The role of Snowball in Animal Farm The book Animal Farm, written by George Orwell, uses an allegory to represent the Russian revolution of 1917 by using animals as real-life characters. This story takes place in Willingdon, England, and is aimed at adults interested in politics. While this story seems simple, it has many hidden details that have to do with politics and power. Through Orwell’s use of the pig character Snowball, Orwell emphasizes how a smart leader, turns into a negative character seen by other unloyal people and submissive animals. Orwell establishes Snowball as a brilliant character and good leader when he says, “Snowball, who had studied an old book” (p.40). This quote shows the audience that even though he is an animal, …show more content…
Another example that’s included in the book is when it says, “At the Meetings Snowball often won over the majority with his brilliant speeches” (p.47). This quote shows how at the start, many animals followed him because he was smart and spoke well. His words were like magnets, pulling them in and making them trust him. Snowball was seen as a natural leader because he could explain things clearly and make others believe in his ideas for the farm's future. Orwell describes Snowball as a good leader and smart character at the beginning of the book, and later that changes. Since Snowball is a pig, he was able to use his intelligence and power to help other animals, controlling them to make better and more helpful choices than we see later, where Napoleon makes everything worse. The main reason Napoleon makes everything worse is because of his “fake leadership” shown in the final paragraph, where he talks more about Snowballs fighting and bravery throughout the book. This leads right into the next point which talks about the opposite of Napoleon and instead Snowballs …show more content…
“Snowball has done this thing” (p.70) and “Whenever anything went wrong it became usual to attribute it to Snowball” (p.78) both quotes show how Napoleon blames Snowball for everything, even when it's not his fault. When the windmill broke, Napoleon immediately said it was Snowball's fault, even though there was no proof. This shows how Napoleon tries to make Snowball look bad to keep control over the other animals and hide his own mistakes. Snowball becomes an enemy to others, even when he stands up against unfair treatment. This can prove how those in charge, often blame others for staying in power. Throughout the book, it’s clear that animals and people are highly influenced by the thoughts of what’s said. This results in Snowball being unfairly blamed for many things and troubles he didn’t cause. Overall, it highlights the constant conflicts he faces with others. In the end, Orwell shows us how a clever leader like Snowball can end up being seen as a bad guy by those who aren't loyal and who are submissive. This is an important argument because it teaches us how power and betrayal play out in
He claims that in demand to support and defend Animal Farm and toughen the certainty of Old Major’s dream of a life without humans, mixt up rebellions in other farms throughout England. Napoleon always disagrees with Snowball’s ideas because he doesn’t want him to lead Animal Farm.
He took part in writing the original 7 commandments and the animals are easily convinced that he is a traitor and has been in league with Jones. When reading Animal Farm one can really begin to appreciate Snowballs leadership and his understanding for what's best for the farm and its residence. George Orwell has Snowball run off to show that even
Napoleon was seen by the rest of the animals as a force to be reckoned with; he was most certainly a dictator and was very narcissistic and self-centered. Additionally, he brain washed his supporters to obey his every command. On the contrary, Snowball understood the responsibilities that come with great power and was ready to accept them. He always made decisions based on what he thought would benefit the farm.
Snowball is a thousand times better at being a leader than Napoleon could ever dream. Snowball was always kinder to the animals than Napoleon. He was also honorable. He listened to the rules Old Major set in place and he wrote the seven commandments on the barn. He fought at the battle of cowshed and was wounded but he still continued fighting. Napoleon, on the other hand, is filled with lies and deceit. He stole Snowball’s plans for the windmill and claimed they were his own work. Napoleon abolished the rights for voting and crushed any freedom the animals had. He stole puppies from their mothers and turned them into vicious killing machines and ordered them to attack Snowball for no other reason but jealousy. He was jealous that Snowball
The only good human being is a dead one. " This quote proves to us that Animalism is very important to Snowball. Orwell also describes Snowball to be "quicker in speech. " We can see that he is a brilliant speaker and uses this as a persuasive way to the control the animals instead of using force. Snowball also uses his intelligence to convince the birds that their wings are considered as legs.
Snowball who is good leader from Animal Farm treats the animals equal and is passionate for what he does to help the animals. In the novel Snowball led the Battle of Cowshed to fight against the people trying to take over. He did this because he wanted to help the farm and take care of the animals. Orwell writes, “Snowball now launched his second line of attack. Muriel, Benjamin, and all the sheep, with snowball at the head of them, rushed forward and prodded and butted the men from every side” (57).
The biggest justification for his actions always include a reminder about how the pigs are smarter than all. After he killed the pigs who rebelled against him, animals began to fear Napoleon. Snowball is intent on making life easier for the animals; this is visible
Squealer says, “Suppose you had to decide to follow Snowball, with his moonshine of windmills,- Snowball, who, as we now know, was no better than a criminal?”(Orwell55).THey call Snowball a criminal, when all he does is try to help the animals. The reason this is happening is, because they have defeated the farmer and the rest of the men. So, they need someone else to blame things on. Squealer also says, “And as a battle of Cowshed, I believe the time will come when we shall find that snowball”s part was much exaggerated”(Orwell55). THey say that from the beginning Snowball was fighting for the humans, when in reality everything he has done is for the animals,
SNOWBALL! " This indicates Napoleons weaknesses in accepting failure and acknowledging when he has been unsuccessful in his leadership, he therefore blames Snowball for all of his misfortune while metaphorically, painting a negative picture of him trying to sabotage every event that occurs on the farm, even though the animals believed it was so out of character for Snowball to do such a thing. It was stated that "if a window was broken or a drain was blocked up, someone was certain to say that Snowball had come in the night and done it" this proves that the whole farm are starting to share Napoleons view on Snowball. Gradually Napoleon is gaining more control by draining all other power away from the opposition and receiving complete loyalty among the
First, Napoleon manipulated the animal's’ feelings of Snowball by blaming everything on him. After the first destruction of the windmill, Napoleon declares “Snowball has done this thing!” (70). It was also said that “he stole the corn, he upset the milk-pails, he broke the eggs…” (78). By making Snowball the scapegoat, he was blamed for any misfortune or difficulty in the farm and no one would suggest there might be someone else responsible such as Napoleon.
“He ordered the hens’ rations to be stopped and decreed that any animal giving so much grain of corn to a hen should be punished by death” (Orwell 87). This quote demonstrates that Napoleon treats the hens with cruelty because his commands are not being followed which was to surrender their eggs to him so he can trade with his neighbors. He not only treats the hens with cruelty but is also cruel to the other animals who feed the hens. On the contrary, Snowball treats the animals with respect and care because he is pursuing the Seven Commandments made by Old Major. He is doing what is best for all animals and is treating them equally. “He formed the Egg Production Committee for the hens, the Clean Tails League for the cows, the Wild Comrades’ Re-education Committee (the object of this was to tame the rats and rabbits), the Whiter Wool Movement for the sheep, and various others, beside instituting classes in reading and writing” (Orwell 49). This quote illustrates that Snowball is doing what is best for all animals by giving them a little hope for the future. He not only does it for one animal but for all the animals in the farm. Though they have differences in treating the animals they also have one comparison. They both want to be in charge of the other animals. When Old Major left the two of them in charge they wanted to control the animals by their own ideas by planning of what happens
After this incident, the novel states ‘Snowball, who was a dangerous character and a bad influence’. This shows that the Farm can be mislead quite easily because of how deceptive Snowball had been throughout the novel. This is another way Orwell shows corruption in Animal Farm through a character in the book. This is a clever way to show corruption or any subject in any book, through a
Now the animals believe that Napoleon was the true mastermind behind this and Snowball was trying to steal the plans. This continues to support Napoleon’s image positively but in a different way. By making his competition look bad, Napoleon gets an advantage on winning the crowds over. Even if a leader is mediocre at best, the society will automatically go towards the one that is best among the options. Because of this, the animals will immediately obey Napoleon while believing this inaccurate idea that Snowball was a thief, and Napoleon was a genius.
This scene was very important in furthering the plot in the novel because it was the final step that Napoleon took to gain all of the power. Napoleon had already ran Snowball off of the farm, but ordering the animals to kill him ensured that the power would not be taken from Napoleon. During
To begin with, the overthrow of Snowball shows how power had corrupted Napoleon and the pigs who worked with him. Napoleon took his power too far by stealing the dogs so he could “be responsible for their education” (Orwell 35). Instead, he used them to chase off Snowball. The dogs caused so much fear that Snowball “ran as only a pig could run” (Orwell 53) to escape them. This shows how scared Snowball was of Napoleon and how scary Napoleon had become because of his power.