Minseo Kang

Dagne Furth

English 9

21/11/18

Why Napoleon is an ineffective leader

What comes to your mind if think about the features/characteristics of an effective

leader? The first thing that would come to your mind would be someone who is task-oriented

and impulsive. Now let’s put this information in the back for a bit and look at the historical

background of when this book was written. The author of this book “George Orwell” wrote this

book as his reflection of the Russian revolution at that time. So the Question: Is Napoleon an

ineffective leader? It is strongly related to the author’s perspective of Lenin and Stalin who were

the leaders of communist Russia. Since Napoleon was an author’s perspective of Stalin. We

can see many of his negative opinions about Napoleon shown in the book through Napoleon’s

actions or quotes. These opinions are shown in the book in three ways: symbols, historical

context, and imagery.

First, the reason why Napoleon is an ineffective leader is shown by symbols frequently in

this novel, such as “four legs good, two legs bad” these quotes are used as a form of

propaganda to make animals be united against humans. This quote symbolizes the ideology of

animalism which is an old major’s idea that all animals have the right to have freedom and

equality into a “complete system of thought”. The idea itself was working perfectly fine until

Napoleon had seized the power. Napoleon started using the “two legs bad four legs good” for
strengthening his power and turning the complaints of society towards the humans, not himself.

Later the quote is changed to “four legs good two legs better.” This describes that now

Napoleon is using his power not for other animals but himself.

In addition, the sign that Napoleon is an ineffective leader can be also found in historical

context. For example, the quote “all animals are equal,” represents the basic idea of Karl

Marxism and the main slogan that was commercialized by the Bolsheviks. People believed in

this quote and expected there would be a future and no one will starve or be a ruler like Tsar as

the ideology of communist Utopia but this belief was short-lived due to Stalin’s power and his

reign in Russia for almost 30 years. This historical context can be described as the author’s

view of Napoleon’s animal version of real-life Stalin. The reason why he used Stalin as

Napoleon’s metaphor is to show how ineffective he is.

Lastly, the author’s opinion that Napoleon is an ineffective leader is exposed by imagery

which makes the concept of the sugarcany mountain more tangible and realistic in this quote

“No matter who rules the farm, no one else can promise cake growing on hedges!

Believing in Sugarcandy Mountain is the best way for whoever is in power to keep the

animals content with very little”. This is one of Moses’s quotes. Which is a character that

represents the Russian orthodox which was Russia’s national religion before the

revolution. This fact is well portrayed since Moses was originally Mr. Johns’s a pet who

symbolizes imperial Russia before the revolution. Moses was away from the farm after

Mr. Johns was overthrown by animals. But returns when the animal’s life is harsh

because of Napoleon’s dictatorship. Pigs allow Moses to stay at the farm because his

tales about sugar-candy mountain offered animals reason to keep working. The return

of Moses can be inferred as the condition of the farm hasn’t changed or has gotten
worse than when Mr. Johns was in charge. Since Moses tales were most effective when

people were in difficult conditions. So the act of pigs allowing Moses to stay at the farm

can be described as the animals life was very harsh due to Napoleons ineffectiveness

as a leader.

In conclusion, the reason why Napoleon is an ineffective leader are shown by

symbols, historical context, imagery in this book. I think the quote “ all animals are

equal” was the most interesting in out of three quotes I used because the message it

contains was complelte opposite of what really happened in the book. This irony clearly

shows that Napoleon’s policy of ruling the farm is most effective example of his

ineffectiveness.