Napoleon, a Berkshire pig, and the main antagonist in the novel, who rose to power through acts of exploitation, fear tactics, and manipulation to demonstrate the corruption of Joseph Stalin 's dictatorship. Throughout the story, corruption arose in the farm as Napoleon gained power and began to grant himself privileges. Ignoring and having little interest …show more content…
Throughout the story, corruption arose in the farm as Napoleon gained power and began to grant himself privileges. Ignoring and having little interest in Old Major’s prophecy,
Napoleon, with the help of his pig follower, Squealer, began to change the seven commandments, ignoring the intention of bringing equality amongst all the animals. Motivated by power and greed, he takes the seventh commandment, “ALL ANIMALS ARE EQUAL,” and converts it by adding, “ BUT SOME ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS,” (Ch. 10, pg. 112) and from there on continued to change the rest for his own amusement. Similarly in the Soviet
Union, Stalin had no desire to work for the good of his country and was only concerned about his own gains and authority. In addition, instead of changing commandments, Stalin took the rights of his people. Just like Napoleon, who re-wrote the history of Animal Farm after getting rid of his rival, Snowball, he changed Russian history by making himself part of important events, such as being responsible for the Russian victory in World War II. While his country starved, Stalin lived a lavish life and completely ruined Karl Marx’s ideas of communism, just like how
Napoleon gained privileges from changing the commandments and also made a mockery of …show more content…
Squealer, an allegory for propaganda and
Stalin 's KGB agency, was able to change the beliefs of the animals and help Napoleon mislead them into believing in his leadership. “ But sometimes you might make the wrong decisions, comrades, and then where should we be?”, (Ch. 5, pg. 48) states Squealer who attempted to make the animals believe that Napoleon will make the right decisions for them. Likewise, Stalin used propaganda to create a false image of himself in order for people to believe that he had good intentions as the “chosen successor” of Lenin, who in fact did not trust him. He had made himself appear as if he were a god and a man loved by everyone, including children, which made him seem like a great leader. Those who were gullible enough to rely on and trust him, were taken advantage of, just like Napoleon took away meeting days and voting privileges from the animals that believed in him. This clearly makes him a villain because he is taking advantage of the rest of the animals just like Stalin did to his own people, especially the working class and those who were too ignorant to even realize he was abusing them.
Napoleon represents the perfect villain in Animal Farm. He is manipulative, greedy,