Snowball's Chance
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| Author | John Reed |
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| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Parody |
| Publisher | Roof Books |
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Publication date
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2002 |
| Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) & E-book |
| Pages | c.137 pp (May change depending on the publisher and the size of the text) |
Snowball's Chance, is a parody of George Orwell's Animal Farm written by John Reed, in which Snowball the pig returns to the Manor Farm after many years' absence, to install capitalism — which proves to have its own pitfalls.
Of Snowball's Chance as a follow-up to Orwell's work, Reed stated: "My intention is to blast Orwell, I’m really doing my best to annihilate him."
The title raised the ire of Christopher Hitchens. A New York Times article about a hostile letter sent to the publisher from the Orwell estate, which cited issues of copyright infringement, precipitated a journalistic and online debate about the book at a time when Orwell's legacy was under question, due to a list of "crypto-Communists" he handed over to the British Foreign Office. Orwell's literary executor also objected to the work. Hitchens accused Reed of being a "Bin Ladenist." As was reported in Australian paper The Age:
"[William] Hamilton [Orwell's literary executor], of London, said: 'If it were a straight parody, I would say 'Good on you.' But this book seems to take rather than give." Reed said: 'I think that Orwell, were he still alive, would far rather be with me in my hovel than sitting in some corporate office preparing lawsuits.'"
The story begins with the death of Napoleon, the original antagonist of Animal Farm. The animals of the farm, fearing what will become of them, learn that Snowball is alive and well, and Snowball returns to the farm to encourage capitalism.
A second windmill is soon built alongside the first, and the two are thenceforth known as the Twin Mills (allegorical of the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center), and the animals all learn to walk on their hind legs, something hitherto forbidden by Old Major shortly before the expulsion of Mr. Jones from the farm. Also, in place of the original Seven Commandments, Snowball adopts a single slogan for the animals to live by: All animals are born equal - what they become is their own affair.
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