Monday, January 5, 2015

How many contradictions between Napoleon and Animalism can be found in Animal Farm?

I think that it is deliberate that by the end of the
novel, Napoleon has contradicted most, if not all of, the tenets of Animalism.  Consider
that one of the first actions Napoleon takes as a leader of the farm is to take the pups
and begin to rear them as his own private army.  Snowball works to assembling committees
to better the farm, while Napoleon works to better himself and his own political
standing.  The tenet of "All animals are comrades" is something that Napoleon
contradicts in his treatment of Boxer when he has outlasted his usefulness.  Another
example of this tenet being contradicted is in Chapter 7 when Napoleon choreographs the
forced confessions and then has the dogs savagely kill all those who confessed. 
Napoleon's living arrangements and his own profiteering contradicts Old Major's warnings
about not living in a house and not to wear clothes.  Napoleon's taking of alcohol is
another contradiction.  The fact that Old Major made it a point to say never to trust
humans is contradicted with the deals Napoleon brokers with other farm owners and by the
final scene, where the other animals cannot tell the difference between the pigs and the
humans.  In these ways, one can see contradictions between Napoleon's professed belief
in Animalism and his opposing actions.

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