Snowball
In the first section of chapter 2, words such as “vivacious,” “inventive,” “quicker in speech,” and “not considered to have the same depth of character as Napoleon” are used to describe Snowball.
Snowball is all for having a rebellion. At one stage he is very determined that Mollie will have nothing to do with what she enjoys, wearing coloured ribbons, which Snowball considers to be clothes, a mark of slavery. He is also one of the first animals to read and write. He was organized enough to sort the animals into committees, for example, the Egg Production Committee and the Clean Tails League.
Napoleon
Napoleon is described as “large,” “fierce-looking,” “not much of a talker” and “often gets his own way”.
At one point in the book Napoleon makes the decision to take another animal’s children to take responsibility for their education. He and Snowball also don’t get on much, which enforces the idea that he likes to get his own way. For example, they have different attitudes to who should be educated and Napoleon takes no interest in Snowball’s Animal Committees.
Squealer
He is “small,” “fat,” with “round cheeks,” and “twinkling eyes.” He has “nimble movements,” and is a “brilliant talker.”
He is chosen to explain to the other animals that the pigs should have all the food. He is described as skipping from side to side when arguing a point which is exactly what he does here. He cleverly makes the other animals think that the pigs are taking the apples and milk for their benefit and he threatens them with idea that if the pigs are not thinking well, Mr Jones will return.
React!