (Orwell 56) that is how Napoleon gained his motto as “Napoleon is always right”.

The animals became intimidated by the pigs and were too afraid to ever question their decisions. None of the other animals were smart enough to think differently. When Napoleon realizes how much power he has, he starts to take advantage of it. Napoleon starts to tweak the commandments to his advantage. Napoleon creates a rule saying, “The milk and windfall apples should be reserved for the pigs alone” (Orwell 36). Napoleon has only made this rule to benefit himself and his kind. When Squealer says, “Surely there is no one among you who wants to see Jones come back?

” he is trying to scare the other animals into thinking Napoleons doing the right thing. The pigs should not be treated any better than the other animals. This is what started Napoleons corrupt set of values. Napoleon continues to make corrupt changes to the commandments and rules as he gains more and more authority. When “Napoleon accepted, through Whymper, a contract for 400 eggs a week” (Orwell 76) it was really unfair to the hens and he should have no control over that. Napoleon did not give any sympathy to the hens even after they revolted.

Napoleon started to traumatize the hens for declining to give their eggs. Napoleon brought the situation way out of proportion and brutally starved some of the hens to death to get the eggs on time. Napoleon has no right to put the hens through hell just to because he says so. Napoleon started off as a true leader keeping the farm under control but once his control got so immense he turned corrupt. Napoleon made and changed rules to benefit himself. Napoleon became very selfish and unfair to all the other animals.

No other animal ever had the guts or smarts to question Napoleons power and decisions; which worsened the situation and made Napoleon become more corrupt. Napoleon had a stern set of rules but if he happened to break a rule his fellow pigs would use a euphemism by adding a few words to the rule to soften the true meaning. If everyone could quickly turn to page 109, last paragraph. The other animals were not very smart so they were fooled into thinking they had just remembered the commandments wrong in the first place.

Napoleon had such corrupt morals that he thought any rule he broke he could simply alter it so he was no longer breaking the rules. Napoleon ends up changing the entire commandments after he had gained all the power and money he wanted. In the end, the most corrupt thing Napoleon did is when he changed all the commandments to “All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others” (134). This brought the farm back to exactly how it had started. This very corrupt decision made the animals think they could not question his unfair decisions simply because some animals are more equal than others.

This took away all the freedom and equality that had kept the farm together. “Absolute power corrupts absolutely” this is exactly what happened to animal farm. Napoleon had started out so against humans and made rules against having any similarities with them. After Napoleon had become more and more corrupt he turned into exactly what he was against… humans. Napoleon let his corrupt decisions get the best of him and alter his mind thinking he was above the rest. The animals were left with no power or leadership and all they had was a selfish, lying, corrupt dictator who acted just as a human.

Animal Farm - Literary Essay

Is it not everyone's dream to live in a world where each person is equal?

Karl Marx came up with a solution to the problem of inequality and called it communism. The idea of communism looks like a good plan on paper but it could never work in real life because of ones’ large desire for power. George Orwell uses his novel Animal Farm to show how one’s greed can lead a great plan to fail, regardless of the situation. He does this by showing how one loses focus of the original idea because they crave power, how one then goes against the original idea, and finally how one turns the original idea into something it was never supposed to be.

In the beginning of the book, Old Major tells the animals his dream of freedom for all animals. Then, Old Major dies, leaving behind his wisdom and his vision for all animals. Throughout the book the other animals carry out his dream and they name it Animalism. They even come up with rules, known as the seven commandments.

The Seven Commandments

1. Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy.
2. Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend.
3. No animal shall wear clothes.
4. No animal shall sleep in a bed.
5. No animal shall drink alcohol
6. No animal shall kill any other animal.

All animals are equal,” (page – chapter 2). The animals then paint these commandments on the wall and live by them every day. Even though these are great rules the pigs start to lose focus and start to battle for power. After Old Major dies and the plans for Animalism start to take off both Napoleon and Snowball fight for power over the farm. Two people cannot share power, because power cannot be shared.

It is greed that pushes one leader to gain all of the power. In the book Animal Farm Snowball and Napoleon are battling for power. Orwell writes, “At last the day came when Snowball's plans were completed. At the Meeting on the following Sunday the question of whether or not to begin work on the windmill was to be put to the vote. When the animals had assembled in the big barn, Snowball stood up and, though occasionally interrupted by bleating from the sheep, set forth his reasons for advocating the building of the windmill.

Then Napoleon stood up to reply. He said very quietly that the windmill was nonsense and that he advised nobody to vote for it, and promptly sat down again; he had spoken for barely thirty seconds, and seemed almost indifferent as to the effect he produced, (Chapter 5 paragraph 3). ” Napoleon seems to strive for power more than Snowball does and he will take any chance he has to take Snowball down, which completely defeats Old Major’s vision of Animalism and its purpose of equality. Power was not a part of Old major’s vision.

While Snowball is very intelligent and seems to want the best for Animal Farm Napoleon is just power-hungry. It is clear that Napoleon is jealous of Snowball, so he begins to plan how to get rid of him. To do this, Napoleon uses the dogs to chase Snowball off the farm. When they return to him it’s as if they have no regret. “It was noticed that they wagged their tails to him in the same way as the other dogs had been used to do to Mr. Jones”. Napoleon has a taste for power, and now that he has it he is only going to want more.

After Snowball is gone, Napoleon has complete control of the farm, which is not a good thing. He rarely speaks for himself because he has Squealer to do it for him. Napoleon gets rid of the meetings, which also gets rid of opportunity for the other animals to speak. He also gives himself all of the luxuries. “In these days Napoleon rarely appeared in public, but spent all his time in the farmhouse, which was guarded at each door by fierce-looking dogs. When he did emerge, it was in a ceremonial manner, with an escort of six dogs who closely surrounded him and growled if anyone came too near,”  Napoleon is now the most important animal on the farm, and even re-writes history to make himself seem even better. Napoleon was not the only one to re-write history though, although, he was the one that demanded the others to make false confessions just so they could be killed. “And so the tale of confessions and executions went on, until there was a pile of corpses lying before Napoleon’s feet and the air was heavy with the smell of blood, which had been unknown there since the time of Jones,”. Napoleon wanted to prove his power to the other animals and he would stop at nothing to do so. One could say that Napoleon became worse than Mr. Jones, the original farm owner, ever was. A plan that started out to make the farm a communist place turns out to be ruled by a dictator, again. George Orwell used the book Animal Farm to write about how Karl Marx’s idea of communism and how easily it can fail because one loses focus of the original idea.

Animal Farm Political Speech Assignment

I once stood next to all of you, helped and taught you all how to farm, how to read and write. I was very committed back then. I came up with all the different plans that benefited the Animal Farm, such as the windmill. Until a few months later after the rebellion, Napoleon who had always opposed me, got Jealous. So, he chased me out with those bewildered dogs, stole my plans for the windmill, blamed me for everything, and corrupted Minimalism as he took total control ever the farm.

Before my expulsion, you all saw me drawing and planning out every detail for the windmill, hoping to help out all the animals by having less work to be done. Then, I was chased out, and I wasn't appreciated for all my hard work that I was devoted in. Instead, Napoleon stole my credits and even called me a thief for stealing "his" plans and a "traitor" who was allied with our enemy, Mr.. Jones. How could he come up with such a plan and pretend to oppose it?

Let us say that If I really did stole the plans, he loud of put me legally on trial, instead of using those untamed dogs to go after me, and almost taken my life. After Napoleon exiled me, I could not even get near the farm since the dogs were alert of me. As for the windmill that night, It was because of a storm. Just think about it, how could it be possible for a pig like me to budge a huge bolder, how could have I even push and destroy it. Just think for a moment for all the details.

It took you all and the assistance of Boxer to slowly lift up a stone and you expect me to move it in he dark, and destroy all of your hard work? Come on Comrades! I know you all questioned the truth when you first heard the news. You all had been brainwashed by Squealer, who could persuade and confuse people to believe that black is infect white. After I was gone, Napoleon took hold of all the power, and used it unfairly, corrupting our Minimalism. First, he changed and disobeyed the "original" Seven Commandments.

He broke the rule that stated, " All animals are equal," He told you al that working on Sunday afternoons "was strictly voluntary, but any animal who absented himself from it would have his rations reduced by half. " He seemed to offer a choice, but who would want to go hungry when they do not even have enough food for themselves right now. You all had gone back to those miserable lives under Mr.. Jones. Look closely, you all will realize that the life right now is no different from the previous one, or perhaps, only worse.

Napoleon also broke the sixth commandment, which stated "No animal shall kill another animal". But see for yourselves, did he really follow this commandment? Although it seems as if he did follow the rules, but he did not go over a process to legally punish animals, instead he used authority and power to kill or execute other animals who oppose them or went against them. Isn't this basically the same as killing other animal? Comrades, take a look closely at all the things that are happening around you all, use your logic and think about the truth.

Do you all really think that I am the one who Is going against our Minimalism? You all know how I value our equalities and how I value the treatment we get. It should be the power, authority, and the benefits all for himself. Does he really care for the well being of you all? He only cares how much you contribute to the farm, and how he can exploit you all. You should all trust me and come under my protection. We should all join together and rebel, to once again step back on to the road that leads to our dream society, our Animal Farm that we all longed for.

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Followers and Leaders of Animal Farm. (2016, Aug 21). Retrieved from https://phdessay.com/followers-and-leaders-of-animal-farm/

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