Read the passage from Animal Farm.

Question

Presently the tumult died down. The four pigs waited, trembling, with guilt written on every line of their countenances. Napoleon now called upon them to confess their crimes. They were the same four pigs as had protested when Napoleon abolished the Sunday Meetings. Without any further prompting they confessed that they had been secretly in touch with Snowball ever since his expulsion, that they had collaborated with him in destroying the windmill, and that they had entered into an agreement with him to hand over Animal Farm to Mr. Frederick. They added that Snowball had privately admitted to them that he had been Jones's secret agent for years past. When they had finished their confession, the dogs promptly tore their throats out, and in a terrible voice Napoleon demanded whether any other animal had anything to confess.

The three hens who had been the ringleaders in the attempted rebellion over the eggs now came forward and stated that Snowball had appeared to them in a dream and incited them to disobey Napoleon's orders. They, too, were slaughtered. Then a goose came forward and confessed to having secreted six ears of corn during the last year's harvest and eaten them in the night. Then a sheep confessed to having urinated in the drinking pool—urged to do this, so she said, by Snowball—and two other sheep confessed to having murdered an old ram, an especially devoted follower of Napoleon, by chasing him round and round a bonfire when he was suffering from a cough. They were all slain on the spot. And so the tale of confessions and executions went on, until there was a pile of corpses lying before Napoleon's feet and the air was heavy with the smell of blood, which had been unknown there since the expulsion of Jones.

How does Napoleon’s questioning of the pigs demonstrate the author’s purpose of reflecting reality?

It shows similarities with Stalin's Great Purge and reveals how dictators use fear to control people.
It shows how some animals are capable of using nonviolent tactics to gain power over others.
It shows how leaders blame others for the problems of the society they lead and punish them accordingly.
It shows how both Napoleon and Stalin used promises of a better life to take control of a group.

Answer 1

The correct answer is: It shows how leaders blame others for the problems of the society they lead and punish them accordingly.

This interpretation reflects the author's purpose of illustrating the dynamics of power and control in a totalitarian regime. Napoleon's questioning of the pigs serves to create a scapegoat in Snowball, allowing him to deflect blame for any issues on the farm while consolidating his power through fear and violence. This mirrors historical events where leaders have shifted accountability to opponents or dissenters as a means of maintaining authority and suppressing opposition.