The protagonist in Animal Farm would easily have to be Snowball, one of the pigs. Snowball can be described as sort of an optimist. He's more open with the other animals but still has this leadership personality. With the inner want of spreading this so called Animalism, Snowball wants to build, create and expand an infrastructure. One example in the story is this windmill. In turn the windmill will benefit the society. Snowball shows more passion for the animals early on volunteering his time to help others learn to read.
The Antagonist in Animal Farm is Napoleon, also of of the pigs. I'd consider him to be a dictator. Many of times he opposes the ideas of others and the idea of Snowball especially with the windmill. Early on he doesn't care for the revolution to take over the farm and to over power their owner Mr. Jones. He's power hungry. He is apart of the changes just for the shot at control. He's Snowball's main opposition. Napoleon is sly.
This whole animal revolution and empowering wouldn't have taken place if it wasn't for a pig called Old Major. He doesn't last long in the story dying early on but as a minor character, he a major impact. As a prize winning pig he's looked up to in the barn so he holds a big deal of influence. He has the initial dream for a new society ran by animals and he spreads that word throughout the barn.
Another minor character that plays a periodic key role in the story is the cart-horse named Boxer. Boxer is generally a simple representation of the other yet he himself stands out more. Boxer shows more amounts of dedication to the work load of the society. Trusting of the two main pig leaders, Boxers is always a lending hand. He easily pulls his fair share of the work. Boxer is morally a hard and devoted worker. But his weakness is showing what he really believes in. He is weak willed.
On a farm owned by a Mr. Jones there is a group of animals that act just as humans do. From pigs to horses it's a typical farm. An old boar named Old Major is highly respected by the group of animals. He has this idea of freedom and independence from humans for the animals as a whole. He speaks his idea to the barn and soon after dies. Old Major's main successors, also pigs, are Snowball, Napoleon, and Squealer. Snowball and Napoleon become the two main activists for Old Majors ideas. But their ideas are different. There is a set of seven commandments to live by and to follow which is like animal law. Their new society is rightfully dubbed Animalism. The land they now lived on called, Animal Farm, is controlled by the animals after a revolution in which Mr. Jones, the previous owner, was driven away. The farm thrives and animals are taught to read and more. Napoleon takes a group of pups and shows them how to live by this new concept of animalism. Later on an attempt by Mr. Jones to reclaim his farm is put down and the animals remain in power. But the differences in ideals of Snowball and Napoleon begin to show and tension raises. Snowball is pro-society and infrastructure and suggests a windmill be built for electrical power. Napoleon opposes. The animals begin to split. More in favor for the more respected Snowball. Boxer is a main supporter of Snowball. At a meeting for the windmill Napoleon released the pups he had taught, and they attacked Snowball running Snowball away from the farm. Napoleon took power and started showing his force. Napoleon threatened the other animals who followed Snowball with death thus making them bow down for him. Napoleon forces the animals so turn on Snowball and Napoleon starts making deals with neighboring farmers for supplies and more. Napoleons shear control makes himself change, sleeping in beds and drinking whisky. The society begins question the governing situation at hand.
A theme that stands out greatly through out the story is the theme of
communism and some hints of a dictatorship. There is a big influence of government in this story and instead of representing it through actual people and situations it starts on a new, fresh level with "innocent" farm animals, given they can speak and think. The books strong point is that it does show the major flaws in humanity and in how humans run society. The story is a reflection of the rise of the Soviet Union in Russia and it depicts the Russian revolution. It seems as if every character in the story has a real life counterpart. Such as Napoleon is based off of Joseph Stalin, Snowball represents Leon Trotsky, Boxer doesn't represent a person but the Russian workforce, and there's more. Just as in the real Russian revolution Stalin (Napoleon) took power and abandoned the traditional reasons of revolution (which in the story the revolution was to take down Mr. Jones). The traditional reasons of the revolution in real life transferred to the book, are the seven commandments follwed by the animals. Napoleon eventually reduced the seven commandments into one commandment. The story does a good job slowly developing Napoleon as a important character. Hiding at first that he could show any potential that there is something evil about him. Once to power Napoleons quickly assumes all power becoming a tyrant. I think Snowball could have been more specific in the story as a activist of democracy and that every animal was equal. Yet all that is know is really that Snowball is simply the more kind hearted pig. I think the stories main strength is in its power and ability to show human flaw. It shows how well the political powers of one leader can be abused. It also shows how once a nation or society is under a tyrant/dictator that the people will have to simply conform of face some sort of punishment (such as execution, like in the story).
I would personally rate this book a four out of five. I liked how the plot line continued to reveal it was based off actual situations created by humans. I thought it was unique how Orwell decided to use animals to be the main characters in the book and to kind of label each animals personality to what particular animal they were. For not being a huge reader myself I thought the
minute characteristics of each pig were powerful in how separated politics and politicians in the real world are. What I didn't like about it, and this being a little bias, was how to me the story kind of drug on even though the book was shorter than most others. But being related to the Russian history of communism it makes sense that some of the real life details had to of been thrown in such as all the trading between the animals and neighbors. Over all it's an interesting book. It's different for sure but interesting because to made me as a reader step back and think about how messed up politics and society can be.
