As Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “what lies behind you and what lies in front of you, pales in comparison to what lies inside of you”. His words have been proven true time and time again as history goes on, where countries have lived and died under iron fists which control their lives and how they perceive them. Author george orwell goes on to parody such regimes in his short novel “animal farm” with its main antagonist, a pig named Napoleon, whose actions and personality draw from real-life communist dictator Joseph Stalin. Both are perfect examples of another quote that has rung true in such cases, “Absolute power corrupts absolutely”. This is shown in both their progressively violent personalities and the direct actions they parallel from …show more content…
As conveyed by orwell, it is shown how “Napoleon, with the dogs following him, now mounted on the raised portion of the floor where major had previously stood to deliver his message” (Pg. 26). As he delivers his speech, the other animals are unable to speak up for what is happening, at the fear of being mauled by his personal canine army. Napoleon uses this fear to support his conquest over the farm, the same farm which he fought for it freedom. Rulers also attempt, even when being good acquaintances, to remove any and every person who may lessen their power, such as when Napoleon called upon his dogs towards Snowball who “...sprang in time to miss their gaping jaws” (Pg. 25). Snowball then dashes off of the farm and is never heard from again, besides being blamed for the falling of the windmill and their failure against Jones and his men. His refusal to bend to Napoleon’s ideas was eventually his downfall, leaving him a believed war criminal who was chased out of his own home. Napoleon’s rise to dictatorship eventually leads down the same path that all dictators face, but within the novel, is presented in a more streamlined and easy to understand