Animal Farm: Snowball vs. Napoleon

It was the glorious speech from Old Major that made the animals want to rebel so badly. Animal Farm, written by George Orwell is an excellent novel that portrays the need for power. It shows how power can be used for either good or evil. The story begins on Manor Farm, owned by a farmer named Mr. Jones. One of the pigs, named Old Major, gives a speech that motivates the animals to rebel. After a while, the animals ended up rebelling, and managed to kick out Mr. Jones. During the beginning of “Animal Farm’s” reign under Snowball and Napoleon’s (main characters) lead, it brought the animals on Manor Farm together into a peaceful world. However, after this initial stance of power, Snowball and Napoleon began to fight for it. In the end, Napoleon ends up with control of the farm and Snowball is never seen again. Power is a corrupting influence in Animal Farm and both Snowball and Napoleon’s way of leading are very different.

Snowball is a “vivacious pig… quicker in speech and more inventive, but was not considered to have the same depth of character” (Orwell, 13). Snowball is a brilliant speaker who “won over the majority by his brilliant speeches” (43). Snowball is lively and friendly, and truly believes that all animals are equal. He believes in Animalism, where all animals shared equal labor and the fruits of their labor. He believes in the seven commandments and later creates committees for animals to learn in. Snowball has the idea of building a windmill that “so much labour would be saved that the animals would only need to work three days a week” (46). Snowball is the visionary of Old Major’s beliefs, and striving to make the farm a better place for the animals. Snowball acknowledges that power can be a corrupting influence, b...

... middle of paper ...

...eir work, but most particularly with brute force. In Snowball’s and Napoleon’s actions, they both have some corruption of leading inside them, though Snowball’s corruption is less severe than Napoleon’s.

The corrupting influence of power on Animal Farm creates two very different characters, Snowball and Napoleon. Even though Snowball, who is the lively and friendly pig, and Napoleon who is the fierce, cruel boar, they have their similarities. They want to become the leaders of Animal Farm, they agree on the seven commandments and Animalism, and they are masters of convincing and persuasion. Although most characters are not perfectly similar or polar opposites, it is important to know that the end of Animal Farm may have been quite similar if it had ended with Snowball as the leader.

Works Cited

Orwell, George. Animal Farm. New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1954. Print.