Chapter 4

Orwell begins to develop his characters in this chapter.

Mr Jones is presented as a foolish, weak man who bores everyone in the pub and clearly antagonises his neighbours, who are more concerned that the ‘revolution’ does not spread to their farms.

Snowball is presented as a master of military strategy, like Trotsky, and is presented as essential to the animals' victory.

Snowball’s strategy enables the animals to win the Battle of the Cowshed but Napoleon and Squealer are conspicuous by their absence.

Orwell effectively presents contrasts between animals. According to Snowball ‘the only good human being is a dead one’ whereas Boxer shows compassion to the stable boy whom he did not want to kill, only frighten.