How does Napoleon use his power to control the animals?

Napoleon uses techniques such as: propaganda, intimidation and lies to maintain his position of leader and his supremacy over the animals. Now that Snowball has left, he doesn’t have any obstacle in his way of making of the farm whatever he wants.

Propaganda has a big role in Napoleon’s achievement of power; through it he has the advantage of manipulating and brainwashing the animals to think in a certain way. The animals, due to their short memory and intellectual efficiency, fall under the ignorance of believing everything Napoleon states with Squealer’s help. As seen in chapter 3, “Milk and apples contain substances necessary to the well-being of a pig…Do you know what would happen if we pigs failed in our duty? Jones will come back!” (p25). Squealer makes the animals believe that they require the consumption of apples and milk to complete their work, but the real reason is that they only look for their own interest and personal health.

As we can see in chapter 5 Napoleon is a very smart animal, he instills fear with the objective of giving the animals no chance to express their displeasure about the new changes he has made in the farm  “Four young porkers in the front row uttered shrill squeals of disapproval... But suddenly the dogs sitting round Napoleon let out deep, menacing growls, and the pigs fell silent and sat down again.” (p40). Napoleon took Jessie and Bluebell’s puppies to train them as his army and defeat him of anyone who opposes his authority as the leader.

In chapter 6 we can identify animalism, Napoleon and the other pigs have taken control of the farmhouse as their residence, in spite the fact that it was the opposite of what Old Major outlined in his ideas. “No animal shall sleep in a bed with sheets” (p50). Napoleon changes the 4th commandment, the one which was based in the prohibition of using beds, for his own self-interest.