How is power shown in the novel Animal Farm?

Answer 1

Compare and contrast Snowball and Napoleon. What techniques do they use in their struggle for power?

In Animal Farm, the two main pigs, Snowball and Napoleon, show strong leadership techniques right from when farmer Jones was sent off the farm.

Napoleon, a 'rather fierce-looking' pig, starts to show leadership with stern looks towards the other animals when he is speaking. This will make the animals more scared of him, and, with them knowing he has a 'reputation for getting his own way', they will not want to upset him or anger him in any way. Although Napoleon said very little, Squealer, the 'small fat porker', usually said what was necessary for him. With Napoleon having Squealer to help him, the animals would have viewed him as an even higher animal, with more importance then the other animals.

Snowball, on the other hand, was more of a relaxed character and the animals felt more relaxed and calm around him. I would say that the animals would also seem more at ease with, and equal to him because of the way Snowball acts.

In a way, Napoleon looks up to Snowball so he can set his own personal goals and tweak his techniques to try and be better than him. Snowball uses slyer techniques whereas Napoleon uses straightforward techniques to begin with. When Snowball is chased off the farm, Napoleon starts to use slyer, mischievous techniques. For an example, we know that Snowball was 'quick in speech' and that he talks to the animals as friends and part of his family to persuade them. I found this out because he refers to the animals as 'comrades' which means brother and friend. Napoleon uses Squealer to do this job because Napoleon isn't very good with his words.

Snowball shows a strong character when he leads the Battle of the Cowshed. He had been planning what would happen if there was an attack, and he had been reading a 'Julius Caesar Campaign' this shows that Snowball is clever and determined to succeed. Snowballed is proved to be 'not much of a worker'. When all the animals went to do their daily jobs, Snowball always when into the house and 'worked' in there. I believe that Snowball didn't do any work when he entered the house, but in fact rested and let the other animals do the jobs. I thought this was a very devious plan and seeing as he used the excuse that he had read more books to help out on the farm, none of the animals could disagree with him, because they cannot read anyway, and would not be able to question him on the books.

'Napoleon took no interest in snowball's committees' shows that Napoleon was spiteful and selfish as he only wanted what was best for him. Napoleon showed a very evil character during the novel just to get his own way. When we are told that he killed some of his own men, it proves just how far her will go to get what he wants. He also sent Boxer, a loving and gentle, but hard working cart horse, to the 'knackers' after he had a painful fall and couldn't walk. Napoleon managed to reassure the animals that he was going to the vets, to be properly looked after by using Squealer to speak to them. Napoleon was lying and had sent him to the knackers for his own good. Napoleon was only in it for the money. He was a cruel leader and didn't care about his animals at all. He also brought up some puppies of Jessie's, the farm dog, to be fierce guards of his own. With this, he demanded them to chase Snowball of the farm, because he is power hungry and wants to rule animal farm by himself. He wants no competition.

Although, Napoleon and Snowball are very different, they do share some similar characteristics. They are both clever animals, as we know, but, as the novel develops, it becomes clearer of how the two are clever in their own ways. Napoleon was clever because he convinced Squealer to do his dirty work for him so he had time to do other things, and so that if anything went wrong, it wouldn't go back to him. Napoleon knew this was a clever idea because Squealer was a 'very persuasive' pig. He had 'twinkling eyes, nimble movements and a shrill voice.' He was one of the best talkers on the farm and Napoleon knew he get Squealer to persuade the others. Also, 'Napoleon announced that he had decided upon a new policy,' tells me that Napoleon didn't want to let other animals have a say on the new policy. I think this is clever because then they can't disagree with him, and they wont have their say on it in case they decide to change it slightly. This is another example of how Napoleon gets his own way.

Snowball, in a similar way, was just as clever, but showed his cleverness in a different way. He managed to plan out how the farm could build a windmill to help them with the harvesting and help to create more money to help the farm survive. He managed to do this by reading 'One Thousand Useful Things to do around the House, Every Man His Own Brick Layer and Electricity for Beginners,' which once all belonged to Mr. Jones.

Overall, Snowball and Napoleon are two very similar characters but show it in very different ways as they struggle for power over the farm. I think that Snowball did a better job at persuading the animals, even though he was chased off the farm by Napoleon.