Animal Farm
After the animals expel Mr. Jones and establish Animal Farm, Napoleon uses the dogs, private decision-making, Squealer's changing claims, and growing pig privileges to dominate the farm until the pigs walk on two legs, the farm is renamed Manor Farm, and the watching animals can no longer distinguish pigs from humans.
Overview
Old Major gathers the animals of Manor Farm and argues that human beings take the products of animal labor while giving little in return. He calls for an eventual rebellion, states principles of animal solidarity and equality, and teaches "Beasts of England." Three months after his death, Snowball, Napoleon, and Squealer develop his teachings into Animalism. When Mr. Jones and his men leave the animals unfed and then attack them with whips, the animals spontaneously drive the men from the farm. They rename it Animal Farm and write the Seven Commandments on the barn wall. The first harvest is unusually successful, but milk and apples are reserved for the pigs after Squealer says the pigs need them for the management of the farm and warns that Jones could return.
Snowball and Napoleon increasingly disagree over farm policy, especially Snowball's plan for a windmill. Just before a vote that Snowball appears likely to win, Napoleon summons nine dogs he has raised in seclusion, and they chase Snowball from the farm. Napoleon ends the Sunday debates and places farm decisions in the hands of a private pig committee headed by himself. Squealer begins presenting new claims about Snowball's conduct, while Boxer adopts "Napoleon is always right." The animals build the windmill under increasingly demanding conditions, begin trading through Mr. Whymper, and see the pigs move into the farmhouse. When the first windmill is found ruined after a gale, Napoleon blames Snowball. Later, Squealer claims newly discovered documents prove Snowball had been Jones's agent from before the Rebellion. Four pigs and several other animals confess to offenses and are killed on Napoleon's orders, after which "Beasts of England" is forbidden.
The rebuilt windmill is eventually completed, but Frederick pays for the farm's timber with forged banknotes and attacks Animal Farm with armed men. His men destroy the windmill with explosives before the animals drive them away at heavy cost. The windmill is rebuilt again. Boxer, whose labor has been central to the construction, weakens as he approaches the promised retirement age and finally collapses. Squealer says Napoleon will send him to a veterinary hospital, but the van that removes Boxer bears the name of a horse slaughterer and glue boiler. Benjamin reads the lettering, and Boxer tries unsuccessfully to escape. Squealer later claims that the veterinary surgeon had bought the old van without repainting it and announces that Boxer died in the hospital. Boxer is never seen again. After Napoleon's memorial speech, the pigs later obtain another case of whisky, but the source does not independently state where the money came from.
Years later, the farm is larger and more profitable, but ordinary animals remain hungry and continue hard labor while pigs and dogs receive privileges. The completed windmill mills corn for profit rather than generating the electricity Snowball had proposed. Squealer isolates the sheep for a week, and soon afterward the pigs appear walking on two legs while the sheep chant "Four legs good, two legs better." When Clover asks Benjamin to read the barn wall, the Seven Commandments are gone and only one remains: "ALL ANIMALS ARE EQUAL BUT SOME ANIMALS ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS." The pigs carry whips, wear human clothes, and adopt additional human possessions and habits. At a dinner with neighboring farmers, Pilkington praises the farm's long working hours and low rations. Napoleon ends several revolutionary customs and restores the name Manor Farm. The meeting does not end in harmony: Napoleon and Pilkington quarrel after each plays an ace of spades, and the animals outside the window can no longer distinguish the pigs from the humans.
Main Characters
- Old Major - the elderly boar whose speech against human exploitation, call for rebellion, and principles of animal equality provide the basis later developed into Animalism
- Napoleon - the pig who raises nine dogs in seclusion, uses them to expel Snowball, ends the Sunday debates, becomes the farm's sole presidential candidate and leader, and presides over the pigs' increasing privileges
- Snowball - Napoleon's rival who organizes committees, helps lead the defense in the Battle of the Cowshed, designs the windmill, and is later chased from the farm by Napoleon's dogs
- Boxer - the exceptionally strong workhorse who repeatedly responds to hardship by working harder, helps build the windmills, and is eventually taken away in a van bearing a horse slaughterer's name after collapsing
- Squealer - the pig who communicates Napoleon's policies, supplies statistics and explanations for pig privileges, and repeatedly presents new accounts of Snowball, the commandments, and events on the farm
- Clover - the mare who questions changes she dimly remembers, cares for Boxer, reflects on the difference between Old Major's hopes and conditions on the farm, and witnesses the pigs' final changes
- Benjamin - the donkey who remains skeptical and usually silent, reads the slaughterer's lettering on Boxer's van, and finally reads the single remaining Commandment for Clover
Central Themes
- Power, privilege, and the erosion of equal rules
- Political claims, memory, and changing accounts of the past
- Labor, scarcity, and unequal distribution
- Fear, coercion, and the loss of collective decision-making
Mood & Atmosphere
The narrative moves from the animals' early excitement after the Rebellion to increasingly severe labor, hunger, fear of the dogs, executions, uncertain memories of the farm's rules, and the final convergence of pig and human behavior.
Source Edition
Animal Farm (1990), HarperCollins. How sources are recorded.
