Animal Farm - Elements Of Lite :: Animal Farm Essays

I believe that George Orwell used direct characterization to introduce his characters. For example when he introduced Old Major he said, â€Å"he was twelve years old and had lately grown rather stout, but he was still a majestic looking pig, with a wise and benevolent appearance in spite of the fact that his tushes had never been cut†. Another example is when he introduced Snowball and Napoleon, there he said, â€Å"Pre-eminent among the pigs were two young boats named Snowball and Na0oleaon, whom My. Jones was breeding up for sale. Napoleon was a large, rather fierce-looking Berkshire boar, the only Berkshire on the farm, not much of a talker, but with a reputation for getting his own way. Snowball was a more vivacious pig than Napoleon, quicker speech and more attentive, but was not considered to have the depth of character.† George Orwell also described them with their appearance before we actually saw them. We also learned somewhat about the characters by the speec hes that they give; Old Major could be seen as the leader of the animals because everyone looked up to, in my thoughts he talked with power. In the book I feel that Snowball is the protagonist and Napoleon is the antagonist. Snowball was the likeable person among the animals also very admirable. The other animals looked up to him and not only because he was the leader. He put effort into the ideas that he and all the other animals came up with. He also worked with the animals and did not slack off because he was the leader. Napoleon on the other hand took advantage of his rank. He did not work with the other animals and broke all the rules. When this happened he made an excuse or changed the rule. For example the original commandment stated that â€Å"No animal shall drink alcohol†, but after getting drunk the rule mysteriously changed to â€Å"No animal shall drink alcohol in excess.† This and a few other rules that were changed are a few examples. The major commandment that he broke though was â€Å"No animal shall kill any other animal†, but when he instructed his nine bodyguards to kill some geese , the rule mysteriously changed. The new rule stated that â€Å"NO animal shall kill any other animal without cause.† At this point it shows that he really is an antagonist. I also feel that the humans were also antagonists, just of the fact how they treated the animals.