Snowball (Animal Farm)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Snowball is a fictional pig in the book Animal Farm written by George Orwell. Together with the pig Napoleon, he leads the animals' revolt against the human farmer, but is driven away from the farm (a comparison to the Russian government) by his former comrade Napoleon in the later part of the story. Unlike Napoleon, he has the best interests of the animals in mind. He is most attuned to the thinking of Old Major (whose role resembles that of Lenin or perhaps Marx and Engels). He devotes himself to bettering the animals in intellectual, moral and physical ways. His role on the farm bears a significant and intended resemblance to the role of Leon Trotsky in the early Soviet Union.
In his short-lived time as a leader, Snowball actively works to change Animal Farm, and although not all of his ideas work very efficiently, he is shown to have genuinely good intentions. Like Trotsky, Snowball is exiled after Napoleon seizes power by force, modeled after Stalin. After Snowball is exiled, he is used by Napoleon as a political scapegoat and is blamed for various problems on the farm. For example, he is blamed for allegedly mixing weed seeds into the wheat seeds under the cover of night to explain the growth of weeds in the farm's crops. He is also blamed for the destruction of the windmill the animals had created. Other animals make false confessions (an idea Orwell expands in 1984) saying they helped him in his "nightly visits," and they are executed brutally in public. (The killing is likely a parallel to the Great Purge started by Stalin in 1936 when he tried and executed many of his political adversaries using forced false confessions.) There is never a sure confirmation that Snowball is alive or dead as he was never seen again after his exile.
[edit] Snowball's ideas
Snowball believes in a continued revolution (he argues that in order to defend Animal Farm, the animals should stir up rebellions in other farms throughout England) and continues striving for the betterment of the Animal Farm. He tries to accomplish this through many failed committees, like the Cleaner Tails Organization for the cows. Napoleon is shown to have been Snowball's enemy from the very start of the revolution, disagreeing with almost all of Snowball's ideas. For example, when Snowball proposes instirring more revolutions on other farms in order to protect Animal Farm (similar to Trotsky's idea of Permanent Revolution), Napoleon proposes learning to use firearms and other more advanced weapons. When Snowball actively organizes the animals into groups of committees, Napoleon simply states that the education of the young is all that was needed.
Snowball also writes the first version of the Seven Commandments. These are later altered by Squealer under the orders of Napoleon to accommodate the actions of the pigs. For example, the commandment stating "No animal shall drink alcohol" is changed to "No animal shall drink alcohol to excess."
[edit] Exile
Snowball is exiled by Napoleon during a vote on the windmill. Snowball's enthusiasm had carried him away in creating the plans for a new windmill which he claimed could provide electricity for the entire farm, allowing hot-water showers and a three-day week and which Napoleon strongly opposed. But despite Napoleon's arguments against the plan, Snowball's eloquence quickly persuades the animals to join his cause.
However, before a vote could take place Napoleon orders his nine puppies, which are then fully grown vicious dogs, to chase Snowball out of the farm. He then assumed total control and discontinues the Sunday meetings.
Snowball's exile is similar to that of Leon Trotsky's. Trotsky was exiled by Stalin so that the latter could consolidate his power. Trotsky was fairly widely viewed as the only leader outside Stalin's bureaucratic clique, which controlled much of the state apparatus, capable of succeeding Lenin as leader of the Soviet Union.
| Animal Farm | |
|---|---|
| By George Orwell | |
| Main Characters | Old Major | Napoleon | Snowball | Squealer |
| Secondary Characters |
Frederick | Pilkington | Jones | Boxer | Benjamin |
| Battles | The Revolution | Battle of the Cowshed | Battle of the Windmill |
| Songs | Beasts of England | Comrade Napoleon |
| Miscellaneous | Animalism | Seven Commandments |
