Napoleon Flashcards
1
Q
What is the significance of Napoleons name?
A
His name is nomenclature for the historical figure Napoleon Bonaparte. He fought in the French Revolution and then consolidated power for himself by constructing a French Empire that was not dissimilar to the monarchy that France had just overthrown, which is exactly what the pig Napoleon ends up doing with Animal Farm.
2
Q
Description of Napoleon’s character (4)
A
- ‘Napoleon was a large, rather fierce-looking Berkshire boar, the only Berkshire on the farm, not much of a talker but with a reputation for getting his own way.’
- Napoleon is a sly and scheming politician, who was good at working behind the scenes to achieve his goals, ‘better at canvassing support for himself between times.’ Examples include the training of the puppies and the taking of the milk
- Personality traits include strong will and stubbornness, and a knack for leading the other animals. He ‘led’ the other animals into the store shed for double rations. He operates through cruelty and treachery, and does not need to be complex or severely intelligent to get what he wants.
- He is an opportunist ‘Comrade Snowball will lead the way. I shall follow in a few minutes.’ This testifies to his greed and ambition. He knows what he wants and everything he does from training the puppies to assigning Squealer as his mouthpiece is in preparation for power and keeping that power.
3
Q
Contrast between Snowball and Napoleon (6 each)
A
- ‘Snowball and Napoleon were, by far, the most active in the debates.’
NAPOLEON:
- looked after himself
- believes in the education of the young
- He is sly, secretive, manipulative and a loner
- Manipulates the sheep and uses their stupidity to brainwash them for his own benefit
- Napoleon wants to increase food production (simple idea for the animals to latch onto)
- He is immoral and amoral. Right and wrong is not of consequence to him
SNOWBALL:
- hero in battle of the cowshed in Ch4
- he wants to give the animals opportunities e.g organising committees like The Wild Comrades Re-Education Committee and the Eggs Production Committee
- he wants to educate all of the animals and for the, to have a say in the running of the farm
- brilliant speaker ‘at meetings, Snowball offen won over the majority by his brilliant speeches.’
- Snowball wants to improve and provide innovations for the farm such as dropping dung in specific locations for fertile land (not a simple concept)
- wants to spread the word about rebellion
4
Q
How does Napoleon become a dictator?
A
- He rose to power because he capitalised on the element of surprise. After Snowball finished speaking about the plans for the windmill, Napoleon called on his dogs and they chased Snowball off of the farm, thereby Napoleon assuming the role of dictator.
- Already, Napoleon had an armed force (the puppies) and a propaganda front man (Squealer) which helped him immensely in becoming a dictator.
- After assuming the lead once Snowball is gone, Napoleon does not need to hide his true nature and instead uses Squealer to twist every action that he does into something good, thereby creating ideas about him such as Boxer’s maxim “Napoleon is always right.”
5
Q
What outside quote suits Napoleon?
A
‘Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.’
6
Q
Note two immediate consequences to the expulsion of Snowball (2)
A
- ‘Silent and terrified the animals crept back into the barn.’
Napoleon uses silence and terror as key tools throughout his time in power to keep everyone else under control and ignorant to what is really happening. When opposition does arise, he issues silence by using the sheeps chant of ‘Four legs good, two legs bad’ or he issues terror by using his dogs to threaten or kill the animals. The consequence of Snowball leaving is that the animals now live in silence and terror. - ‘They were huge and as fierce-looking as wolves. They kept close to Napoleon. It was noticed that they wagged their tails to him in the same way as the other dogs had been used to do to Mr. Jones.’
This shows that even from the beginning of Snowball’s expulsion, Napoleon’s power is absolute and to be compared to that Jones, which is the opposite of what Snowball wanted.
7
Q
The changes after Napoleon takes control:
A
- He uses a raised platform to speak, signifying his raised status above the other animals
- He abolishes the democratic Sunday morning meetings, therefore taking away the presence of democracy and shared ideas from the farm
- Pigs would make all the rules. This again took away the sense of democracy and equality from the farm
- No more debates.
- Napoleon separates himself and sets himself up as leader. This could be why he develops such paranoia for keeping power, as he is not among the animals enough to gauge their mood and opinions of him and they do not have the freedom to voice these opinions
- Work on Sundays
- Systematically begins to alter all the rules of Animalism to fit the pigs’ agenda
8
Q
Look at the Hens Rebellion and how it displays Napoleons ruthlessness
A
- The Hens’ rebellion begins when Napoleon strikes a deal through Whymper of a contract of four hundred eggs a week.
“One Sunday morning Squealer announced that the hens, who had just come in to lay again, must surrender their eggs.” Napoleon ‘accepted’ this deal, meaning that the hens had no choice in the matter and didn’t consult them beforehand. - However, the hens decide to take up opposition. ‘…They protested that to take the eggs away now was murder. For the first time since the expulsion of Jones, there was something resembling a rebellion… Their method was to fly up to the rafters and there lay their eggs, which smashed to pieces on the floor.’
- Napoleon reacts exactly as a dictator does in the face of opposition, ‘swiftly and ruthlessly’. He starves the hens by cutting their rations and threatened to kill any animal who attempted to feed them. He uses his dogs to ensure this decree, and nine hens died as a cause.
- Orwell describes this rebellion within one paragraph, which shows how quickly Napoleon dealt with the situation and halted any possible opposition to his regime
9
Q
Look at the executions and how it displayed Napoleons ruthlessness
A
- Napoleon arrives in the yard wearing his self-appointed medals and surrounded by his dogs, which in itself displays his power. This power inspires fear into the animals, ‘They all cowered silently in their places, seeming to know in advance that some terrible thing was about to happen.’ But Napoleon seems to be calm and surveys his ‘audience’ but not comrades.
- Napoleon begins the execution and Orwell specifically uses diction such as ‘seized’ and ‘dragged’ to display the merciless way the dogs treated the animals. He uses open violence upon the pigs to force fake confessions out of them, and ‘When they had finished their confession, the dogs promptly tore their throats out, and in a terrible voice Napoleon demanded whether any other animal had anything to confess.’ Orwell describes their deaths in one sentence and quickly moves on, displaying Napoleon’s efficiency and lack of empathy when dealing with his enemies. Tearing out their throats also implies what has been happening to them this whole time, which is taking away their free speech and silencing them.
- ‘There was a pile of corpses lying before Napoleon’s feet and the air was heavy with the smell of blood.’
This is the stark reality of Napoleon’s leadership, in which if you go against him he will use his hunger for power to remove his enemies at all costs in order to stand above them. If the animals were smarter they would understand that their ‘Golden Future Time’ has slipped away from them and now they are in Hell on earth as created by Napoleon. But they are so brainwashed by this point that they can only blame themselves for things they didn’t do, and can only escape their torture by death.
10
Q
Who is Napoleon linked to?
A
He is linked to Stalin, the Russian dictator who rose to power in the 1920s and 1930s. Stalin’s ‘purges’ are well known, as he killed ten million Russian people during his reign of terror.
11
Q
Conclusion
A
To conclude, by the end of the novel it is clear that Napoleon became everything that animalism protested against. He essentially commits the seven deadly sins.
- He displays lust through his many children being born.
- He displays gluttony by having squealer tell the animals that the pigs required apples and more food for their brain power
- He displays greed by stealing the milk at the beginning of the novel for the pigs
- He displays sloth by refusing to work the same hours as the other animals
- He displays wrath towards Snowball for acting as opposition towards him and uses his name in a negative light towards the animals
- He displays envy by wanting to be and have everything that humans have, such as a house to live and sleep in and power over others and claiming that Snowballs plans were his all along.
- He displays pride when the windmill falls down, as his ego has been damaged because he failed to build a windmill that was stable without using Snowballs plans
