Background of Napoleon Napoleon was a Berkshire pig, who ruled the Animal Farm. However, his name comes from the French general Napoleon Bonaparte, who George Orwell considered to be a dangerous power seeker and dictator. He is a fierce boar who always gets his own way. He led the revolution but the power went to his head. After Old Major died, Napoleon changed the rules so they reflected well on him, and gave him the freedom to do what he liked, whereas he left the other animals with no food, and no time to rest and continued to make them work while he sat back and did nothing.
The main idea of this book is that rule under Napoleon was no different that rule under Mr. Jones. Two main characters were boxer and Napoleon. Napoleon was a fat boar who loved to be complimented and was seen at the top of the social hierarchy. He often deceived the animals into working by the help of his persuasive comrade, Squealer. He was greedy and kept most of the profit and earning of the farms to himself.
One of Major’s maxims that rallied the animals to action was “Man is the only real enemy we have. Remove man from the scene, and the root cause of hunger and overwork is abolished for ever.” It is fairly easy to work out how true and accurate Major’s prophecy is because he makes a cause and effect prediction. The animals achieve the first point of Major’s formula for success by driving out the men, so they should therefore look forward to a life together where hunger and overwork are only memories. Of course no such utopia is created; by the end of the tale the majority of the animals are probably more miserable and oppressed than ever before. Major’s philosophy therefore fails its practical test.
As an old donkey, I have spent many years on this farm. I have seen animals come and go, die and be born. I have seen events uncurl at the tip of my hoof, without saying a word about it. I have seen governments rise and fall, all of which ultimately fail. The government is just one endless cycle, pushed by the influence of rebellion from that of my fellow animals.
Sophie Lindenberg Turner AP English 12, Period 3 3 February 2015 Short Story Response Six: “Hunger Artist” by Franz Kafka Franz Kafka’s “A Hunger Artist”, focuses primarily on a Hunger Artist obsessed with fame. Earlier in his career, the Hunger Artist had thousands of people watch and admire his fasting profession. To the Hunger Artist’s disliking, his impresario, or manager, would not let him fast past forty days in fear of losing the audience’s attention. The audience always praised the Hunger Artist for his martyrdom in fasting. However, the Hunger Artist was not fasting for religious reasons, but instead the Hunger Artist fasted for the attention and glory he received from the audience.
He says enough but not too much. But so does Snowball so the difference them between that gives Napoleon the final power is his manipulation skills and being one step ahead. Napoleon knew many of the animals listened to Snowball and their agreement made him realize that he had to play by his own rules to win the leadership, and to get Snowball out of his way. The turning point is when the animals were discussing building the windmill and the dogs chase away Snowball. Napoleon
Old Major was a highly respected pig; in fact, every animal was ready to lose an hour sleep in order to hear him out to the last word. Three nights before his death he called the animals together to explain to them a world that he dreams about, he tells them of his dream of a world where the tyrannical humans are no more and every animal is their own. He provides them with a list of acts that they are never to commit, one being to never tyrannise his own kind. Old Major’s ideology was that of a farm run entirely by animals for animals. After Old Major had said that no animal should ever kill another, three rats join the rest of the animals, prompting the three dogs to attack them, showing that even before it started, Animalism had no chance to work.
This is supported by, “highly regarded…lose an hour’s sleep in order to hear what he had to say.” The animals, due to Old Major’s maturity, accept what he says as fact and believe that he will act on what he declares. Snowball, although arguing with Napoleon regularly, takes on the opinions of the other animals on the farm, and tries to make the future of the farm successful. This is shown by, “Snowball also busied himself with organising the other animals into what he called Animal Committees.” Snowball also decided to change the seven commandments into one single maxim, “four legs good, two legs bad.” Snowball puts his efforts into spreading the word of animalism on other farms, through the pigeons, and communicates with the others on Animal Farm for himself. Napoleon, however, uses other animals to send out his messages, so that he becomes an unknown character to the other animals. This leads them to believe that he is superior to themselves, and that all of the decisions he
He knew a lot about the job. On the way, they met a big bad grey wolf and he, in his cunning and fake kind voice, asked: “Good morning, little pigs. What are you three going to do on such a bright day?” Having not known about wolves in their lives, they all shouted merrily that they each wanted to build their own house. The wolf, who had not eaten for a long time and with the want of eating, tricked the pigs by telling them that he owned a land near which was in fact owned by the richest person of the country. He asked them to follow him and he would show them.
One such case is that of Boxer, ‘an enormous beast’ who was ‘as strong as any two ordinary horses put together’. This horse’s own ignorance and loyalty lead to his death at the hands of Napolean, the animal Boxer was most loyal to. Boxer does not enjoy dwelling on his own dilemmas and so allows the pigs to decide for him. Thus he adopts two maxims, ‘I must work harder’ and Napolean is always right’. His stupidity blocks him from realising that he could rally all the farm animals to rebel against the tyrannical pigs.