Friday, February 21, 2014

In 'Animal Farm, Chapter 5', how does Napoleon communicate with the other animals?

It is in Chapter 5 where the communication between
Napoleon and the other animals is one that is continued through the embrace of other
forces and other means as opposed to direct and open articulation with the animals.  The
battle of speeches between he and Snowball about the building of the windmill would be a
good example of this.  Snowball makes an impassioned speech that connects the well-
being and the future of the farm with the construction of the windmill.  This
communication is direct, and pointed to the animals.  Yet, Napoleon does not really
bother with trying to make his point.  When he signals the attack dogs to run off
Snowball, it is a moment where Napoleon communicates with the animals through force. 
Napoleon was never one for speeches, but his statement and symbolic action of
terrorizing Snowball off the farm communicates to the animals the dire consequence of
standing up against him.  At the same time, Napoleon begins to insulate himself with the
trappings of power that this becomes the means through which communication with the
animals happens.  The idea of using Squealer as a means to communicate with the animals
as well as being able to employ Minimus to compose songs that praise Napoleon help to
further this idea that communication between Napoleon and the animals is a means through
which there are other filters and prisms that have one common thread which is the
affirmation of Napoleon's unquestioned power on the farm and over the
animals.

No comments:

Post a Comment

What is the meaning of the 4th stanza of Eliot's Preludes, especially the lines "I am moved by fancies...Infinitely suffering thing".

A century old this year, T.S. Eliot's Preludes raises the curtain on his great modernist masterpieces, The Love...