“Animal Farm” by George Orwell Essay

Napoleon is the main character from the book Animal Farm written by George Orwell. He is a demanding, overpowering pig who always gets what he wants. In the book Napoleon is a common pig that gets rid of the pig that shares power with him, Snowball and takes over the leader ship of the farm which he later turns into a dictatorship. The difference between Napoleon and Snowball is what makes the book powerful and refers to what real people get manipulated easily. Napoleon is based on the real life person Joseph Stalin, who ruled the Soviet Union for 30 years. The name Napoleon comes from the French general Napoleon Bonaparte, who was power crazy and a dictator. In the book Napoleon is a bad pig from the beginning. He fights along with his fellow pig, Snowball to free the farm from humans but later on starts making some suspicious decisions such as drinking the milk that the animals have worked for and taking the puppies of Jessie and Bluebell for himself. Napoleon takes over by sending his dogs after Snowball, who runs away, do to fear. Slowly but surely we see him take one step at a time towards the crown of being the only leader. For example he changes the seven Commandments rules against killing, drinking, and sleeping in bed. All the animals are forced to work just as hard as before the rebellion and they don’t even get enough food. Napoleon makes the other animals fear him by killing the animals that have made wrong decisions and starving some of them because they don’t do as he says. Soon enough everyone does as he wishes and behaves after his will. Napoleon praises himself for all the things that he has done for the animals which in the end is nothing.