Honors English 101
Mrs. Cyphers
10 October 2014
Animal Farm Character Analysis: Napoleon “The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again, but it was already impossible to say which was which.” This is the last line in a 1945 novel written by Eric Blair, more commonly known by his pseudonym, George Orwell. This quote explains how Napoleon, a fierce looking Berkshire boar, changes from the life of a normal pig to become the dictator the whole farm. In Animal Farm, Orwell is tells the reader a story about a farm that has been overthrown and ruled by animals. It is not the plot itself that earns Animal Farm widespread praise, but rather how Orwell is able to make every animal and action …show more content…
This may at first paint a picture of Napoleon as a cruel and heartless pig, but he is much more. He is cunning and incredibly good at gaining the support by abusing their ignorance. Napoleon and his right-hand-man, Squealer were able to trick the animals to believing anything they said. In fact, they convinced the animals so much that one horse named Boxer adopted the motto, “Napoleon is always right”(126). When the first harvest comes, Napoleon and Squealer, are actually able to make the animals to decide to give up the apples and milks to the pigs. Even as soon as Chapter III, it is said, “As soon as they [the puppies] were weaned, Napoleon took them away from their mother, saying that he would make himself responsible for their education”(51). As the reader figures out later on, Napoleon did not educate the dogs to read and write, but rather to be savage bodyguards for him and chase his competitor for power, Snowball, off the farm. As help Napoleon uses Squealer to help him get the point to all the animals that he never does anything wrong or unjust. Whenever Napoleon does something he knows is against the law, he is always trying to cover it up by changing the original Seven Commandments. On the night when the animals heard a crash outside the barn and saw the Squealer next to a broken ladder and a spilled bucket of …show more content…
As Cover, an old mare, walks around the barn she sees, “Napoleon himself, majestically upright, casting haughty glances from side to side, and his dogs gambolling around him”(132) The animals all now knew that Napoleon isn’t just breaking some of the Commandments, but he is becoming like a human in all of his actions. In, the end of the story, Napoleon and his fellow pigs are no more, but instead they have become complete humans as they play cards, drink beer, and sit at a table to eat with the other farmers. It is not only the actions of the pigs, but their brains and decision making processes have also changed. For example, when Boxer died they sent him to be slaughtered and made into products in order to make more money. Also, when Napoleon’s final rule change to, “All animals are equal but some animals are are equal than others”(133). it becomes very clear that the pigs thought of themselves as superior and cared no more about the other animals than Mr. Jones, the farmer, once