Complex Characterization: Animal Farm and Saving Sourdi

Have you ever been in a situation where you came into conflict with your family? Have you ever needed to find compassion when dealing with family and friends? If you can relate to either of these premises, you may connect with Nea, the main character of “Saving Sourdi”. The author of the short story “Saving Sourdi”, May-Lee Chai, utilizes the characters in her story to make deeper connections about what she has observed about her work and famil relations. As mentioned earlier, the main character Nea is the central character and starts off as an egotistical, inflexible, and simply overly anxious character. Throughout the story, Chai shows Nea’s dynamic qualities and highlights the main point that everyone should be understanding of their family and friends and not overanalyze the future- live life in the present. I can personally relate to this ideal as I, similar to Nea, have also had issues where I come into conflict with my family over things that are out of my control. Being a textbook overthinker, it was hard for me to learn from my past hindrances but I would like to believe that I have made the necessary changes. I know now that I must stop overanalyzing the future and I have to be compassionate to my family as we can be more successful together than we can against each other. 

Showing Compassion: An Important Lesson in “Saving Sourdi”

I would like to pose further rhetorical questions that you may relate to. Have you ever been in a position of power where you were tasked with making decisions for a large group of people? Have you ever been tempted by the power of your position to use it for your own personal good? These questions are ones that have been posed for centuries and stil spark insightful debate to this day. These ideals are further examined in a beautiful allegorical by George Orwell known as Animal Farm. Animal Farm uses animal characters to satirize Russian political events. One main character I would like to hone in on is Snowball. Snowball, a pig representing Leon Trotsky (a Communist leader), emerges with qualities such as over solitude and a blatant disregard for others’ ideas. He pours his heart and soul into spreading Animalism- the equivalent of Communism- to the other animals on the farm. Sadly, the idealism of Snowball turns out to be his greatest downfall. He has to learn how to become more dynamic and must change his personality or leadership style in order to gain influence. 

Referring back to the intricate character development shown in “Saving Sourdi”, Chai presents Nea as a young girl who wants is very rigid and strong-headed and has difficulty altering her attitude as she embarks on accomplishing her dreams. This ultimately leads to a plethora of consequences. Nea and her sister Sourdi have hopes of visiting the world but are unable to do so due to their mundane lifestyle. Chai's central purpose for Nea is shown when Sourdi begins dating a boy named Duke. “When she first started seeing Duke, I used to think of him as something like a bookmark, just holding a certain space in her life until it was time for her to move on. I never thought of him as a fork in the road, dividing my life with Sourdi with Sourdi's life with men” Nea reminisced. This rigid nature shown by Nea and her decision making showed that she must let her sister Sourdi choose her own path- it is not something she can control, she must simply respect her sister’s decision.  

Snowball bossing around the other animals

Animal Farm, specifically for the pig Snowball, showcases an idealistic individual. Snowball tries to promote his teachings of Animalism and suggests that the farm should generate electricity with a windmill. He has a very strong-headed mindset similar to Nea and decides not to make any alterations to his proposal. Snowball comes up with a variety of plans to help the lives of his fellow animals and farm people but he still exploits his friends for his own personal gain. Just like Nea, Snowball must learn to stop trying to control things out of his control. For Instance, on the day that the farm animals have to decide on the windmill, Napoleon exiles Snowball by setting his attack dogs on him. Snowball then disappears as a character, but Napoleon continues to invoke Snowball as an idealistic, difficult figure who conspires against Animal Farm, is in league with humans, and is intent on messing everything up on the farm. Through this, Napoleon discredits Snowball’s bravery and actions in the Battle of the Cowshed and makes it so no animal can feel any affinity for Snowball. 

Overall, the intricacy of complex characters is shown in both “Saving Sourdi” and Animal Farm and the intertextuality helps show key lessons for both stories. Additionally, it is vital to learn from the dynamic characters and see their growth. 

Read more about the Allegory in Animal Farm:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6a5HYBFObY