Napoleon's transformation from revolutionary to tyrant is the central narrative arc of Animal Farm. What makes it instructive is its gradualness and its internal logic at each step. He begins with the milk and apples: a small privilege justified by the demands of leadership. The other animals accept this because the argument is plausible and the amount is small. This is the first step. He uses the threat of Snowball to consolidate power. Snowball is expelled, then retrospectively identified as an enemy agent who was always working against the farm. Every subsequent difficulty, every crop failure, every mechanical problem, is attributed to Snowball's sabotage. This gives Napoleon a permanent enemy to blame for failures and a standard against which his own authority appears protective. He replaces the committees and debates of the early revolution with unilateral decisions. Open debate is dangerous; it creates the possibility of alternative views gaining support. Eliminating debate is framed as efficiency. He acquires dogs as personal enforcers. When any animal questions or dissents, the dogs' growl is enough to end the challenge. The threat of violence, even when not applied, is more than sufficient. He begins trading with the humans. He sleeps in the farmhouse. He drinks alcohol. He walks on two legs. At each stage, the relevant Commandment is quietly revised. Each revision is incremental. Each has a justification. And by the end, the pigs and the humans are indistinguishable at the table. Orwell's point is that this is how power corrupts: not in a single dramatic act of evil but through a series of small justified steps, each of which seems manageable, until the accumulation is catastrophic.