Boxer - the working Class / Aleksei Grigorievich Stakhanov

?

Personality

Role

  • Boxer was determined and always had faith - "I will work harder"
  • Boxer was looking forward to retirement - "Benjamin is growing old too, maybe they will let him retire at the same time and be a companion to me."
  • the other animals greatly cared about Boxer - "about half the animals on the farm rushed out to the knoll where the windmill stood."
  • wasn't particularly intelligent - "Boxer could not lear behind the letter D"
  • Boxer was a loyal supporter of the pigs - "napoleon is always right"
  • boxer is naive - he believes the pigs promises and believes he will retire.
  • Boxer is compassionate and less ruthless than Napoleon and Snowball - "'I have no wish to take life, not event human life.' repeated Boxer and his eyes were full of tears"
  • Boxer full of honesty and integrity - "'I do not believe that' said Boxer 'Snowball fought bravely at the battle of the cowshed. I saw him myself.'
  • Boxer's pure strength is the key to the successful harvest - he is describes as an "enormous beast" with "tremendous strength"
  • Boxer, like all the horses in the novel represents the working class.
  • boxer individually may represent Aleksei Grigorievich Stakhanov, the russian worker who broke the record for the amount of coal dug up in a single shaft.
  • Stain used this success to develop the Stakhanovite movement which aimed to encourage workers to follow aleksei's example and work hard.
  • Boxer also acts as a victim to show the reader the ruthlessness of the pigs, for example when he is sold to the knacker.
  • Some argue that Orwell uses Boxer to show how its partly the working classes fault that characters cush as Napoleon and Satlin get to power. Orwell argues that its due to their naivety that Napoleon and Stalin climb to power.
  • Boxers blind faith allows the pigs to literally 'get away with murder'. his unquestioning faith and inability to recognise the corruption of the pigs in one of the many reasons that napoleon get power.
  • Boxer is one of the few characters we feel sympathy for. he inability to full understand situations proves fatal when the pig use this against him making him the main victim of exploitation. the final insult to Boxer is at the end of the novel, at the pigs banquet where they propose a toast to Boxer with the whiskey (which was forbidden by old major) which they brought with the proceeds of Boxers death.

Development (Growth & change)

Other information              

  • At the beginning of the novel boxer was a loyal supporter of the rebellion and quickly passes on the pigs teachings to the other animals
  • Boxer gives up his hat straight away where as Mollie holds on to her ribbons
  • Boxers strength and total commitment mean the harvest is a success
  • Boxer defends Snowball making him out to squealer, this leads him to being attack by the dogs, however his strength keeps him alive
  • Boxer insists on finishing the windmill
  • Boxer believes the pigs promises
  • At the end of the novel Boxer is sent to the knackers
  • The 'Boxer uprising' was the name of a rebellion in China in 1900-1 which was the start of communism there.
  • The Russian word for working class is Proletariat

Comments

No comments have yet been made

Similar English Literature resources:

See all English Literature resources »See all Animal Farm resources »