Trust is a very important theme in the novel Animal Farm, by George Orwell. Trust is a theme because most of the animals are extremely trusting of the pigs, and especially trusting in Napoleon and Snowball. Boxer trust Napoleon without a thought and follows him right to the end. Mr Jones becomes untrustworthy and leads to the animals overthrowing him, but as Napoleon and Snowball become increasingly untrustworthy all the animals are still willing to follow them. In the novel the animals trust the pigs more than themselves, which shows that everyone is not equal.
Mr Jones drinks lots of alcohol in the start of the novel, which leads to him being careless and forgetful, failing to do things on time. He fails to run the farm properly and forgets the welfare of the animals. The animals relied on Mr Jones to take care of them and when he couldn’t do that, they rebelled against him and gained control of the farm. After losing a large amount of money in a failed lawsuit, he began to become increasingly disheartened, caring only for himself. “For whole days at a time, he would lounging in his Windsor chair”, proving that had despaired against regaining the money and had turned to the drink. He became an alcoholic and often became drunk and the animals became neglected, as with the farm. “The fields were full of weeds, the buildings wanted roofing, the hedges were neglected, and the animals were unfed. Mr Jones, a previously hard but capable farmer, was now a despairing alcoholic. The animals of the farm had previously trusted Mr Jones run the farm for many years, he fails to look after the animals, right from the start of the novel. Mr Jones’ unreliability to look after the other animals is the reason behind the rebellion, and that the animals had not rebelled before because Mr Jones was a competent farmer. Mr Jones relates to Tsar Nicholas II, who doesn’t take care for the people of russia and therefore leads to the Bolsheviks taking over and changing the government. The animals lose trust in Mr Jones to take care of them and it leads to the rebellion.
Boxer has absolute trust in Napoleon to do the right thing and make the right choices, never stopping to question them. As soon as the animals take over the farm, the pigs take charge and unofficially lead the other animals, pre-eminent among them were Napoleon and Snowball. Boxer lacks much intelligence to create his own decisions and instead relies on an all knowing leader , Napoleon and Snowball. When Snowball was exiled from the farm by Napoleon, Boxer follows him without a second thought. Boxer is a very loyal supporter and assumes that everything Napoleon does of says is right, hence the maxim “Napoleon is always right.” Boxer is dim-witted and is easily mislead by squealer, who create clever lies that Boxer believes to be true. His devotion to Napoleon influenced many other animals to join Napoleon’s side, as Boxer is a very admired and trusted figure in the novel. Boxer worked very hard for Napoleon when he was told, and often did more than he was told to do. “I do not understand it. I would not have believed that such things could happen on our farm. It must be due to some fault in ourselves. The solution, as I see it, is to work harder. From now onwards I shall get up a full hour earlier in the mornings”, showing that he will do everything he can to help Napoleon. Unfortunately for Boxer, he is betrayed by Napoleon in the end when he is sent to the knackers to be killed. Boxer shows us that people should never blindingly trust someone in power, just because they are in that position. He is the hardest worker and a very influential animal on the farm. Napoleon may not have succeeded in controlling the farm if Boxer was not there. Boxer relates to the working class, who helps take over russia, but is betrayed by Stalin. They established the Soviet Union, but when they were no longer needed and unable to help him, he turned on them. Boxer’s trust in Napoleon to do what is right eventually leads to his downfall.
When the animals take over the farm, Napoleon and Squealer follow and support animalism, but as time passes, they gradually become untrustworthy. When the pigs take charge of the farm and give orders to the others, Squealer and Napoleon take charge of the pigs and rise to power. Napoleon had not yet become a ruthless dictator, but had already gone against animalism by being in a power position. If all animals are equal, there should be no one who leads, as that means that one has more power over another. As Napoleon slowly changes the commandments, Squealer feeds the animals on the farm lies that the believe. Snowball however, is smart enough to see through Napoleon’s lies and turns against him. Napoleon notices Snowball gaining more and more support and drives him out, off the farm, into exile. Without competition, the animals are forced to follow Napoleon. As the events happen, Squealer is there on Napoleon’s orders to twist the story to portray Snowball as a terrible villain and Napoleon as a great hero. Squealer is a very talented and skilled orator, and finds many clever ways to make the animals believe him. “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 the milk and eat those apples.” Napoleon just wants to have the milk and apples for himself and the other pigs, and Squealer convinces the animals otherwise, and the animals agree without much protest. Napoleon performs more increasingly bad crimes that are justified by Squealer. In the end of the novel, Napoleon become worse than Mr Jones, the very man that Napoleon saw as a cruel leader. He slept in his bed, more his clothes, drank alcohol and stood on two legs. He believes without a doubt that he is the rightful leader of Animal Farm. Napoleon becomes corrupt and the power goes straight to his head. He shows us that animalism cannot work as someone will always rise to power. Napoleon relates to Joseph Stalin, the cruel and merciless dictator of the Soviet Union. He ruled by terror and fear, and millions died under his terrible reign. He started as an innocent pig and ended as a terrible and ruthless dictator.