Animal Farm

Animal Farm Journal Napoleon - “It was notices that they wagged their tails to him in the same way as the other dogs had been use to do to Mr. Jones.” (49) Napoleon may not have the brains but he sure as that cunning personality that makes him powerful. He never took part in any of the rebellion acts. In the Battle of the Cowshed, Napoleon was the only one injured while Snowball, the pig so called to be a traitor, was shot in the back. He never shows interest in the rebellion until Snowball starts coming up with the windmill plans to help the farm. He always had the dirty work done for him, for example, having Squealer paint extra words to the Ten Commandments.
Snowball always had the more likeable vote of the farm. The only thing Napoleon seemed to put efforts towards was raising the nine dogs he stole. We don’t read of any notes about the dogs until they suddenly pop up defending Napoleon. Now Napoleon may not be the smarter of the two pigs, but he knows how to get his way. This quote says “… use to do to Mr. Jones,” meaning Napoleon learned how to control by Mr. Jones. That’s why, under Napoleon’s rule, Animal Farm wasn’t so different than Manor Farm controlled by Mr. Jones.
Napoleon resembles Joseph Stalin when he kills his own animals for betraying him and Stalin sends people to prison camps and killed everybody who disagreed with him. Also, in a way, Napoleon reminds me of Stryver as the lion in A Tale of Two Cities. The jackal was Carton, in this case Snowball, and the lion was Stryver, who is Napoleon. Snowball is the brains behind the whole windmill idea, but Napoleon takes over and controls the building of it.
Squealer- “No one believes more firmly than Comrade Napoleon that all animals are equal. He would be only too happy to let you make your decisions for yourselves. But sometimes you might make the wrong decisions, comrades, and then where should we be?” (50) Squealer is just as cunning as Napoleon, but he has that tricky, persuasive tone in his voice that makes all the animals fall for his lies. He may not have that drive for power and control like Napoleon has, but he is a brilliant talker, he can talk his way out of anything, and he is a master at trickery. His name says it all. Squeal is the sound pigs make and he is the communication between the farm and the pigs. To squeal also mean to protest or to betray, this represents Squealer’s behavior towards the rest of the animals. His words are twisted in a way they make sense. Orwell’s diction of Squealers is so complicated, yet so simple. If Napoleon is in any problem, Squealer can talk him out of it. In this passage, Napoleon doesn’t want the animals to make decisions for themselves, but Squealer twists his words to make it seem like he’s wants them to, but is protecting them from making a bad decision. He exploits language to make Napoleon’s wrong-doings right. Squealer doesn’t necessarily represent a person from the Russian Revolution, but he symbolizes the propaganda newspaper Pravda. With the quote that Squealer can turn “black into white” refers to Pravda’s ability to make any lie true. Squealer is a method of communication with the ability to put a spin on the information passed, just like Pravda.

Old Benjamin - “The oldest animal on the farm and the worst tempered. He seldom talked, and when he did, it was usually to make some cynical remark.” (3) Old Benjamin was the oldest and wisest animal on the farm; he may even be more intelligent than the pigs. Throughout the story, Benjamin remains exclusive and uninterested in Animal Farm, but remains faithful to Boxer, who works to his maximum every day. When Boxer was taken to the slaughter house, Benjamin blames himself for not warning Boxer sooner. After Boxer dies, Benjamin is “more morose and taciturn than ever.”
What’s interesting about Benjamin is that he is full of all this wisdom, but refuses to share it with the rest of the farm. After the rebellion, the animals are curious to what he thinks and all he says is “Donkeys live a long time. None of you has ever seen a dead donkey.”(26) And when the humans are about to explode the windmill, Benjamin nods his muzzle slowly in amusement, as if he enjoyed watching the windmill come down or that he knew it was going to happen.
Benjamin resembles Eeyore from Winnie-the-Pooh. Eeyore is described as an old grey donkey who doesn’t say much except for when he makes negative remarks about everything. He is a careful thinker. This is all describing Eeyore and describing Benjamin. Benjamin is a donkey, cynical, and wise. He even received the nickname of Old Benjamin because of his age. Eeyore lives in solitude similar to Benjamin. In addition, Winnie-the-Pooh was created in 1926; whereas, Animal Farm was published in 1946 meaning the character and personality of Benjamin was depicted from Eeyore.