Theme Of Leadership In Animal Farm

Leaders are the individuals who are in charge of making decisions which have a lasting impact on the future of their followers. With this in mind, not all leaders qualify to possess the power that they wield; especially when it comes to the interests of the public. George Orwell’s Animal Farm portrays differing types of leaders between Napoleon and Snowball, the two main rulers of the Manor Farm. Throughout the novella, Snowball’s superiority of leadership in comparison to Napoleon’s is established by the differences between their styles of leadership, their true intentions for the animals, and their moral uprightness. An individual’s type of leadership can result in the failure or success of a leader. In the text, it is depicted that Snowball
Snowball’s goals for the farm are to give the inhabitants a higher quality of living, and thus, prompts him to be an outstanding and charismatic leader. Snowball passionately drives the idea of creating a windmill with a dynamo “which would do [the animal’s] work for them while they grazed at their ease in the fields or improved their minds with reading and conversation.” (Orwell 32) Instead of creating a means of production that would increase wealth and generate an issue with conspicuous consumption, it is shown that Snowball intends to use this means of production to establish a more prosperous future in addition to raising standards of living for the animals. Furthermore, Snowball surpasses Napoleon as a leader because of Napoleon’s true motive being his greed for material wealth. When the windmill is built, “the luxuries of which Snowball [teaches] to dream… [are] no longer talked about. Napoleon [denounces] such ideas… the farm [grows] richer without making the animals themselves any richer- except, of course, for the pigs and dogs.” (Orwell 86) Instead of using the windmill to increase the farm’s prosperity and its material circumstances, Napoleon shows little to no regard for all the animals and uses the means of production to once again, divide the farm into the proletariat and bourgeoisie, leading
Snowball is depicted as a loyal and courageous animal when overseeing the farm, and this allows him to be seen as the proper choice as the head of the farm. During The Battle of the Cowshed, Snowball dashes “straight for Jones. Jones [sees] him coming, [raises] his gun and [fires]. The pellets [score] bloody streaks along Snowball’s back… Without halting for an instant, Snowball [flings] his fifteen stone against Jones’s leg.” (Orwell 27) Snowball is devoted to protecting the farm and gallantly fights against their enemy to preserve the animal’s new found freedom. Even when injured, Snowball is persistent and advances toward the enemy. This shows that Snowball is righteous as he is loyal to his cause and adamantly fights for his beliefs. In contrast, Napoleon is dishonest and lacks the same integrity that Snowball wields, causing his inferiority. During the battle, Napoleon is missing. Nonetheless, he deceives the animals, informing them that Snowball did not fight and “when panic was spreading and all seemed lost, that comrade Napoleon sprang forward with a cry of ‘Death to Humanity!’ and sank his teeth into Jones’s leg” (Orwell 54). Interpellation occurs when the proletariat of the farm are manipulated to accept the idea that Napoleon courageously fought for the farm instead of Snowball. Napoleon is deceitful and influences the animals to