Farmer Jones And Napoleon In George Orwell's Animal Farm

In the book Animal Farm, there are two main “enemies” to the common animals. These two enemies, are Farmer Jones and the pig known as Napoleon. Each of these entities have their own pros and cons, and each one rules over the animals in their own way. Some may argue that Farmer Jones was a better owner, and Napoleon was bad, or vice versa. As stated before, each had their own unique way of ruling the animals and different popularity among the animals. Perhaps one of the most important aspects in a ruler is their ability to control their subjects. In this case, Farmer Jones’ ability to control the animals, and Napoleons’ ability to control the animals. Farmer Jones didn’t have good control over the animals due to the fact he was careless

The main difference between Farmer Jones and Napoleon, is that Napoleon ruled by force, while Farmer Jones really had no rule unless the animals were unruly. One example of Napoleon’s forceful rule is shown in the quote “Napoleon acted swiftly and ruthlessly- He ordered the hens’ rations to be stopped, and decreed that any animals giving so much as a grain of corn to them, was to be punished by death”(87). This shows Napoleon’s ability to rule through the use of force and fear. Although morally wrong, force and fear are the most effective ways to rule. It decreases overall morale, but keeps all subjects in line. In this case, Napoleon had more control over the animals than Farmer Jones

He spent more than the farm was able to bring in through harvest, and this eventually led to ration cuts. However, he soon realized that he could better manage the economy by selling more than just harvests. This issue with this however, is in doing so, he violated one of the commandments and began consulting a human. What Napoleon ultimately did, was trade the trust of the other animals and the cause of the revolution for more money. Once this extra income of supplies started flowing in, this shortened work times, but also lowered the animal’s morale. A quote that supports this claim, is “From now onwards Animal Farm would engage in trade with the neighboring farms” (76). This supports the claim because it shows how Napoleon violated one of the commandments, in order to better the overall economy. After all the evidence is considered, it seems that Napoleon is the better leader. This is due to the fact that he was able to manage everything better than Farmer Jones was able to. While he used lies and manipulation to achieve these things, he was able to do everything better. He was able to have stronger control over the animals, he was more popular for a little while, and his methods and success for the economy also toppled Farmer Jones’. Due to these accomplishments, Napoleon was, in fact, the better