Dictatorship
What is dictatorship? What are the characteristic of dictatorship?
- A dictatorships is political system where a dictator rules the country with absolute power.
- The absolute power often come from the military power that the person hold
- Absolute power is used to secure their standing in the country and to take benefits from the citizens
- Dictatorship often went against the human rights that a person should have
- Famous modern dictator: Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini
- Dictator’s power usually come from a democratic elections, but once they are in charge, they will change the system to secure their power
Dictatorship in Animal Farm
Napoleon the berkshire boar became the dictator of animal farm after he exiled Snowball, under his control, all animals in the farm were living in fear. Just like any other dictator, Napoleon was first elected as a leader by all the other animals in the farm, but he as gained the status and the power, he started to search for ways to secure and increase his power. Taking the nine puppies away from their parents was the first and smartest way that Napoleon did to boost up his power. After the puppies grew up, they worked the same as the military power of Napoleon, allowing him to exile Snowball and control the farm with absolute power. A lot of Napoleon’s action show the characteristic of dictatorship, in chapter 6 of the novel, Napoleon forced to worker harder than before but consuming less resources, he also started to trade with human which was not allowed before. In chapter 7, Napoleon starved the hens to death for protesting against him, he made some animals to confess that they had be in the league of Snowball and executed them, and abolished the song ‘Beast and England’, banning anyone from singing it [1]. In chapter 8, Napoleon changed the rules in the seven commandment such as ‘No animals should be killed without cause’, he also forced other animals in the farm to call him ‘Our leader, Comrade Napoleon.’[1]. In chapter 10, Napoleon abandon the Animalism that Old Major left to the animals and trying to act like a human being. All of the example above show us that how Napoleon ignored the wants from ‘his citizens’ and forced them to do things that did not benefit themselves but only the leader, comrade Napoleon.
Why did Orwell represents the system this way?
Orwell used the corruption of Napoleon to portray how and what caused to Stalin became a dictator instead of being a democratic leader. Orwell was also trying to provide an example of how a person’s mind can change so easily and quickly by showing how Napoleon first supported the idea of Old Major and turned into a selfish dictator as soon as he got the status and power. It allows the reader to understand easier on what are the consequences of a dictatorship and his personal view toward this kind of political system.
How successful do you think it is?
I think Orwell was very successful on promoting what kind of system dictatorship is. As a reader, I can learned a lot more about dictatorship and i can strongly feel the negative feeling of Orwell toward this system in the way how he described the character Napoleon and his action in the novel.