Napoleon (Animal Farm)
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Napoleon is a fictional character in George Orwell's Animal Farm. While he is at first a common farm pig, he takes advantage of the animals' uprising against their masters to eventually become the tyrannical "President of Animal Farm," which he turns into a dictatorship.
[edit] Napoleon in the Allegory
Napoleon was based mostly on Joseph Stalin, who ruled the Soviet Union for nearly 30 years. However, his name comes from that of the French general Napoleon Bonaparte. In the French version of the book, he was renamed César (Caesar).[1]
From the start, he is made out to be a villain. Napoleon fights along with fellow pig Snowball to free the farm from human control, only to turn on his former comrade and seize control of the farm; this mirrors the relationship between Stalin and Leon Trotsky. Trotsky supported Permanent Revolution (just as Snowball advocated overthrowing other farm owners), while Stalin supported Socialism in One Country (similar to Napoleon's idea of teaching the animals to use firearms).
Later on, after ostracizing Snowball as Stalin placed Trotsky in exile, Napoleon ordered the construction of a windmill, which had been designed by Snowball and which he had opposed vigorously. When the primitive windmill collapses due to Napoleon's poor planning, a reference to Stalin's backward approach to the Five-Year-Plans, he blames Snowball and starts a wave of terror. During this period he orders the execution of several of the animals after coercing their "confessions" of wrongdoing. He also changes the Seven Commandments' prohibition against killing. He then commands the building of a second, stronger windmill while severely cutting rations to all of the animals — except the pigs and dogs.
He later makes a deal with Frederick (similar to the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact shortly before World War II); Frederick tricks Napoleon by paying him with counterfeit money and then invading the farm, much as Germany broke its pact with the Soviet Union and invaded, in order to seize its minerals and fuel.. During the Battle of the Windmill, the windmill is destroyed, but the animals win, although they pay a high price. Napoleon attempts to cover the losses by stating it was a grand victory for the animals.
While Napoleon exhorts the other animals to fight and die for the good of the farm, he himself is a coward, in contrast to Snowball. Nonetheless, Napoleon's historical revisionism rewrites himself as a hero, claiming responsibility for the animal's victory during the Battle of the Cowshed when in reality it was Snowball who had performed heroic acts in this battle.
Ultimately, Napoleon becomes a tyrannical, oppressive dictator and seems to become human through his adoption of human ways. Though he insists on being called "Comrade", he is obviously a master.
[edit] Notes
- ^ French law prohibits naming a pig "Napoleon"; see: Times Online.
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