is a mixture of Marx and Lenin. Out of his philosophy come the original
animal rebellion and Seven Commandments. As an idealist and visionary, he
shows the animals how their lives are miserable, enslaved, laborious, and
unhappy under the cruelty of Farmer Jones and inspires them to revolt
sometime in the future. He wants to establish a utopian society on the farm, a
heaven on earth, where the animals live happily in equality, freedom, and
plenty. His dreams, however, are not concrete; he never has a plan for
implementation.
Old Major has been a show pig for Farmer Jones. As a result, he has been
pampered and has lived a life of ease. Unlike the other farm animals, he has
not been expected to do hard labor or scratch out a meager existence for
survival. Most of the time he has been isolated in a stall filled with clean hay
and plenty of food, allowing him much time to think, theorize, and observe the
other animals at a distance. As a result, he does not have a realistic picture of
the nature of animals or humans.
Old Major dies at the end of the first chapter and is buried on the farm. After
the animal rebellion, his skull is dug up and paid weekly tributes by the
animals for a period of time. Even after the formal tributes have ceased, the
common animals speak about Old Major and consider him their hero.
Napoleon mentions him at the end of the book when Old Major’s vision is a
problem for him with the other animals.
Snowball
Snowball is one of the pre-eminent pigs who is a contender for leadership of
Animal Farm. He is more vivacious, quicker in speech, and more inventive
than Napoleon. He is also much more concerned about the welfare of all the
animals. He proves that he is a good thinker, strategist, and planner. He not
only plans the ‘Battle of Cowshed’ in advance, but also fights bravely during
the battle and is acclaimed a hero and decorated after the victory.
Unfortunately, he is not considered to have the same depth of character as
Napoleon and, therefore, loses out to him.
Unlike Old Major, Snowball acts as well as thinks. He corrects Mollie’s
mistaken ideas during the discussion on Animalism, devises the flag which
symbolizes the animals’ hopes, organizes various committees and classes, and
physically changes the name of Manor Farm to Animal Farm. He also
compresses the Seven Commandments to a simple maxim: ‘Four legs good,
two legs bad’. A persuasive speaker, he is also good at debates and discussions.
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Like Major, he too is a dreamer, but with a difference. He dreams of a world
of practicality and machines, symbolized by the windmill, which he believes
will make life easier for all the animals. It is, in fact, the windmill, which
becomes the bone of contention between him and Napoleon. In the end,
Snowball is defeated by and sent into exile. Once off the farm, Napoleon
makes the exiled pig his scapegoat, blaming him for all the ills on the farm.
On the satiric level, Snowball is like Trotsky, who was the planner and
spokesman of the Russian Revolution.
Napoleon
Napoleon is a large and rather fierce-looking Berkshire Boar who is being
bred for sale by Farmer Jones. Though not much of a talker, he has the
reputation for getting his work done in his own way. He too is a thinker, but
his thinking is usually manipulative. He outwits Snowball through a power
play and quickly seizes the leadership role of Animal Farm for himself. To a
large extent, the entire novel is the story of the rise of Napoleon to the position
of an all powerful, dictatorial ruler.
Shortly after the animal rebellion, Napoleon’s true nature is seen when he
seizes the milk and the apples for his own benefit. He is not interested in
creating a utopian society for the animals; his only interest is in seizing power
for himself. He proves that he is secretive and scheming when he hides the
dogs and trains them to protect him at any price. Unlike Snowball, he does not
normally speak to the animals as a group; instead, he spreads his propaganda
individually, intimidating the animals when they are isolated.
Napoleon is obviously a plotter. He knows that he must rid the farm of
Snowball, his contender. He waits for the opportune moment and then sends
his guard dogs to attack his enemy. Once he is rid of Snowball, he quickly sets
himself up as the dictatorial ruler of Animal Farm and begins to shower
himself with special privileges. He gives himself more food than the other
animals, changes the Seven Commandments to meet his own wants and needs,
makes all pigs into a special, ruling class, presents himself with titles and
medals, and seizes the farmhouse for his own quarters. By the end of the
novel, he is even using the barley from the farm to make alcohol for his own
consumption, eating off of china dishes, wearing human clothing, walking
upright on his hind legs, reading the newspaper, and talking on the telephone.
Napoleon knows he must divert attention away from what he is doing and
uses several different tactics. He forces the animals to work harder than ever.
In addition to their normal six-day work week, he insists that they do
“voluntary” work on Sunday afternoons. He sets Snowball up as his scapegoat
and blames any ill fortune on the farm on him. He purges the farm of any
animals that cross him by holding public executions. He holds constant
ceremonies and parades in which he is presented as the benevolent ruler. He
uses Squealer to constantly spread propaganda that Napoleon is working for
the good of all the animals. At the end of the novel, he has become a total dictator who seizes whatever he
wants. On the satiric level, Napoleon is intended to be a reflection of Stalin.
Boxer
Orwell states that the idea for the book came to him from the sight of a huge
carthorse driven by a little boy who was whipping it whenever it tried to turn.
“It struck me that if only such animals became aware of their strength we
should have no power over them, and that men exploit animals in much the
same way as the rich exploit the proletariat. Thus Boxer, representing the long
suffering Russian workers and peasants, is the hero of the tale.”
Boxer is not very intelligent. In reading classes, he could not get beyond letter
the D. But what he lacked in intelligence, he made up for with hard work. As
a big, powerful farmhorse, he represents the simple, honest, strong, and
devoted worker. His philosophy is always to work harder, and he is seen
throughout the novel doing more than his fair share. As a result, he represents
‘goodness of common man’ and becomes an inspiration to all the other animals
on the farm.
Because of his lack of intelligence and his trusting nature, Boxer accepts
everything that Napoleon and Squealer say. In fact, his life is ruled by the
slogan of “Napoleon is always right.” Even when Napoleon has his guard
dogs attack Boxer, he does not see through the leader. Though heroic and very
faithful to Napoleon all his life, when old, Boxer is sold to be made into glue
instead of being given the pension promised to all animals.
On a satiric level, Boxer is the symbol of the workers of the world who are
used by the ruling classes to advance their own goals.
Squealer
Squealer is a small, fat pig with bright eyes and a happy spirit. Known to be
an exceptional speaker, he is the pig chosen by Napoleon to be his henchman
and propagandist. As the right-hand person to Napoleon, he faithfully
executes the commands of his leader. He changes the Commandments to suit
the needs of Napoleon, revises the history of Animal Farm to reflect what his
leader chooses, constantly warns the common animals that Jones is an ever
present threat, and generally keeps the masses under control. On a satiric
level, Squealer is the typical propagandist that is always attached to a
dictatorship.