A Contrast between Snowball and Napoleon in George Orwell's "Animal Farm"

A Contrast between Snowball and Napoleon


Snowball offers a striking contrast to Napoleon. While Napoleon is secretive, Snowball is frank and open-hearted. While Napoleon is prone to be reticent, Snowball is an eloquent orator. While Napoleon insists on the importance of agricultural production, Snowball wishes to pay greater attention to the development of scientific technology as represented by his plan to build a windmill on the farm to generate electricity. While Napoleon wants animals to keep themselves in a state of armed readiness to defend the farm against a possible attack, Snowball believes that pigeons should be sent to other farms to excite the animals on those farms to rise in revolt against their human masters. This contrast between the two leaders is based on historical facts. Napoleon, as already pointed out, represents Stalin, and Snowball, on the other hand, represents Trotsky who came into conflict with Stalin and who was driven away by Stalin into exile. Stalin and Trotsky were men of opposite views, and so are Napoleon and Snowball in the story. After Snowball has been driven away from the farm, Napoleon, making use of Squealer, starts a campaign of slander and vilification against Snowball. Whenever any misfortune or hardship or a piece of bad luck is experienced by the animals on Animal Farm, Squealer, acting under Napoleon’s orders, gives out that Snowball is responsible for it. Every disaster on the farm is attributed by Napoleon to the machinations of Snowball who, however, is nowhere in the picture at all. Stalin, likewise, had slandered and defamed Trotsky for years after Trotsky had gone into exile. The contrast between Napoleon and Snowball helps to lend a greater vividness to the delineation of both.



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