Cult of personality in Animal Farm<\/p>\n
A \u2018cult of personality\u2019 arises when an individual works to create an idealised and heroic image of themselves by various means, usually through propaganda. The animals in Animal Farm<\/em> overthrow the human farm owner and establish their own community, setting up a list of \u2018commandments\u2019 to build a fair society, but Napoleon the pig works tirelessly throughout the book to gain sole power over the other animals. He does this in two ways: by building up (and inflating beyond the point of truth) his own credentials, and by demeaning or devaluing the contributions of others, such as Snowball. Initially, Snowball and Napoleon are jointly in power at Animal Farm \u2013 however, Snowball is chased away by dogs and Napoleon proceeds to claim credit for his windmill idea, denigrate Snowball\u2019s heroic and strategic victory in the \u2018Battle of the Cowshed\u2019, and blame him for the destruction of the windmill the animals worked hard to build (a windstorm was the real culprit). While convincing the animals that Snowball is a villain, Napoleon works through a young pig named Squealer to imply his own heroic characteristics, encouraging the other animals to adopt the mantra \u2018Napoleon is always right!\u2019. As the novel progresses, Napoleon begins to act more like a man \u2013 sleeping in the farmer\u2019s house, drinking alcohol, wearing clothes \u2013 and flagrantly flouts the commandments the animals set initially. By the end of the novel, many of the animals that participated in the initial revolution are dead, and Napoleon has abridged the commandments into one: \u2018all animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.\u2019 The book is an allegorical portrayal of the USSR, with Napoleon representing Joseph Stalin \u2013 who established a real-life cult of personality using similar techniques – and Snowball a composite of Trotsky and Lenin.<\/p>\n Orwell, G. (2000). Animal Farm. London: Penguin Classics.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" How does George Orwell demonstrate the effects of ‘The Cult of Personality’ in Animal Farm?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2921,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nReferences<\/h2>\n