Napoleon and Snowball both play important roles in creating Animal Farm, promulgating Animalism, and gaining the support of the other animals on the farm. Both pigs are intelligent and assume leadership roles after listening to Old Major's speech. They develop the system of Animalism and hold secret meetings to expounded upon its principles. Both Napoleon and Snowball wish to get rid of Mr. Jones and successfully win their independence after leading a rebellion. After Mr. Jones is expelled from the farm, Napoleon and Snowball assume leadership roles and begin to organize the farm. Since both pigs are intelligent and respected, the others animals look to them for guidance. The two pigs are talented in different areas. Napoleon has a commanding presence, and Snowball presents eloquent speeches during the meetings. Both pigs also enjoy authority, and take advantage of their leadership roles. For example, Napoleon and Snowball both consider themselves to be "brainworkers" and mix the stolen milk in their mash. However, Napoleon is more selfish than Snowball, and eventually usurps power.
Napoleon and Snowball play an important role in Jones's overthrow. They are similar in how they sit in the front row when Old Major delivers his address on Animalism. Both pigs are similar in the way they absorb these lessons. They are also similar in how they share these ideas with the other animals on the farm.
When Old Major dies, both pigs are active in disseminating the message of Animalism. Additionally, they both occupy similar leadership roles on the farm when the humans leave. In this regard, both Snowball and Napoleon are elevated to similar leadership positions on the new farm.
Another similarity between Napoleon and Snowball is that they possess a vision for the farm. Snowball and Napoleon understand that a necessary part of leadership is having a vision. They are similar in the way they place importance on communicating this vision to the animals. This is seen when both present their plans regarding the building of the windmill.
Their visions are different from one another. Snowball sees leadership as cooperative. He strives to forge relationships with the other animals. Napoleon sees leadership as power that has to be consolidated in his own hands. Despite this difference, they are similar in how they believe that vision is an essential component of leadership.
While Napoleon and Snowball have different personalities, they share a number of common characteristics. They both have aspirations of leadership, for example, as we see in Chapter Two when they assume control of the preparations for the forthcoming rebellion. These preparations also demonstrate their intelligence, as shown by their work on the development of Animalism.
In addition, both Napoleon and Snowball are ambitious. For Snowball, this is expressed through his many education committees, designed to aid the intellectual development of the other animals. In contrast, Napoleon demonstrates his ambition when he steals the cows' milk so that the pigs can have it in their mash.
When the two pigs go head to...
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head over the windmill, we get a sense of howcompetitive they are and neither one is prepared to concede to the other. This demonstrates their mutual stubbornness and ultimately leads to the breakdown of their relationship and Snowball's violent expulsion.
What are some of Snowball's and Napoleon's character traits in Animal Farm?
Napoleon is the example of the more dictatorial leader. He is more greedy for power and corrupt. He doesn't show much interest in the welfare of the animals. He is quiet yet intimidating. He uses his dogs to keep the animals in line and, therefore, leads by fear. He is not interested in any of Snowball's committees nor any other ideas that are committed to improving the welfare of the animals.
Snowball is not completely free of corruption but does seem to provide a better alternative to Napoleon's dishonest ways. For the most part, Snowball follows the tenets Old Major initially laid out for Animalism. He attempts to improve the animals' lives with his idea of the windmill. He also set up committees to help include the lesser animals in the community. Though he seems like the ideal leader for Animal Farm, Orwell's message that Power Corrupts and Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely hints that regardless of who the leader of Animal Farm would be, the revolution was doomed to fail from the beginning.
What are some of Snowball's and Napoleon's character traits in Animal Farm?
Napoleon is sneaky. He helps redirect the animals' attention. This will be a consistent theme throughout the book so it is good to look at here. At one point, the milk and apples go missing. Napoleon said, "Nevermind the milk... that will be attended to."
I would also point out that Napoleon is cowardly. He did not put himself out there as any kind of major player in the Battle of Cowshed.
Napoleon also bides his time. Snowball was creating plans, and Napoleon is often referred to as quietly asserting that Snowball's plans wouldn't work. That also makes him someone who will betray.
Snowball has great ideas, he wants to unify and educate the animals. Snowball acts with great bravery and courage going into the Battle of Cowshed with great strategy and self-sacrifice.
What are some of Snowball's and Napoleon's character traits in Animal Farm?
Snowball is a careful and deliberate thinker and possesses a sharp intellect and talent for planning and design, the characteristics that Napoleon later takes advantage of. He is open to new ideas and not easily manipulated, again things that Napoleon cannot accept and reasons why he later drives him from the farm. His expertise is later seen as a threat by Napoleon who will continue to use him as a scapegoat after he drives him off the farm.
Napoleon on the other hand is boorish and manipulative. He schemes in a way that the other animals really aren't ready for or necessarily capable of. His plan to raise the dogs from a young age to obey him and to propagate the various propaganda measures is a particularly astute thing if you are trying to build your power base and create an authoratarian regime.