Sunday, September 21, 2014

What allegorical significance does the fact that Napoleon and Snowball disagree during the animals' meetings carry?

I think that the symbolic significance of the pigs'
disagreements is that there can really only be one ruler.  There can only be one voice
of authority.  While the revolution sought to eliminate one ruler in the form of Mr.
Jones, the intensity of disagreements between Napoleon and Snowball represents how there
can really be only one leader and the struggle for this leadership between both is one
of the last moments where the idea of "collectivity" in leadership is evident.  Once
Napoleon runs out Snowball, it is the beginning of the end for the goals of
animalism.


From the historical and allegorical point of
view, the disagreement between Napoleon and Snowball represents the struggle for power
that emerges in Russian history after Lenin has died.  For a moment in time, there was
considerable disagreement between Stalin and Trotsky, and the fate of leadership was
hanging in the balance.  The battle between both was waged and the result was that both
presented different visions of leadership in the Soviet Union.  Similar to Orwell's
construction of Napoleon, Stalin was able to use his own power and control, fed by his
own paranoia, to run off Trotsky and consolidate his control over the power base of the
nation.  In this, Orwell's allegory possess political and literary
meaning.

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