LOOKING AT NAPOLEON'S BEHAVIOR FROM A PSYCHOANALYTICAL VIEW 1

Heartless Methods: Analyzing Napoleons actions in Animal Farm.

Using Psychoanalytical theories to explain Napoleon's actions and how they are linked to

past events or the people surrounding him and how they affect his ideas and his way of treating

the animals in the farm. The events in the book slowly progress and showcase what are

Napoleon's true intention are towards the farm and its animals.It's shown quite early in the book

that his actions are cruel and should not be accused, they can still be explained by looking at the

ways that Physhoanalticlays would evaluate his actions and why he decided to do all of this. In

the beginning of the Book, Napoleon seemed more distant and uninterested in what was

happening in the farm during the time that old major was still alive. When the Old Major died,

Animalism played a big factor in the beginning of napoleon's way of reaching to become a leader

of the farm. He did not directly become involved in the revolution and he didn't take as much

action to his event but he still seemed to crave power after what has happened. The idea of a

revolution which was talked about Mr.Jones happened early and the when jones was too poor to

feed the animals, that helped spark their urge to attack him and take over.

In first few chapters, Napoleon was rather quiet and was depicted more as being a behind

the scenes character then what we see in the next few chapters and him slowly developing into

the main focus of the book. He was rarely mentioned or talked about in the first two chapters

which could lead us to lead thinking that he is planning or just trying to digest the situation that

is happening in front of him. The way that he slowly observes in the background and doesn't

make as much noise to himself or gather any attention to himself shows that Napoleon had

planned this or was starting to plan his ideas of taking over the farm for a while. His Id increases
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and his selfiness and eagerness start to grow since he sees this as his chance to finally be in

control and looked down on.

However, we immediately see him drawing more attention to himself in the third chapter

and already trying to be in control even if it's with someone else, he's becoming more talkative

and already handing out rules for the farm.

Which leads to Napoleon's ego becoming more apparent and obvious to the reader than the

animals. that is important because the reader can start noticing his characters from the beginning

and know that he's the main character of the book and the events that will happen later on.

After what has happened in the first two chapters, The pigs started appointing themselves as the

leaders of the farm and they were the ones organizing and creating the rules for the farm and how

it should function. During the beginning, napoleon and snowball were the two main pigs who

were the ones in charge. Snowball started an animal reading class which was a success and

helped animals in different ways. however, Napoleon was not interested in what snowball was

doing and decided to take the puppies from their mother since dogs are the second smarted in the

farm and he took the puppies away from their mothers so he can train them to becoming kind of

like his soldiers. The cowshed battle took place too and the animals were fighting when napoleon

was the one who was directing them and telling them what to do since he had read a book about

war strategy.

In the third chapter, it was written to show that the pigs aren't the ones breaking a sweat

but instead the ones leading the way which is all shown in this paragraph in the book,

The pigs did not actually work, but directed and supervised the others. With their superior

knowledge it was natural that they should assume the leadership. Boxer and Clover would
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harness themselves to the cutter or the horse-rake (no bits or reins were needed in these days, of

course) and tramp steadily round and round the field with a pig walking behind and calling out

Gee up, comrade! or Whoa back, comrade! as the case might be. (Orwell, 1945, 3.2).

These events are the ones that connect the most to theory because this is when he started to act

out on his ideas and showing his true colors.

When he took away the puppies from their mothers, it shows a connect to what he experienced

when he was a small pig, they were taken away from their mothers as well and he didn't get to

spend much time with her as the book mentioned when it talked about how they only

remembered a small part of the beast of england songs because that's all their mothers sang when

he was young. His choice of taking the puppies could be a way for him to not want others to

experience what he had not. This could be applied to the theory of Displacement, This theory is

explained by Sigmund Freud as an action which is connected to other objects or events that are

in a direct or indirect relationship with the initials ones which triggered it. So what Napoleon is

doing isnt very obvious to him and he does not realize what he is doing to the puppies is a way

for him to get back at Jones or whoever had taken him away from his mother when he was

young.

Second, Napoleons strong urge of wanting to be in charge but not really getting his

hands dirty or contributing in wars shows him slowly foreshadowing himself as jones, the person

he feared and hated the most. This could be a way for him to erase his fear so he decided to

become what he didn't want to before, a human. This is called a Projection or the Tendency to

Project which can best be described in short, as Mental Relief. A direct quote from Sigmund

Freud explains the complicated theory in depth.

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It is, however, safe to assume that that tendency will be intensified when projection

promises to bring with it the advantage of mental relief. The pathological process in

paranoia in fact makes use of the mechanism of projection in order to deal with mental

conflicts of this kind. (Sigmund Freud: Totem and Taboo.)

Theres a clear connection to Napoleon's actions throughout the entire book that connect to this

theory but this has a more clear role here since this is the origin of his first acts of projecting

Jones, whether hes aware of it or not. Even after the battle, the animals still believed in what the

pigs have told them which shows the cluelessness of the animals and the power that the pigs

have asserted into them. The rules that the pigs appointed to the animals as the ideal way how

they should be living have crumbled and are being slowly being altered or thrown away

according to the pigs and more specifically Napoleons.

Napoleon getting complete control of the farm and slowly getting rid of his ideology

which eventually results in him becoming a dictator. A little while after the battle that has

happened, the animals got back to their normal lives. However people noticed that one of the

pigs, Mollie was missing until she was seen with a human which is forbidden and that caused the

pigs to kind of start a democracy. They started making up their policies and making people vote

for what they think fits them best. This started a conflict between Snowball and Napoleon over a

windmill which snowball suggested and Napoleon opposed to, causing a fight to started between

the two.

However, Snowball ended up escaping which made Napoleon the only person in charge of the

farm, making him suggest new rules. This made the animals work harder since napoleon changed

his mind about the windmill which is now half way done. However, the windmill suddenly get
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ruined and Napoleon started blaming it on Snowball and started a hunt for him and whoever

disagreed with him or questioned him would get killed. So after this, Napoleon began drinking

alcohol and sleeping in the house, which is forbidden. So when the animals started to question

him, his spokesmen; Squealer always found a way to defend him and cover up for him.

If one of them suggested sowing a bigger acreage with barley, the other was certain to demand a

bigger acreage of oats, and if one of them said that such and such a field was just right for

cabbages, the other would declare that it was useless for anything except roots. (Orwell,1945,

p. 29) This quote references back to the feud that is happening between Napoleon and Snowball.

The disagreement and the fight between the two has caused more harm to the Democracy that

they wanted to start in the farm and the advancement of the animals living situation than the two

have realized. Snowball and Napoleon are both very eager to be in charge and to have most of

the power since they have both the most knowledgeable and are able to think on the same level

which is making it hard for the both of them to back down. Their actions towards each other

could be described as acting out.

Acting out - refers to the tendency of acting in an involuntary manner stirred up by a

demand disclosed during the analysis, thus confirming what it is actually repressed and

denied. (Sigmund Freud: Totem and Taboo.)

Which is the way of denying the the situation that is happening in front of you by acting in a

harmful or unlogical way. Which is what the two pigs are doing to each other, instead of talking

it out and discussing calmly they decided to start schemes or ways that they can make the

animals surrounding them to hate them.

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Denial - It can be explained through the refusal of accepting something that rose or it is

happening in the mind. In this case we are not talking about a defense against anxiety but

of spearing the narcissist ego. (Sigmund Freud: Totem and Taboo.)

Is one of the theories that relate to when Napoleon suddenly changed his mind about the

windmill when Snowball escaped and started using it as his idea, discrediting Snowball

completely. Its his way of boosting his ego and making himself feel more important. He

eventually realized that the windmill is useful to the farm and that its better for them to have it

but since he is too self-confident and his ego is much too high for him to say that Snowball is

right so he decided to start a hunt for him instead of calling him back to help with the winmill.

After looking at Napoleon's behaviors and explaining them in detail, are his actions more

reasonable now? The answer is no. Because people use psychology and psychoanalysis to just

find an explanation or a reason as to why the person chose to do what they did, good or bad not

as a way to justify their actions because most people do experience events that cause a massive

influence on their lives but they have the choice to either act on it or not since the person always

has the choice to act on them or ignore them.

In the end, Napoleon ended up losing himself in the power and became what he feared

and heated the most, a human which made him end up alone and no one daring to talk to him or

get close to him. His ego and selfishness ended up costing him losing his true self and sense of

purpose.
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References

Freud, S. (1856-1939.) A General Introduction to Psychoanalysis. Reterived from

https://eduardolbm.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/a-general-introduction-to-psychoanalysis-sigmu

nd-freud.pdf.

Psychoanalysis > Theory. (n.d.). Retrieved from

http://www.freudfile.org/psychoanalysis/theory.html

Freud Museum London (Producer). (2015). What is Psychoanalysis? Part 4: The Ego, the Id and

the Superego. [Motion Picture]. State of origin: Youtube.