Animal Farm Orwell\'s Colorful Cast

Animal Farm

Orwell's colorful cast of characters in Animal Farm includes the founding members of the Animalist revolution: pigs like Snowball, Napoleon, and Squealer, the boar Old Major, and also the horse Boxer. Old Major reflects on his life during the first chapter of the novel, using his experiences to formulate the first tenets of what will eventually become Animalism. Old Major points out to his fellow barnyard mates that animals are woefully repressed by human beings, controlled to serve human beings without receiving anything in return. Urging revolution via animal solidarity, Old Major foments the rebellion that forms the crux of Animal Farm. The revolution mirrors the social and political upheavals in human society; they are Orwell's metaphors for movements like those that began with Karl Marx. Old Major uses emotionally-charged language and refers to his dreams to reflect the spirit of the revolution. Old Major inspires the other animals, especially the pigs, to educate themselves and free themselves from human oppression.

Snowball is one of the leaders of the revolution and remains an idealist throughout the novel. With Napoleon and Squealer, Snowball helps formulate the seven commandments of Animalism. In Chapter Two, the power struggle that will later develop between Snowball and his soon-to-be rival starts to emerge. The two pigs are both intelligent but demonstrate different leadership styles, different ethics, different ideals, and different personalities. Snowball and Napoleon are both passionate but Snowball is genuinely dedicated to the principles of the revolution and of Animalism. Snowball appreciates the merits of self-sacrifice. Napoleon, on the other hand, is consumed with lust for power.

Napoleon is the most important character in Animal Farm. His leadership style is autocratic as opposed to the more egalitarian Snowball. For example, in Chapter Three Snowball proposes a series of committees to organize tasks in the community. Napoleon disagrees with and ignores Snowball's organizations. Instead, Napoleon prefers to seize power and use his authority to control others. Also in Chapter Three, Napoleon seizes Jesse and Bluebell's puppies so that he has a ready-made personal militia to serve him when the time comes. Clearly, Napoleon's motives are akin to those of his namesake: he used the ideals of the Animalist revolution to suit his own selfish needs rather that to improve the lot of his brethren as Snowball did.

Snowball's proposal to build the windmill creates the rift that tears apart Animal Farm. A progressive and a liberal, Snowball's proposal to harness the power of electricity reflects his forward-thinking and his dedication to the progress of the community as a whole. Snowball believes in communal labor, in hard work for the betterment of all. Napoleon, on the other hand, disavows the need for technological progress. At the same time, Napoleon resents Snowball and cannot fathom sharing the leadership platform at the meetings. Instead of being willing to compromise his ego, Napoleon simply declares the meetings void and ignores Snowball. Napoleon becomes an effective leaders because of his confidence; he attracts followers like Boxer who do not naturally think for themselves. Squealer is also seduced by Napoleon's power: thus, Orwell uses Napoleon to reveal the patterns in human nature that lead to the election and support of corrupt government officials.

Mr. Jones is one of the only human characters described at length by Orwell in Animal Farm. A one-dimensional character, Mr. Jones is the enemy of Animal Farm. The pigs overthrow him and yet he is a wholly unsympathetic character who is as evil a tyrant as the animals make him out to be.

George Orwell's Animal Farm is a brilliant example of using symbolism to convey political commentary. Like the author's 1984, Animal Farm is laden with references to modern history. The novel's central themes include those related to organized labor, capitalism, and communism.

The book begins with Old Major, a prize-winning boar turned visionary. A dream inspired Old Major to speak to the animals on the Manor Farm, telling them that the animals must work hard to extricate themselves from human oppression. Old Major dies a few days after the speech and thus he becomes like a martyr. Immortalized, Old Major inspires the other animals and especially the pigs to work hard and fight Mr. Jones. After Mr. Jones is driven off the farm the pigs rename it Animal Farm. The pigs formulate a rudimentary constitution by condensing the tenets of Animalism into Seven Commandments. Animalism is a doctrine centering on freedom and liberation, and especially on resisting human tyranny. Most of the animals on the farm become involved with the revolution and support it directly or indirectly.

Animals like Boxer the horse especially toil for the common good of the farm. A pro-labor worker ethic becomes the core philosophy of Animal Farm. Fellow Animal Farm residents refer to each other as "comrades" in direct reference to the communist revolution. The animals' solidarity proves strong, at least on a military front because they stave off Mr. Jones' attempt to take back the farm in the Battle of the Cowshed. Moreover, the Animal Farm leaders present their community as a nation-state using symbols like the flag and Mr. Jones' rifle. Community meetings are regular like parliament or congress.

However, the animals struggle with leadership conflicts and political issues that eventually tear apart the community. The power struggle between two pigs: Snowball and Napoleon, comes to a head when Napoleon disagrees with Snowball's suggestion to build an electricity generator. Differences among the diverse animal community exacerbate the power struggles between Snowball and Napoleon. Snowball's emphasis on education, letters, and learning is stymied when he realizes that not all the animals are capable of literacy. Thus, he must distill Animalism's tenets into a more digestible format. Napoleon relies more on his charisma as well as deceit and brute force.

Having trained a litter of puppies to serve his needs as a personal army, Napoleon eventually turns on Snowball. He and his army of puppies chases Snowball from Animal Farm and thus Napoleon solidifies his political power. The event was effectively a military coup. By that time, Napoleon enjoyed a sufficient amount of support from fellow farm animals especially Squealer and Boxer. Squealer and Boxer stick up for Napoleon and thereby garner more support for the increasingly corrupt leader.

Napoleon eventually sacrifices the tenets of animalism to serve his own ends. He starts trading with human beings. Animal Farm practically becomes a labor camp. Eventually Napoleon steals Snowball's idea to build a windmill to generate electricity: a plan that Napoleon criticized earlier. After a storm devastates the windmill project, Napoleon accuses the exiled Snowball of sabotaging the project. Although Snowball was guilty of sabotage, Napoleon is by far the greater tyrant. He uses his army of dogs to maintain power over the animals. He develops a cult-like following. He strays farther and farther from the core tenets of Animalism. Eventually the power struggle totally tears apart Animal Farm. Napoleon and the other pigs basically transform into the very things they despised to begin with: tyrannical two-legged creatures.