Animal Farm

            The novel, Animal Farm, written by George Orwell, is a satire of human nature that uses animals to ridicule certain human traits and characteristics. The novel depicts man's selfishness and greed as part of human nature and how many innocent bystanders are swept under and destroyed by these selfish and greedy people. In the novel, these nave bystanders are the animals of Manor Farm who give in to their masters, first the humans and then the pigs. Orwell's transformation of the pigs into humans and vice versa shocks the reader who finally realizes the tremendous similarity that our race has with that of the pigs in Orwell's novel. Brander, one of the novel's critics, has said, "Animal Farm is a satirical beast fable which has been heralded as Orwell's lightest, gayest work."".
             Napoleon, the totalitarian pig, was clearly developed to portray the role Joseph Stalin had in the Russian Revolution. Both Stalin and Napoleon took on extreme leadership roles, where the input of others was shunned and ignored. Napoleon emerges as the leader of Manor Farm after the rebellion, uses military forces, which are his nine loyal attack dogs, to intimidate or slaughter those who were disloyal, to consolidate his power. For example, ".the tale of confessions and executions went on, until there was a pile of corpses lying before Napoleon's feet and the air was heavy with the smell of blood, which had been unknown there since the expulsion of Jones."" (Orwell, p32). As you can see, he has no sympathy for others and only sees the pathway leading fame and power. In his supreme craftiness, Napoleon proves more treacherous than his opponent, Snowball. In contrast, he says one thing, and does the other, takes other peoples ideas, and is the biggest impostor on the farm. He took the freedom of the animals, that they had gained from the revolution, and twisted it so that now instead of being enslaved by the farmer, they were enslaved by him.