Animal Farm Essay - Snowball Vs Trotsky

Snowball vs Trotsky

Have you ever read Animal Farm and thought about the comparison between a character and a person from the Russian Revolution? In the novel Animal Farm, the author George Orwell writes a story about overworked and mistreated animals of Farmer Jones’ who rise up in rebellion and set out to create their own farm of freedom and equality. In 1917, the sufferings of the Russian people began a revolution to bring about communism and take control of the government. The revolution in Animal Farm has a lot of similarities in common with the real-life Russian Revolution. An idealistic pig named Snowball represents Trotsky, a communist of the Russian Revolution, because of both their leadership in the revolution, both truly wanted a better society, both of them helped with the revolution, and both were exiled.

Snowball and Trotsky were both leaders of the revolution and presented similar leadership qualities. Trotsky was a leader in the Russian Civil War and Snowball was a leader in The Battle of Cowshed. However, they had opposed against the ideas of Stalin and Napoleon. The both of them had the idea of trying to do things for the benefit of others. For example, Snowball wanted the rebellion to spread and he wanted to send out “more and more pigeons to stir up rebellion among the animals on other farms” (Orwell 51). Snowball is kind of a dreamer and likes to imagine achievements that can spread all the way across England for other animals’ benefit. As for Trotsky, he “played a leading role in the Bolsheviks seizure of power conquering most of petrograd before Lenin’s triumphant return” (History.com), showing a similarity in leadership because they both presented strong leadership qualities during the revolutions. Some think that the character Snowball in Animal Farm does not represent a historical figure from the Russian Revolution because they think he represents Vladimir Lenin instead because he led the Bolshevik party. However, this is not true because Snowball did not lead the Revolution, it was more of Napoleon who had all the power and Snowball just put his ideals.

In addition, Trotsky and Snowball are similar because they both strived for the right cause to bring about a better society. George Orwell states, “Snowball did not deny that to build it would be a difficult business...And thereafter, he declared, so much labour would be saved that the animals would only need to work three days a week” (50). Snowball was willing to sacrifice his time to bring better living conditions for the animals on the farm. According to Trotsky.net, “Trotsky wanted a world wide communist revolution” (Nitin Paryani). However, Stalin was opposing against Trotsky’s ideas of expansion because he wanted to stay in control and protect Soviet union from the outside world. Therefore, Snowball wanted everyone to be equal and wanted the farm to be a communist just like Trotsky. Snowball and Trotsky didn't wanted these ideals only for themselves but for the good of humanity in society. Although, at times it might've been portrayed in the book that Snowball was doing things for himself, he was actually doing it for the advantage of others.

Furthermore, Trotsky and Snowball helped significantly during the revolution. For example Trotsky, “As commissar of war in the new Soviet government, he helped defeat forces opposed to Bolshevik control” (Biography.com) which made him significantly important. Snowball helped with The Battle of Cowshed when they were attacked by Farmer Jones and his men. Orwell states that,“Snowball, who had studied an old book of Julius Caesar’s campaigns which he had found in