As the other educators have noted, Mr. Jones and Napoleon both ruled the animals using a combination of violence and oppression.
Remember that the character of Mr. Jones is a representation of Tsar Nicholas II. Like the tsar, Mr. Jones is not a malicious dictator. The rebellion to oust him from the farm, for example, is caused by Mr. Jones’s forgetfulness. Instead of feeding the animals as he ought to, he forgets because he has spent all day drinking alcohol. Similarly, the people considered Tsar Nicholas to be an inept leader, out of touch with the needs of his people.
In contrast, Napoleon is a representation of Joseph Stalin. Like Stalin, Napoleon is power-hungry and determined to rule absolutely. The show trials in Chapter Seven, for instance, show that unlike Jones, Napoleon was an active oppressor of the animals, determined to root out any hint of discontent on the farm. This event mirrors what happened in Russia in the 1930s.
Through his depictions of the rule of Mr. Jones and then of Napoleon, Orwell makes an important point about how the people of the Soviet Union were treated. Specifically, he shows that the people thought they would get a better deal after the overthrow of Nicholas II, but, in reality, Stalin’s rule brought more misery and oppression than ever thought possible. These feelings are echoed by the animals at the end of the story and adds a strong sense of irony.
Mr. Jones treated his animals with neglect. He wasn't actively cruel towards them, just indifferent. He saw them, in the time-honored rural fashion, as objects to be exploited rather than as sentient beings to be valued for themselves. At no point did Mr. Jones ever think that the animals on his farm had anything vaguely resembling rights.
Angered and resentful at their exploitation, the animals rise up and throw off the shackles of Mr. Jones's oppression, hoping to establish in its stead an Animalist utopia in which animals, not humans, will be firmly in charge. Unfortunately, the new regime proves to be even more oppressive than anything Mr. Jones could've devised.
Despite presenting himself as the animals' savior, and despite being an animal himself, Napoleon proceeds to subject the other animals to a brutal dictatorship in which terror is the main order of the day. What makes Napoleon's regime so much worse than Mr. Jones's is that it's based on ideological zeal. Mr. Jones treated his animals the way he did because he didn't really know any better; this was just the way things had always been.
But Napoleon, who's supposed to have imbibed the emancipatory teachings of Old Major, has no such excuse. He cynically distorts Animalism for his own benefit, systematically terrorizing and exploiting the animals to maintain his iron grip on power. Napoleon's cruelty is so much more efficient—and therefore more effective—because he is an unregenerate control freak, whereas Mr. Jones would much rather spend his free time getting drunk, even if it meant letting the farm go to wrack and ruin.
Mr. Jones and Napoleon share several similarities in their approach to ruling the animals on the farm. Both Mr. Jones and Napoleon distance themselves from the animals and enjoy an elevated status on the farm. Mr. Jones and Napoleon also enjoy the luxury of not working arduous hours on the farm while they make the other animals do all of the hard labor. Mr. Jones and Napoleon also prevent the animals from enjoying their lives and completely eradicate leisure time from the animals' busy schedules. Mr. Jones and Napoleon are also privileged enough to stay in the comfortable farmhouse, where they sleep on mattresses and indulge in alcohol. While Mr. Jones and Napoleon reap the benefits of the animals' hard work, the animals starve to death and suffer from exhaustion. The conditions on the farm rapidly deteriorate under the leadership of both Mr. Jones and Napoleon, who rule as tyrants.
While the animals resent Mr. Jones's authority and eventually rebel against him, they fear Napoleon, who unscrupulously murders those who disagree with his political agenda by holding public executions. Napoleon also relies on propaganda and fear to control the animals and utilizes Squealer to manipulate the animals into supporting his self-centered decisions. The most evident similarity between Mr. Jones and Napoleon is their selfish nature. Both characters dismiss the feelings of the animals on the farm in order to benefit themselves. Essentially, Mr. Jones and Napoleon force the animals into working long hours while they sell everything the farm produces and keep the profit without sharing the wealth.
No comments:
Post a Comment