Do we like them?

Do we like Boxer?

A character from Animal Farm (1945)

Our score: 9 out of 10. Yes, we'd back him. He's kind, brave and tireless, and his only real flaw is trusting the wrong leaders too much.

Boxer is an enormous cart-horse on Manor Farm. When the animals drive out their human owner and run the farm themselves, he throws himself into the new life. He is strong, steady and gentle, and he is not a deep thinker. He never gets past the first few letters of the alphabet.

He lives by two mottoes: "I will work harder" and, later, "Napoleon is always right." He labours as much as three horses, gets up earlier than anyone and takes on the hardest jobs. He is also brave when the farm is threatened. He is kind, too, and does not want to hurt anyone.

Our score is high because Boxer does a great deal of good and almost no harm. What costs him points is that he doesn't question anything. His trust lets the pigs who gain power rewrite history, and his loyalty helps them more than it helps him or the other animals.

His ending is the book's most pointed moment. When Boxer collapses from exhaustion, the pigs say he is going to a vet. They actually sell him to the knacker. Clover and Benjamin try to warn him, but he is too weak to save himself. The pigs throw away the animal who gave them the most.