Question

Read the excerpt from Animal Farm and the passage on the history of the Soviet Union.

Though not yet full-grown, they were huge dogs, and as fierce-looking as wolves. They kept close to Napoleon. It was noticed that they wagged their tails to him in the same way as the other dogs had been used to do to Mr. Jones.

Napoleon, with the dogs following him, now mounted on to the raised portion of the floor where Major had previously stood to deliver his speech. . . .

In spite of the shock that Snowball's expulsion had given them, the animals were dismayed by this announcement. Several of them would have protested if they could have found the right arguments. Even Boxer was vaguely troubled. He set his ears back, shook his forelock several times, and tried hard to marshal his thoughts; but in the end he could not think of anything to say. Some of the pigs themselves, however, were more articulate. Four young porkers in the front row uttered shrill squeals of disapproval, and all four of them sprang to their feet and began speaking at once. But suddenly the dogs sitting round Napoleon let out deep, menacing growls, and the pigs fell silent and sat down again.

But under party leader Joseph Stalin, the secret police again acquired vast punitive powers and in 1934 was renamed the People's Comissariat for Internal Affairs, or NKVD. No longer subject to party control or restricted by law, the NKVD became a direct instrument of Stalin for use against the party and the country during the Great Terror of the 1930s. . . .

The secret police remained the most powerful and feared Soviet institution throughout the Stalinist period.

How do the conflicts in the Animal Farm excerpt relate to the events in the historical passage?

Napoleon handpicks the dogs he wants to use to terrorize the animals, just as Stalin personally chose the men he wanted to be in the secret police.
Napoleon’s dogs are loving and faithful to him, just as the members of Stalin’s secret police were loving and faithful to him.
Napoleon’s dogs are only a temporary threat to animals who disagree with him, just as Stalin’s secret police did not have a lasting effect on dissenters.
Napoleon uses his dogs to protect himself and oppress his opponents, just as Stalin used t

Answer 1

Correct answer: Napoleon uses his dogs to protect himself and oppress his opponents, just as Stalin used the NKVD to do the same.

Explanation: In the excerpt the dogs surround Napoleon and growl to silence anyone who questions him, clearly acting as an instrument of intimidation and repression. The historical passage describes the NKVD gaining vast punitive powers and becoming Stalin’s direct instrument during the Great Terror, a feared force used to eliminate opposition. The other choices either misread the passages (the dogs/secret police are not portrayed as merely loving or temporary) or are less directly supported.