Animal farm essay In the book animal farm, one of the main themes is the greed for power. Therefore it comes as no surprise that napoleon took no interest in snowballs committees for his own selfish gain. Throughout the story it is evident that snowball is an idealist. He is a “vivacious pig”, “more inventive” and “quicker in speech”.
He has the interest of the animals at heart. He formed “animal committees” and tried to educate the animals in order to improve the farm. Some animals found it difficult to learn.Snowball devised a way in order for them to learn what was needed. He planned and fought bravely in the battle of cowshed and was even given a military decoration for his bravery.
He tried to make the animals lives easier by building a windmill. He believed that the windmill would save labour. He set up Sunday meetings in order to plan out the work for the week. Resolutions were also put forward and debated. The animals were given the afternoon for recreation.
He also wished to spread the rebellion. However snowball has moral flaws as well.He does not resent the superiority of the pigs against the rest of the animals. He allows the pigs to have to have their extra privileges like the milk and the apples.
He indirectly goes against the spirit of animalism. Napoleon emerges as an utterly corrupt opportunist. He is forceful and a realist. He is an egomaniac.
He never makes a single contribution to the revolution. He works solely for his own ends. He tells lies, his ruthless, he has the hunger for power and he is corrupt. “Napoleon was a large, rather...
with a reputation of getting his way”.He might not be as good a speaker as snowball, but he was an excellent administrator. He plans to get rid of snowball. He gets the sheep to bleat during snowballs speeches, he urinates on his plans and trains the puppies to be his loyal force. This loyal force later on chases snowball off the farm. He uses manipulation to build his power base.
After snowball is kicked out the division between the pigs and the other animals become wider. He uses squealer to spread false propaganda and the dogs to spread false intimidation.He puts down any opposition, and he ensures loyalty by instilling fear in the animals. He becomes more concerned with himself by hardly appearing in public, he names the windmill after himself, he lives apart from the animals, he orders the gun to be fired on his birthday and he has poems of flattery written on the barn wall.
He uses snowball as a scapegoat for anything that goes wrong. The strategies that are used for gaining power are different. Napoleon sneaked his way to the top through manipulation.Snowball however uses hard work, creative ideas, and his skills of public speaking to gain popularity amongst the animals.
Napoleon lets snowball enjoy the lime light for a short period and then gets rid of him. Napoleon does not come out as strong or brave as snowball, neither does he possess the same courage as snowball, but his strength lies in his cunningness and rhetorical skills. Napoleon was a better player and snowball was a better leader but at the end they both were selfish and had ulterior motives in having power. .
