Animal Farm #1

Who are the main characters in the novel? do you like them? why or why not? what is special about them? what do they reveal about the universal human experience?

• Snowball: He was the pig who approached the other animals with his loyalty and strong desire to spread the principles of animalism, eventually leading a successful revolt against Mr. Jones. However, he was exiled from the farm. I liked him because he was able to gain the trust and respect from the other animals by his fair and unbiased leadership, which granted him the power to control over the animal farm. I still liked him although he only relied on his logic and rhetorical skills that he couldn't defeat his rival Napoleon's corrupted power because he was never cunning and never cheated on others. He resembled Leon Trotsky as he emerged with ideology to improve the animal farm. He symbolized the kind of people who thought they could stop humans’ greed and rapacity by pure justice. However, the world doesn’t always let them rule the world like that—the power itself is the cause of corruption.


• Napoleon: He was the pig who was cunning and sly all the time. I hated him the most because he only cared about his power and acted egotistically, never caring the benefits of the animal farm. He was definitely symbolizing the dictators and the autocratic political groups because the way he treated the other animals was horrible whereas he took more than a great care of his own species or his favorites. He showed how all the dictatorial leaders were like in the past history—for example, Joseph Stalin. Although human beings are created in God’s image, we were not created to be perfect. Hence, in the center of our minds, there is selfishness which causes the desire to dictate, like Napoleon.


• Boxer: I liked him because of his loyalty and unchanging dedication to labor, serving his leaders unconditionally. However, I was disappointed in him because he only obeyed and did what the pigs told him to do. He thought that his endurance of pain and inconvenience will benefit his community, the farm. He was slow in realizing the actual detriment of the farm as well. Nonetheless, he was the only force that the animals relied on to hold the animal farm together. I thought Boxer was especially different from the other characters because he actually dies at the end not for his bad acts, but for his hard work and effort. He represents the fact that people have to speak up for themselves in order to fight for their own rights because nobody will be able to help them when it’s too late to do so.