Character Analysis
Napoleon: The Cunning Dictator
Napoleon is Orwell’s representation of Joseph Stalin. He is described early on as “not much of a talker but with a reputation for getting his own way.” Unlike Snowball, who leads through ideas and persuasion, Napoleon leads through manipulation, violence and the slow accumulation of power. He takes the puppies and raises them as his personal enforcers. He lets Snowball do the intellectual work of planning the windmill, then steals the idea after expelling him. He has food tasters and surrounds himself with dogs at all times — details that mirror Stalin’s notorious paranoia.
Napoleon never contributes to the physical work of the farm. He does not build the windmill, fight in the battles, or produce anything useful. His only skill is the acquisition and maintenance of power. Orwell shows that dictators are fundamentally parasitic — they survive by exploiting the labour and loyalty of others.
Snowball: The Idealist Betrayed
Snowball represents Leon Trotsky. He is intelligent, articulate and genuinely committed to improving the animals’ lives. He organises reading classes, plans the windmill, and leads the defence at the Battle of the Cowshed. But Snowball is also naïve about power — he does not anticipate Napoleon’s willingness to use violence. After his expulsion, Napoleon rewrites history to make Snowball the villain, just as Stalin erased Trotsky from Soviet history and blamed him for every failure.
Squealer: The Propagandist
Squealer represents the Soviet propaganda machine, particularly the state newspaper Pravda. He is described as a “brilliant talker” who “could turn black into white.” His role is to explain, justify and rewrite reality to serve Napoleon’s interests. His techniques include false statistics, emotional manipulation, appeals to fear (“Jones would come back!”), and the systematic revision of history. Orwell suggests that propaganda is not just a tool of power — it is as essential to totalitarianism as violence itself.
Boxer represents the loyal, hardworking proletariat. His mottos — “I will work harder” and “Napoleon is always right” — make him both admirable and tragic. His physical strength builds the windmill and sustains the farm, but his blind trust in Napoleon leaves him vulnerable to exploitation. His sale to the knacker’s is the novella’s most emotionally devastating moment.
Benjamin, the donkey, represents the cynical intellectual who sees the truth but refuses to act. His catchphrase — “Donkeys live a long time. None of you has ever seen a dead donkey” — suggests world-weary resignation. He can read as well as the pigs but never shares his knowledge. Only when Boxer is taken to the knacker’s does Benjamin finally speak out, and by then it is too late. Orwell uses Benjamin to criticise those who see injustice but remain silent.
Old Major, Mollie, the Sheep and Moses
Old Major represents Marx and Lenin — the visionary whose ideas inspire revolution but who dies before seeing what becomes of them. His speech is genuine and his vision of equality is sincere, but he provides no practical plan for preventing the corruption that follows.
Mollie, the vain mare who cares only about sugar and ribbons, represents the Russian bourgeoisie who fled to the West after the Revolution rather than accepting the new order. The sheep, who mindlessly chant “Four legs good, two legs bad” (later “Four legs good, two legs better!”), represent those who blindly repeat propaganda without understanding it. Moses the raven, who tells stories about “Sugarcandy Mountain” (a paradise after death), represents the Russian Orthodox Church — the pigs tolerate him because religion keeps the animals docile and hopeful.
Clover, the motherly mare, represents the ordinary working-class citizen who senses something is wrong but lacks the education or power to articulate it. After the executions, she looks down at the farm and reflects that “these scenes of terror and slaughter were not what they had looked forward to.” She cannot read well enough to check the commandments and must rely on what the pigs tell her. Orwell uses Clover to show how limited education keeps the working class powerless — a key contextual point about why Orwell valued democratic access to knowledge.
The Dogs: Instruments of Terror
The nine dogs are not characters in the traditional sense — they have no individual personalities, no dialogue, and no independent will. They exist purely as instruments of Napoleon’s power. Raised from puppies in isolation, trained to obey only Napoleon, they represent the NKVD (Soviet secret police) who enforced Stalin’s rule through intimidation, arrest and execution. Their presence at every public meeting ensures that no animal dares to question Napoleon. After Snowball is chased out, they keep close to Napoleon, and “they wagged their tails to him in the same way as the other dogs had been used to do to Mr Jones” — a detail that explicitly connects Napoleon’s regime to the tyranny it replaced.
Character Groupings for the Exam
When answering a character-focused question in the Edexcel exam, think about characters in contrasting pairs: Napoleon vs Snowball (dictator vs idealist), Boxer vs Benjamin (blind loyalty vs cynical silence), Squealer vs Old Major (propaganda vs genuine vision). Each pairing illuminates Orwell’s message from a different angle. Even if the question names one specific character, referencing others shows you understand the wider significance of Orwell’s choices.