Character Analysis
(Avoiding Spoilers)
Overview... a hungry pig with as big an appetite for power as for slop. Napoleon quickly rises to de-facto leader on his farm following the animals’ revolution. With the help of allies like the exceedingly clever pig Squealer, Napoleon quickly tricks all of the animals into following all of his wishes, no matter how contradictory to their original cause.
Personality… slimy, conniving, and ingenious. Napoleon seems to have everything figured out. Not only does he have his own selfish ideology, he also knows how to convince others to make it happen. This involves commanding a small army of ferocious animals, who carry out his orders through both the threat of violence and the subtler tactic of propaganda.
Get to Know him in...
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Animal Farm is the most famous by far of all twentieth-century political allegories. Its account of a group of barnyard animals who revolt against their vicious human master, only to submit to a tyranny erected by their own kind, can fairly be said to have become a universal drama. Orwell is one of the very few modern satirists comparable to Jonathan Swift in power, artistry, and moral authority; in animal farm his spare prose and the logic of his dark comedy brilliantly highlight his stark message. Taking as his starting point the betrayed promise of the Russian Revolution, Orwell lays out a vision that, in its bitter wisdom, gives us the clearest understanding we possess of the possible consequences of our social and political acts.
