Animal Farm — The Significant Contribution of Comrades Towards Napoleon’s Goal in
Successful leaders are visionaries who set out concrete steps to bring their vision to life and then lead a team of people to their goal. For instance, the 1917 October Revolution was led by the Bolshevik party and executed through the support of workers, soldiers, and the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries to seize total power over Russia successfully. The allegory Animal Farm by George Orwell follows a farm in England taken over by animals, appropriately named Animal Farm. The farm operates on animalism principles, a take on communism, to stray from neglectful human treatment and enforce equality for all animals. However, Napoleon, a pig, manages to gradually seize total power over the farm by force. To achieve his goal, Napoleon strategically rallies comrades to help him. Napoleon utilizes the sheep to drown out protests, he raises ferocious guard dogs to instill fear and order to the animals, and directs Squealer, a pig, to be his spokesperson and reillustrate situations to the animals for his benefit. Through minor characters in Animal Farm, Napoleon wields his power and takes absolute control over the farm, and ultimately exploits the farm animals for his service.
Firstly, Napoleon takes advantage of the sheep being easy to manipulate to teach them a slogan they repeat loudly at his convenience. The sheep’s maxim effectively drowns out protests and is strategically chanted during public meetings when Snowball, his pig rival, has the upper hand during debates. For example, when the young pigs began to squeal in disapproval, “the sheep broke out into a tremendous bleating of ‘Four legs good, two legs bad!’ which went on for nearly a quarter of an hour and put an end to any chance of discussion” (Orwell17). In repeating the chant “four legs good, two legs bad” (Orwell 17), the sheep remind the animals of the animalism commandments and reinforce the idea that Napoleon’s decisions are in the farm’s best interest, though, in reality, they are not. The sheep do not stop bleating until the objections stop, effectively hindering any and all opportunities for the farm animals to refute Napoleon’s rulings. The animals are forced to subside their comments, giving Napoleon free reign to dictate orders and delegate tasks without a revolt. The animals become mindless followers and give up on expressing their opinions because they know the sheep will interrupt, and the protests will never lead to a change in order. As a result, Napoleon gains greater power.
Besides having the sheep as allies, the dogs are also very useful. Napoleon raises nine vicious guard dogs in secrecy and isolation to prepare to take control of Animal Farm. The dogs act as Napoleon’s bodyguard and they intimidate and threaten the farm animals so they are too scared to oppose Napoleon’s orders. As illustrated in the text, when the animals felt uneasy about Napoleon’s authority, and four young pigs began to protest, “they were promptly silenced by a tremendous growling from the dogs” (Orwell 19). Being raised in seclusion, the dogs’ character was predetermined and groomed to be loyal only to their owner and act on hatred towards the other animals. Through the animals’ lens, the dogs are ruthless and will harm them if appointed to by Napoleon. Instinctively, to assure their safety, the animals do whatever they must to avoid being harmed. By playing on the animals’ fear of the dogs who obey him, Napoleon can oppress their displeasures and trap them into following orders obediently, regardless of how unjust they may be. Napoleon uses the dogs’ intimidation to his advantage and forcefully makes the farm animals comply.
In addition to the dogs and sheep, Squealer, Napoleon’s second in command, plays a significant role in Napoleon acquiring total control over Animal Farm. Firstly, Squealer is an eloquent speaker who knows how to answer the animals’ concerns and alter their memories to benefit Napoleon. When the animals momentarily doubt Snowball fleeing during the Rebellion, Squealer says,
and do you not remember, too, that it was just at that moment, when panic was spreading and all seemed lost, that Comrade Napoleon sprang forward with a cry of ‘Death to Humanity!’ and sank his teeth in Jones’s leg? Surely you remember that, comrades? (Orwell 24)
Squealer’s manipulative speech encourages the animals to doubt themselves and their memories. His graphic depiction of the scene forces the animals to mentally picture the words that develop to be their new memory. Also, Squealer’s mean demeanour of questioning the animals’ thoughts makes them feel belittled and pressured to remember the scene the way he paints it. With Squealer’s ability to influence the animals’ remembrance, he reinterprets their memories and implies that Napoleon is their saviour, and they should vow their loyalty to him because he has helped the farm improve from human dictatorship. Secondly, Squealer manipulates the animals into obeying Napoleon’s oppressive demands by suggesting that Mr. Jones, the prior abusive farm owner, will return to Animal Farm if they do not followtheir leader’s rules. When the animals were hesitant about Napoleon abolishing Sunday morning debates and Squealer says, “Surely, comrades, you do not want Jones back?”(Orwell 17), the argument was irrefutable and the case was dismissed. Squealer insinuates that the rules are put in place to keep Mr. Jones away. The fear of Mr. Jones possibly returning strikes a painful recollection of the man’s negligent behaviours and motivates the animals to abide by the head’s commands. Under the rule of Napoleon, Squealer tells the animals lies to support Napoleon and justify his behaviours.
In conclusion, minor characters play a significant role in helping Napoleon take absolute authority over Animal farm and abuse the animals to oppression. Napoleon successfully leads a team that helps him achieve his goal of a power takeover. Napoleon manipulates the sheep into strategically interrupting the animals’ complaints, raises dogs to frighten the animals into obedience, and Squealer abuses language to justify Napoleon’s rules. Without the help of comrades, would Napoleon have achieved the success of taking over the farm? In the words of Hellen Keller, “Alone, we can do so little; together we can do so much.”
Works Cited
Orwell, George. Animal Farm. San Diego: Harcout, Brace and Co. 1946.
