Character Analysis of Snowball in ”Animal Farm” by George Orwell

Even though some leaders are very brilliant and have fantastic ideas, certain circumstances and the actions of others prevent these ideas from going forth. In Animal Farm, Snowball’s ideas are never put to plan. Seeing what a great speaker he is, his competitor, Napoleon, runs Snowball off the farm so he can become the leader of animalism. Although he is a ruthless boar who is an articulate and persuasive speaker, Snowball is extremely naïve to the evils, which surround animalism.

Every person and animal has a distinct personality, which will pave his or her path in life. The gifted orator in Animal Farm Snowball had a very vicious and outgoing personality (Snowball). As a speaker, Snowball used intelligence, logic, and rhetorical skills; because of those talents, he was one of the prime candidates for presidency of the farm (Overall Analysis: Characters). He threw his heart and soul into the welfare of the other animals and the attempt to spread the word of animalism (Overall Analysis: Character).

Being a good speaker relates directly to being a good writer, and Snowball was both of these. He wrote the Seven Commandments onto the wall and physically changed the farm name from Manor Farm to Animal Farm (Snowball). He performed a lot of hands-on work with animals committees, “The Egg Production Committee” for the chickens and the “Clean Tails League” for the cows to name a few (Eissen). Snowball also devised the flag design to symbolize the hopes and dreams of the animals (Snowball). One of his greatest dreams was of a world run by machines, and he would accomplish that dream by building a windmill to run the farm’s electricity (Snowball). When Snowball had finally convinced all of the animals the windmill would bring great things, he was chased off the farm by nine dogs on Napoleon’s orders and later became the scapegoat for all the farms mishaps (Eissen)

Animal Farm is a satirical beast fable meant to resemble the Russian Revolution and the rise of Joseph Stalin. George Orwell believed that the 20th century was a time that marked the end of the very concept of human freedom. Orwell was enraged by the revolution so he decided to paint the grim picture of the 1900s in Animal Farm (Eissen). In Animal Farm, Orwell depicts Snowball in an appealing light as the lesser of the two evils by giving him moral flaws. Orwell states, “We can’t get rid of government corruption by electing people who only want power” (Eissen).

Snowball, the talented spokesperson, loved the ideas of the good in animalism, but was run off the farm by the evils in it. He was oblivious to the fact that power corrupts all and was in complete shock when the dogs ran him off the farm. Although he was very clever, Snowball had no idea what hit him.