Examine the idea of leadership on the farm. Who gains the leadership role? Why? Comment on this, why you think it is significant (or not), and does it reflect our society in any way? Cite textual evidence to support your response. 250 words.
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2019-2020 English I Honors 
On the farm, the smartest animals get to lead. In the beginning, Major is the leader and all of the animals listen to him. After he dies, the animals carry out his ideas of taking over the humans and the farm. After they do this, they have no leader, and say all animals are equal with their slogan “Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy, Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend.” Not long after the animals begin to control the farm, some of the pigs rise up and start leading, even though they said all animals were equal. A hierarchy starts to form with pigs at the top, then horses and dogs, and the sheep, chickens and ducks at the bottom. The pigs start to take things like the apples, milk, and beds for themselves because “they are smarter, and need the nourishment to run the farm, and the other animals should be thankful that they will put up with this responsibility.” The text states,”’Comrades’ he cried. ‘You do not imagine, I hope, that we pigs are doing this in a spirit of selfishness and privilege? Many of us actually dislike milk and apples. I dislike them myself. Our sole object in taking these things is to preserve our health. Milk and apples (this has been proved by Science, comrades) contain substances absolutely necessary to the well-being of a pig. We pigs are brainworkers. The whole management and organisation of this farm depend on us. Day and night we are watching over your welfare. It is for YOUR sake that we drink that milk and eat those apples. Do you know what would happen if we pigs failed in our duty? Jones would come back! Yes, Jones would come back! Surely, comrades,’ cried Squealer almost pleadingly, skipping from side to side and whisking his tail, ‘surely there is no one among you who wants to see Jones come back?’ Now if there was one thing that the animals were completely certain, it was that they did not want Jones back. When it was put to them in this light, they had no more to say. The importance of keeping the pigs in good health was all too obvious. So it was agreed without further argument that the milk and the windfall apples (and also the main crop of apples when they ripened) should be reserved for the pigs alone.” This reflects our society because the class system represents us, and the people who try to control the system with the excuse that you need them, and use the scare tactic to make you too afraid to object.
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From what I have read so far Mr. Jones controlled the animals because he owned the farm: “ He sets them to work, he gives back to them the bare minimum that will prevent them from starving…” , but an old pig named Major earns the leadership role with the animals because he was wise.The text states: “ Old Major was so highly regarded on the farm that everyone was quite ready to lose an hour’s of sleep in order to hear what he had to say… he was still a majestic-looking pig, with a wise and benevolent appearance.” I think Major leading the animals and Mr. Jones being so controlling is significant because Major gives the animals the idea to start a rebellion against Mr. Jones because he does not treat them well: “ ‘Let us face it: our lives are miserable, laborious, and short.’… ‘ Man is the only real enemy we have. Remove man from the scene, and the root cause of hunger and overworked is abolished forever.’ “ I do think this reflects our society because there have been people in our civilization’s history that have controlled us (dictators) and some people have risen up against this control and came up with the idea to rebel. Some examples include: The French Revolution, The Russian Revolution, The American Revolution, and The Xinhai revolution.
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In the novel “Animal Farm” their is a leadership role run by Old Major in my opinion. Leadership is being able to take charge of something or someone and leading them in the right direction. This is exactly what Old Major portrays. The text says, “ When Major saw that they had all made themselves comfortable and were waiting attentively, he cleared his throat and began:…. Old Major cleared his throat and began to sing.” These two quotes show Major leading the group and directing them and telling them all the information they need to know. In these situations Major is being a leader and giving important information on what is happening and making sure everyone is informed, that is simply what a leader is for, to make sure everyone is in the know. In society, leaders are seen as older more mature in life people, mainly because they have experienced a little more life and are a little wiser than who they are leading. The novel also states, “ At one end of the big barn, on a sort of raised platform, Major was already ensconced on his head of straw, under a lantern which hung from a beam. He was twelve years old and had lately grown rather stout…” This quote shows the age that Major shows, Major is twelve, which is more than likely closer to the end of his life span. This shows that in society Major would fit the requirements and be of age, and of maturity.
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The idea of leadership on the farm is based on their idea of intelligence, which allows the pigs to gain this title of leadership through manipulation. Napoleon takes his title as the “main leader” and forces it throughout the story. It says in the novel, “Many meetings were held in the big barn, and the pigs occupied themselves with planning out the work of the coming season. It had come to be accepted that the pigs, who were manifestly cleverer than the other animals, should decide all questions of farm policy, though their decisions had to be ratified by a majority vote… ‘Comrades,’ he said, ‘I trust that every animal here appreciates the sacrifice that Comrade Napoleon has made in taking this extra labour upon himself. Do not imagine, comrades, that leadership is a pleasure! On the contrary, it is a deep and heavy responsibility. No one believes more firmly than Comrade Napoleon that all animals are equal. He would be only too happy to let you make your decisions for yourselves. But sometimes you might make the wrong decisions, comrades, and then where should we be? Suppose you had decided to follow Snowball, with his moonshine of windmills−Snowball, who, as we now know, was no better than a criminal?’” In this, we can see the title that the pigs as well as Napoleon are taking the role of leaders of the farm. Despite their claims of “equality”, they are putting themselves in the role of power on the farm and manipulating the other animals. The pigs do not believe in equality, they want their own power and they use the idea to get it. The pigs also use Jones’ return on the other animals. It says, “4. No animal shall sleep in a bed…It was about this time that the pigs suddenly moved into the farmhouse and took up their residence there. Again the animals seemed to remember that a resolution against this had been passed in the early days, and again Squealer was able to convince them that this was not the case. It was absolutely necessary, he said, that the pigs, who were the brains of the farm, should have a quiet place to work in. It was also more suited to the dignity of the Leader (for of late he had taken to speaking of Napoleon under the title of ‘Leader’) to live in a house than in a mere sty. Nevertheless, some of the animals were disturbed when they heard that the pigs not only took their meals in the kitchen and used the drawing−room as a recreation room, but also slept in the beds. Boxer passed it off as usual with ‘Napoleon is always right!’, but Clover, who thought she remembered a definite ruling against beds, went to the end of the barn and tried to puzzle out the Seven Commandments… ‘It says, ‘No animal shall sleep in a bed with sheets ,’ she announced finally.” The fourth of the Seven Commandments says that animals shouldn’t sleep in beds, but, as the pigs take control, they change this to fit their needs and wants. Napoleon is officially taking the position of leader, and using this to take control of the farm. This could begin to reflect our society, as people begin to have too much power and take what they want rather than what is right.
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On the farm, the role of leadership on the farm is based on intelligence, which is why the pigs are in charge. The text states, “It had come to be accepted that the pigs, who were manifestly cleverer than the other animals, should decide all questions of farm policy, though their decisions had to be ratified by a majority vote… ‘Comrades,’ he said, ‘I trust that every animal here appreciates the sacrifice that Comrade Napoleon has made in taking this extra labour upon himself. Do not imagine, comrades, that leadership is a pleasure! On the contrary, it is a deep and heavy responsibility. No one believes more firmly than Comrade Napoleon that all animals are equal. He would be only too happy to let you make your decisions for yourselves. But sometimes you might make the wrong decisions, comrades, and then where should we be? Suppose you had decided to follow Snowball, with his moonshine of windmills−Snowball, who, as we now know, was no better than a criminal?’” This piece of evidence explains how Napoleon took on the job of main leader, and even though they claim to be for ‘equality’, they are in power so that they can manipulate everyone. They use the idea of equality and the return of Jones to become powerful, and manipulate the other farm animals with their control. The pigs also talk about their intelligence, and how it is obvious that they should be in power because of how wise they are, when really they only want to use their intelligence to brainwash the animals and control them.
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In Animal Farm George Orwell uses the leadership of old major to reveal how the Russian revolution started. The whole book is about the Russian revolution and each character represents different influential people of the Russian revolution. In the book old major represents Vladimir Lenin. Vladimir Lenin was kid of the idealist of the Russian revolution. We see this same concept through old major and how he leads the farm in understanding his idea of revolution against Mr. Jones.
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In “Animal Farm” the smartest animals were put in charge, which were the pigs, they were given this role because most of the animals on the farm were unintelligent and didn’t have the same understanding like the pigs, so the pigs were in control, and because of the lack of intelligence in most other animals they were easily manipulated by the pigs. This reflects on our society because we put people in charge that we think will help us the most because they have that certain understanding that we don’t, that way people in charge have control over us, and can manipulate us, and excuse themselves by telling us they are helping us and doing it for us, when really they are only being selfish, like the pigs, it says in the text: “You do not imagine, I hope, that we pigs are doing this in a spirit of selfishness and privilege? Many of us actually dislike milk and apples. I dislike them myself. Our sole object in taking these things is to preserve our health. Milk and apples (this has been proved by Science, comrades) contain substances absolutely necessary to the well-being of a pig. We pigs are brainworkers. The whole management and organisation of this farm depend on us. Day and night we are watching over your welfare. It is for YOUR sake that we drink that milk and eat those apples. Do you know what would happen if we pigs failed in our duty? Jones would come back! Yes, Jones would come back! Surely, comrades,” this show that the animals muniplitaed the the other animals into being okay with the pigs getting all the milk and apple and saying that their enemy, MR. Jones will come back if they don’t.
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