Animal Farm Book Notes

Animal Farm by George Orwell

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Contents
Animal Farm Book Notes............................................................................................................. 1

Contents...................................................................................................................................... 2

Author/Context............................................................................................................................. 3

Plot Summary.............................................................................................................................. 5

Major Characters......................................................................................................................... 7

Objects/Places............................................................................................................................. 9

Quotes....................................................................................................................................... 11

Topic Tracking: Greed................................................................................................................ 14

Topic Tracking: Principles of Animalism..................................................................................... 16

Topic Tracking: Propaganda....................................................................................................... 19

Chapter 1................................................................................................................................... 23

Chapter 2................................................................................................................................... 24

Chapter 3................................................................................................................................... 26

Chapter 4................................................................................................................................... 28

Chapter 5................................................................................................................................... 30

Chapter 6................................................................................................................................... 32

Chapter 7................................................................................................................................... 34

Chapter 8................................................................................................................................... 36

Chapter 9................................................................................................................................... 38

Chapter 10................................................................................................................................. 40

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Author/Context
George Orwell was the pen name of Eric Arthur Blair, born on June 25, 1903, in
Motihari, India, to British parents. The family moved to England from India when Orwell
was very young. He was educated at a succession of boarding schools and after
school, applied to join the British Imperial Police and was stationed in Burma. He
disliked police work and disapproved of the cruelties of the imperial system. After five
years he resigned his commission.

Orwell decided he wanted to write and lived in rooms in London and Paris over the next
few years. His first professional articles were published in 1928 - for the rest of his life
he continued a flourishing career writing articles and reviews. He was a hard,
conscientious worker and produced an almost unbelievable volume of output.

His first novel, Down and Out in Paris and London, was published in 1933, after which
he steadily continued to write and publish novels. He married Eileen O'Shaughnessy on
June 9, 1936.

Orwell was very upset over the threat that he felt Fascism posed to liberty in Europe
and when the Spanish Civil War broke out, he went to Spain to fight against the fascists.
On his return to England, Orwell wrote Homage to Catalonia, based on his war
experiences. His next book was Animal Farm, published in 1945, which became his first
major success. He and Eileen adopted a baby boy, Richard, in 1943. On March 29,
1945, Eileen died of cardiac arrest during an operation, leaving Orwell devastated. He
retired to a remote island, along with Richard and a housekeeper/nanny. Here he wrote
his final masterpiece, 1984.

He was married again, to Sonia Brownell, on October 13, 1949. He died of advanced
tuberculosis on January 21, 1950.

There is little doubt that Orwell's description of Animal Farm is a satire based on events
in Russia after the October 1917 revolution. In Russia, workers seized power from the
traditional monarchy. The first major leader, V.I. Lenin, developed the ideas of
Communism from the writings of Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels and others - the basic
principle was one of equality and government by the common people.

After Lenin's death in 1924, two Communist Party leaders, Stalin and Trotsky, vied for
power, and Stalin eventually won when Trotsky was expelled from the Party in 1927 and
later deported. In 1934 Stalin began 'purges' in which he conducted mass executions of
individuals whom he viewed as enemies of the State. In 1941 Stalin named himself
head of the supposedly collective government, able to 'get away' with this because the
country was preoccupied with foreign affairs and the complex happenings of World War
2, in which Stalin sided first with the Axis, then with the Allied powers.

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Rationing was enforced during most of Stalin's rule, with minimum labor requirements
for all. The Communist Party members were generally recognized as being much better
off than the average citizen during Communist Party rule.

Bibliography

Shelden, Michael. Orwell: The Authorized Biography. New York, NY: HarperCollins,
1991.

MacKenzie, David. A History of Russia and the Soviet Union. Homewood, Ill.: Dorsey
Press, 1977.

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Plot Summary
The story is set on the Manor Farm, owned and operated by Mr. Jones.

One night the prize boar, Old Major, tells all the other farm animals he has realized that
the misery of their daily lives is all due to the tyranny of human beings, and that if they
work to overthrow the humans their lives will become easy and comfortable.

After Old Major dies, the pigs (led by the two boars Snowball and Napoleon) start
teaching his ideas (which they develop into a system of thought called Animalism) to the
other animals. A few months later, Mr. Jones gets drunk and forgets to feed the animals,
who become so hungry that they rebel and drive the human beings off the farm. They
rename the farm 'Animal Farm' and write the Seven Commandments of Animalism up
on the wall of the barn. Jones comes back with a group of armed men and tries to
recapture the farm, but the animals, led by Snowball, defeat the men.

Snowball and Napoleon argue constantly over plans for the future of the farm, never
able to agree - especially over a windmill which Snowball wants to build to provide the
farm with electric power, and which Napoleon ridicules. Napoleon calls in nine dogs
whom he has specially trained and they chase Snowball off the farm. Squealer, the very
persuasive pig who relays most of Napoleon's decisions to the other animals, tells them
that Snowball was a traitor in league with Jones, and that the windmill was really
Napoleon's idea anyway and will go ahead.

The animals work hard - work on the windmill is slow and they rely heavily on Boxer the
cart-horse, who is very strong and hard-working. Napoleon begins trading with nearby
farms, and the pigs move into the farmhouse and sleep in the beds there - even though
sleeping in beds like humans was forbidden by the original principles of Animalism.

The winter is difficult - the animals have little food. Napoleon and Squealer blame
Snowball for everything that goes wrong on the farm, from bad crops to blocked drains.
Then Napoleon's dogs attack four pigs, who then confess to plotting with Snowball and
start a series of confessions of various 'crimes' from other animals - all of those who
confess are slaughtered by the dogs, leaving the survivors shaken and miserable.

The windmill is finally completed and to get money to buy the machinery for it, Napoleon
decides to sell a pile of timber - after wavering between the two neighboring farmers
Pilkington and Frederick, he sells it to Frederick only to discover that he has been paid
with worthless forged banknotes. Frederick and his men then come on to the farm and
blow the windmill to pieces with explosives, although the animals manage to drive them
off the farm again after a bloody battle. A few days later the pigs find a case of whisky in
the farmhouse cellar and get drunk.

Boxer is injured while working on repairs to the windmill, and Benjamin notices that the
van Napoleon calls to send him to the vet, has 'Horse Slaughterer' painted on the side.

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After Boxer has 'died in hospital' under care of the vet, the pigs mysteriously find money
to buy another case of whiskey.

After many years, life is just as hard as it ever was. The pigs start walking on two legs.
None of the old Commandments are left on the barn wall. A group of human farmers
come to see the farm, they quarrel with the pigs over a game of cards - and the animals
discover they can no longer tell which is human and which is pig.

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Major Characters
Mr. Jones: The farmer. In previous years, while he worked the animals hard, he used to
be a capable farmer. Recently, though, he lost money in a lawsuit, became depressed,
and started drinking heavily. He no longer gets much done and he spends a lot of time
drinking and reading the newspapers in the kitchen.

Old Major: The prize Middle White boar, always called Old Major although at pig shows
he was exhibited under the name Willingdon Beauty. At the time of his death he was
twelve years old, quite stout and majestic-looking with a wise and benevolent
appearance

Boxer: The male cart-horse, is very large and as strong as any two ordinary horses put
together. He has a white stripe down his nose, which makes him look slightly stupid,
and in fact he isn't highly intelligent, but he is steady, very hard-working and respected
by all.

Clover: the female cart-horse, is very kind and motherly. She is stout, never having
gotten her figure back after her fourth foal. She is devoted to Boxer.

Benjamin: The donkey is the oldest and worst-tempered animal on the farm. He doesn't
seem to care who is in charge of the farm since he says it makes no difference in his
life. He is very cynical, he seldom talks and never laughs. He is also very intelligent and
insightful. He is devoted to Boxer in his own way, and the two of them usually spend
their Sundays together grazing side by side.

Snowball: A boar. Vivacious, creative and quick in speech, but not considered as 'deep'
as Napoleon. After he is expelled from the farm, Napoleon and Squealer identify him as
the 'enemy' and blame him for everything that goes wrong.

Napoleon: A Berkshire boar (Berkshires are large, black pigs). He is rather fierce-
looking. He doesn't talk much, but has a reputation for getting his own way. Later he
becomes the Leader of Animal Farm and is hero-worshipped by the other animals.

Squealer: A porker, small and fat with round cheeks, twinkling eyes, nimble movements
and a shrill voice. He is very persuasive, can convince anyone of anything, and when
arguing a difficult point he has an almost hypnotic way of skipping from side to side and
whisking his tail.

Minor Characters

The Dogs: Become the 'police' for Napoleon. Originally there are three dogs on the
farm, Bluebell, Jessie, and Pincher. When Bluebell and Jessie give birth to nine puppies
between them, Napoleon says he will educate the young puppies and secludes them in
a loft in which he trains them to be his personal guard. The dogs become his weapon of
terror, tearing out the throats of his political opponents.

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The Pigs: The cleverest animals on the farm, find it easiest to learn to read and write
and understand Animalism, and so they teach the other animals. They do not produce
food by their own labor, but say they are the 'brain-workers' and become the leaders of
the farm. Of the male pigs, only Snowball and Napoleon are boars (kept for breeding)
and the others are porkers (i.e. have been castrated so as to be raised for meat).

Muriel: The white goat. She learns to read even better than the dogs can, and
sometimes reads to the others in the evenings from scraps of newspaper which she
finds on the rubbish heap.

Mollie: The white mare is very pretty and shallow. She loves sugar and plaiting her
mane with ribbons, and she doesn't understand or care about political ideas.

The Cat: She is always looking for the most comfortable place to sleep and disappears
whenever there is work or danger around.

Moses: The tame raven. He is Mr. Jones's special pet, is a spy and does no work - the
other animals don't like him. He tells the animals about a special place called
Sugarcandy Mountain where all animals go when they die. Moses likes beer - Mr. Jones
sometimes feeds him on beer-soaked crusts of bread.

Mrs. Jones: The farmer's wife.

Pilkington: An easygoing upper-class farmer who lets his farm run down and get
neglected, spending most of his time hunting or fishing.

Frederick: A tough, shrewd farmer. He is money-minded, drives hard bargains and is

always taking people to court.

Minimus: A pig with a special talent for composing songs and poems, who becomes the
official poet.

Mr. Whymper: The solicitor. He is a sly-looking little man with side whiskers, a solicitor
with a very small business, but clever enough to realize before anyone else that Animal
Farm will need a broker and the commissions will be worth having.

The Sheep: Probably the stupidest animals on the farm. They become Napoleon's most
brainlessly devoted followers.

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Objects/Places
The barn: A meeting place for the animals. There is a raised platform on one end, lit by
a lantern which hangs from a beam above it, and this is used as a kind of stage for
speeches. Later the Seven Commandments are painted up on the barn wall.

'Beasts of England': A song that comes to Old Major in a dream. He remembers his
mother and the other sows singing the tune and the first three words when he was
young. He believes it was sung by the animals of long ago and has been lost to
memory. The song is about freedom from the cruelty of humans, and the riches the
animals will have when they are free.

The Rebellion: The day, predicted by Old Major, when the animals rise up to overthrow
the humans and free themselves.

Animalism: The philosophy that Snowball, Napoleon and Squealer develop based on
Old Major's speech. The original basic idea is that all animals are equal, and humans
are their enemy.

Sugarcandy Mountain: A mysterious country where all animals go when they die.
According to Moses, it is up in the sky a little way past the clouds. In Sugarcandy
Mountain it is Sunday all week, clover is always in season, and lump sugar and linseed
cake grow on the hedges.

Manor Farm: The original name of the farm under Mr. Jones.

Animal Farm: The name the animals give the farm when they take over.

The Seven Commandments: The basic principles of Animalism, which are painted up
on the wall of the barn. Mysteriously, the Seven Commandments often seem to have
changed from what the animals remember them to be.

The Flag: Made from an old green tablecloth that belonged to Mrs. Jones, with a white
hoof and horn painted on it. Snowball made it, with the green to represent the green
fields of England and the hoof and horn to represent the future Republic of the Animals
that would be established when all humans had finally been overthrown.

The Meetings: Held every Sunday. The animals all gather in the barn, the coming
week's work is planned out, resolutions are put forward (always by the pigs) and then
debated and voted on. The meetings end with singing 'Beasts of England'.

Wild Comrades Re-education Committee: The object of this is to tame the rats and
rabbits and other wild animals. The cat joins and is very active for some days - she is
seen sitting on the roof trying to persuade a sparrow that all animals are now comrades
and it can come and perch on her paw.

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Foxwood: Pilkington's farm - large, old-fashioned and in a disgraceful condition due to
neglect.

Pinchfield: Frederick's farm - small and well-run.

The Battle of the Cowshed: The battle that takes place when Jones tries to retake the
farm - Snowball leads the animals and develops a clever plan in which they ambush the
men in the cowshed and cut off their route of escape.

The Windmill: The grand project that Snowball proposes for supplying the farm with
electricity. Napoleon adopts this project himself after he chases Snowball off the farm.
The animals spend years building the windmill out of stone, and it is destroyed twice,
but when they do eventually get it working it is used to thresh corn rather than to give
them electricity.

Spontaneous Demonstrations: Held once a week. The animals leave their work,
march around the farm in military formation with the pigs leading, then the horses, then
cows, then sheep, then poultry, with the dogs behind and Napoleon's black cockerel at
the head of all. Boxer and Clover carry a green banner marked with the hoof and horn
and the slogan 'Long live Comrade Napoleon!' Afterwards there are recitations of poems
in Napoleon's honor, Squealer gives a speech about how much more food is being
produced, and sometimes the gun is fired. The sheep particularly love these
demonstrations.

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Quotes
Quote 1: "Man is the only creature that consumes without producing. He does not give
milk, he does not lay eggs, he is too weak to pull the plough, he cannot run fast enough
to catch rabbits. Yet he is lord of all the animals. He sets them to work, he gives back to
them the bare minimum that will prevent them from starving, and the rest he keeps for
himself." Chapter 1, pg. 7

Quote 2: "All men are enemies. All animals are comrades." Chapter 1, pg. 9

Quote 3: "THE SEVEN COMMANDMENTS

1. Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy.
2. Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend.
3. No animal shall wear clothes.
4. No animal shall sleep in a bed.
5. No animal shall drink alcohol.
6. No animal shall kill any other animal.
7. All animals are equal." Chapter 2, pg. 21

Quote 4: "The animals were happy as they had never conceived it possible to be. Every
mouthful of food was an acute positive pleasure, now that it was truly their own food,
produced by themselves and for themselves, not doled out to them by a grudging
master." Chapter 3, pg. 24

Quote 5: "I will work harder!" Chapter 3, pg. 25

Quote 6: "FOUR LEGS GOOD, TWO LEGS BAD" Chapter 3, pg. 29

Quote 7: "It was given out that the animals there practised cannibalism, tortured one
another with red-hot horseshoes, and had their females in common. This was what
came of rebelling against the laws of Nature, Frederick and Pilkington said." Chapter 4,
pg. 33

Quote 8: "'I have no wish to take life, not even human life,' repeated Boxer, and his eyes
were full of tears." Chapter 4, pg. 37

Quote 9: "No one believes more firmly than Comrade Napoleon that all animals are
equal. He would be only too happy to let you make your decisions for yourselves. But
sometimes you might make the wrong decisions, comrades, and then where should we
be?" Chapter 5, pp. 47-8

Quote 10: "Napoleon is always right." Chapter 5, pg. 48

Quote 11: "All that year the animals worked like slaves. But they were happy in their
work; they grudged no effort or sacrifice, well aware that everything they did was for the
benefit of themselves and those of their kind who would come after them, and not for a
pack of idle, thieving human beings." Chapter 6, pg. 51

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Quote 12: "The human beings did not hate Animal Farm any less now that it was
prospering; indeed, they hated it more than ever." Chapter 6, pg. 56

Quote 13: "They were always cold, and usually hungry as well." Chapter 7, pp. 62-3

Quote 14: "If a window was broken or a drain was blocked up, someone was certain to
say that Snowball had come in the night and done it, and when the key of the store-
shed was lost, the whole farm was convinced that Snowball had thrown it down the well.
Curiously enough, they went on believing this even after the mislaid key was found
under a sack of meal." Chapter 7, pg. 66

Quote 15: "If she herself had had any picture of the future, it had been of a society of
animals set free from hunger and the whip, all equal, each working according to his
capacity, the strong protecting the weak... Instead - she did not know why - they had
come to a time when no one dared speak his mind, when fierce, growling dogs roamed
everywhere, and when you had to watch your comrades torn to pieces after confessing
to shocking crimes." Chapter 7, pp. 73-4

Quote 16: "[S]ome of the animals remembered - or thought they remembered - that the
Sixth Commandment decreed 'No animal shall kill any other animal.' And though no one
cared to mention it in the hearing of the pigs or the dogs, it was felt that the killings
which had taken place did not square with this." Chapter 8, pg. 76

Quote 17: "It had become usual to give Napoleon the credit for every successful
achievement and every stroke of good fortune. You would often hear one hen remark to
another, 'Under the guidance of our Leader, Comrade Napoleon, I have laid five eggs in
six days'; or two cows, enjoying a drink at the pool, would exclaim, 'Thanks to the
leadership of Comrade Napoleon, how excellent this water tastes!'" Chapter 8, pg. 78

Quote 18: "Reading out the figures in a shrill, rapid voice, he proved to them in detail
that they had more oats, more hay, more turnips than they had had in Jones's day, that
they worked shorter hours, that their drinking water was of better quality, that they lived
longer, that a larger proportion of their young ones survived infancy, and that they had
more straw in their stalls and suffered less from fleas." Chapter 9, pg. 93

Quote 19: "Besides, in those days they had been slaves and now they were free, and
that made all the difference, as Squealer did not fail to point out." Chapter 9, pg. 94

Quote 20: "Napoleon had denounced such ideas as contrary to the spirit of Animalism.
The truest happiness, he said, lay in working hard and living frugally." Chapter 10, pg.
107

Quote 21: "Only old Benjamin professed to remember every detail of his long life and to
know that things never had been, nor ever could be much better or much worse -
hunger, hardship and disappointment being, so he said, the unalterable law of life."
Chapter 10, pg. 109

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Quote 22: "ALL ANIMALS ARE EQUAL, BUT SOME ARE MORE EQUAL THAN
OTHERS" Chapter 10, pg. 112

Quote 23: "No question now, what had happened to the faces of the pigs. The creatures
outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but
already it was impossible to say which was which." Chapter 10, pg. 118

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Topic Tracking: Greed
Greed 1: Old Major describes all the evils the humans force on the animals as due to
greed. He warns the animals that humans act only in their own interests and will steal
everything the animals produce. Jones callously slaughters the animals when they have
become useless.

Greed 2: Although the animals assume that the apples will be shared out equally, the
pigs take all the apples and milk for themselves. The pigs do not acknowledge that they
are being greedy, but say that they are taking the apples and milk for the good of the
other animals, because it is important that they remain in good health to manage the
farm.

Greed 3: Mollie is too lazy to do her share of the work, even though the other animals
are supporting her and giving her an equal share of food. Because Mollie wants her
sugar and ribbons, even though they are not allowed on the farm, she decides to run
away from Animal Farm. She abandons the other animals and finds a new owner who
will give her what she wants.

Greed 4: Napoleon isn't satisfied with the fact that the pigs, of whom he is a leader, now
run the farm. He wants more power, he wants personal power, and he doesn't want to
share his power with Snowball - so he develops a scheme to run Snowball off the farm.

Greed 5: The pigs are not satisfied with living in their sty, but move into the farmhouse.
They take their meals in the kitchen, use the drawing-room as a recreation room and
sleep in the beds. They also start getting up an hour later than the other animals do.

Greed 6: Napoleon is still hungry for more power and more status. He issues all his
orders through Squealer or one of the other pigs, and avoids going out in public more
often than once every two weeks. When he does appear he is attended by his dogs and
a black cockerel. In the farmhouse he moves into separate apartments from the others,
takes his meals alone with two dogs waiting on him, and eats from the special Crown
Derby china dinner service. The gun is now fired on his birthday as well as the other two
anniversaries every year. The pigs make up titles for him like 'Father of All Animals',
'Terror of Mankind' and 'Protector of the Sheep-fold.'

Greed 7: Napoleon refuses to take a check for the timber, and demands to be paid in
cash. He then holds a special meeting to display the bank-notes - he lies on a bed of
straw on the platform, wearing both the military decorations he has awarded himself,
with the money next to him piled on a china dish from the farmhouse kitchen. The
animals are allowed to file past one by one and look at the money for as long as they
want to.

This backfires on Napoleon - it turns out that the notes were forged and Frederick got
the timber for nothing.

14
Greed 8: Napoleon buys sugar for himself, but doesn't allow the other pigs to eat it.

He fathers thirty-one piglets, impregnating all four of the sows on the farm at about the
same time.

The pigs are hungry for yet more status - they make a rule that if a pig and another
animal meet on a path, the other animal must stand aside. They also make a rule that
all pigs, of whatever degree, will be allowed to wear a green ribbon on their tail on
Sundays as a mark of privilege.

Greed 9: The pigs cook up the barley and instead of using it to feed the hungry animals,
use it to brew beer. They give each pig an allowance of a pint of beer a day, with half a
gallon for Napoleon, which is served to him in the Crown Derby soup tureen.

Greed 10: The pigs sell Boxer to the knacker to be slaughtered, because he is past
work - even though, with proper care, he could have been expected to live another three
years. They want the money to buy themselves whisky.

Greed 11: After many years, Napoleon becomes a mature boar weighing twenty-four
stone, while Squealer becomes so fat that it is difficult for him to see out of his eyes.

Greed 12: Clearly, the human farmers are just as keen to make a profit and care as little
about their animals as the pigs do. The humans compliment the pigs on their methods.

15
Topic Tracking: Principles of Animalism
Principles of Animalism 1: The basic ideas Old Major passes on in his first speech are
that humans are the enemy because they overwork the animals and treat them badly.
He says all animals should cooperate to overthrow the humans. He teaches that all
animals are equal, even the wild creatures like rats and rabbits, and that they should all
protect each other as friends. All humans are enemies. He warns the animals never to
live in houses, sleep in beds, wear clothes, drink alcohol, smoke tobacco, touch money
or engage in trade - these are all the evil habits of humans. Particularly, no animal must
ever try to exert power over another animal - strong or weak, they are all brothers. As a
symbol of Animalism and its ideas, he teaches them the song, Beasts of England.

Principles of Animalism 2: Snowball, Napoleon and Squealer are the ones who develop
Old Major's ideas into a complete system of thought and name it Animalism. They
determine specific principles which they can then teach to the other animals.

Principles of Animalism 3: The pigs then reduce the principles of Animalism to seven
basic commandments. These include that animals are equal, all animals are friends and
all humans enemies, and that animals should not wear clothes, sleep in a bed, drink
alcohol or kill any other animal.

The Seven Commandments omit some of Old Major's original warnings, such as that
animals should not touch money or engage in trade.

Principles of Animalism 4: Although all the animals are equal, the pigs take over the
leadership with the very first harvest - it is seen as natural that because they know more
they should direct and supervise the others.

Principles of Animalism 5: The Seven Commandments are then reduced to just one
principle, which is written in bigger letters above the others - Four Legs Good, Two Legs
Bad. Snowball says that this is the essence of Animalism and anyone who thoroughly
grasps it will be safe from human influences.

Principles of Animalism 6: It is accepted that the pigs have the right to decide the farm
policies because they are more intelligent - even though all animals are equal.

Principles of Animalism 7: Napoleon then decides that the animals should not even be
allowed to vote on decisions, but everything should be decided by a committee of pigs
which will meet in private and communicate its decisions to the other animals later. He
is to preside over the committee himself.

Principles of Animalism 8: The skull of Old Major, as the founder of Animalism, is

disinterred (now clean of flesh) and set up on a stump at the foot of the flagstaff, beside
the gun, and the animals are required to file past it reverently before entering the barn
on a Sunday.

16
Although the animals are supposedly still equal, the seating arrangements in the barn
change to reflect a kind of hierarchy. The pigs and dogs sit on the raised platform, with
the other animals sitting facing them in the main part of the barn. At the very front of the
platform are Napoleon, Squealer and the poet Minimus, with the young dogs forming a
semi-circle around them.

Principles of Animalism 9: At crucial moments when the animals are dragging heavy
boulders up the slope of the quarry, the pigs will actually join in. This is clearly unusual -
the pigs are avoiding all the physical labor that goes into running the farm and leave it
all for the 'lower' animals to do.

Principles of Animalism 10: Old Major warned never to handle money, engage in trade,
or have any dealings with human beings, but Napoleon has now decided to do this. He
has little choice - the farm needs iron, lamp oil, nails and string etc. which it cannot
produce. However, the pigs do not admit that they are going against anything Old Major
said. They claim there was never any resolution against these things.

Principles of Animalism 11: Squealer begins to refer to Napoleon as 'the Leader'. When
the pigs move into the farmhouse and begin sleeping in the beds, the Fourth
Commandment turns out to have mysteriously changed. It now reads 'No animal shall
sleep in a bed with sheets.'

Principles of Animalism 12: Napoleon's dogs slaughter a large number of the animals.
This is the first time anyone has broken the rule that no animal shall kill another animal -
up to now not even a rat has been killed.

Principles of Animalism 13: The change of 'Beasts of England' to the song 'Animal Farm'
is part of the change from Old Major's original ideas of freedom to the pigs' own agenda.

Principles of Animalism 14: After Napoleon has several of the animals executed, the
Sixth Commandment has mysteriously changed and now reads "No animal shall kill any
other animal without cause."

Principles of Animalism 15: The term 'Comrade', originally meant to remind everyone
that all the animals are equal, becomes completely meaningless when used in
connection with the general hero-worship of Napoleon.

Principles of Animalism 16: After the pigs get drunk on whisky from the farmhouse
cellar, Napoleon orders Whymper to buy some booklets on brewing and distilling, and
arranges to plant barley. The Fifth Commandment is then found to have been changed
to read 'No animal shall drink alcohol to excess.'

Principles of Animalism 17: Squealer explains away the fact that the pigs and dogs have
not had their rations reduced along with the other animals, by saying that a too rigid
equality in rations would be 'contrary to the principles of Animalism'.

17
Principles of Animalism 18: Napoleon now argues against ideas from the early days of
Animalism, like putting electric lights in the stalls, by saying that they are 'contrary to the
spirit of Animalism'.

Principles of Animalism 19: The pigs disobey even the 'essence' of Animalism - four legs
good, two legs bad. In the end the Seven Commandments of Animalism are obliterated
and replaced with one commandment which is the opposite of the originals: "All animals
are equal, but some are more equal than others." Right after this, the pigs order a
telephone and newspaper subscriptions and start wearing clothes, carrying whips and
smoking pipes.

Principles of Animalism 20: After so completely subverting the principles of Animalism,

the pigs actually turn into humans.

18
Topic Tracking: Propaganda
Propaganda 1: Old Major uses some techniques of propaganda in his speech to the
animals - he identifies humans as the enemy, and attempts to unite them all against this
common enemy. He promises that their lives will be better and easier if they do what he
suggests and overthrow the humans. He also teaches them a simple, easy-to-
remember song, Beasts of England, to inspire them with his ideas. Although he
genuinely believes that he is acting in the animals' best interests and is not trying to
deceive them, this is all still propaganda.

Propaganda 2: The pigs persuade the other animals to agree with the principles of
Animalism. They hold secret meetings in the barn, which always end with singing
'Beasts of England'. When the animals talk about loyalty to Mr. Jones, or ask why they
should care about the Rebellion if it is going to happen after they die, or why they need
to work for it if it is going to happen anyway, the pigs do not focus on logically explaining
away these difficulties. Instead, they tell the animals that these ideas are contrary to the
spirit of Animalism. It is very difficult to oppose an abstract argument like this. When
Mollie asks if there will still be sugar and ribbons after the Rebellion, Snowball tells her
that her ribbons are a badge of slavery. Although she does not seem convinced, she
doesn't try to argue with him. Boxer and Clover, once they have been told something by
the pigs, pass it on to the other animals by simple arguments.

Propaganda 3: Although the sheep, hens and ducks may not fully understand what it
means, they all memorize the slogan "Four legs good, two legs bad." Such a slogan is
simple, easy to remember and repeat. The sheep develop a great liking for it and often
all lie around in the field bleating "Four legs good, two legs bad" for hours without
getting tired of it. The question is, does someone repeating such a slogan really think
about what it means, or simply get used to the sound and accept the slogan?

Propaganda 4: Squealer uses several clever techniques to persuade the other animals
to accept that the pigs will keep all the apples and milk. He tells the animals that he
hopes they don't think the pigs are doing this to be selfish - implying that if they do think
this, they are being foolish. He tells them that many of the pigs in fact dislike milk and
apples - he says he dislikes them himself - and take them only to stay healthy for the
sake of the other animals. He tells them it is scientifically proven that milk and apples
contain substances absolutely necessary to the health of a pig. He says that because
the pigs are brainworkers and do all the management, they have a duty to stay as alert
and healthy as they possibly can. He plays off the animals' fears by telling them that if
the pigs fail in their duty, Jones will come back. All the animals are very afraid of Jones
coming back, and so if the only way to avoid it is to give the pigs all the milk and apples,
they will agree to this.

Propaganda 5: Snowball and Napoleon use messengers to spread their ideas as widely
as possible to animals on surrounding farms, and to teach these animals the signature
tune, "Beasts of England".

19
Propaganda 6: Pilkington and Frederick engage in anti-Animal Farm propaganda,
making up exaggerated horror stories about what they think is happening there, without
any grounding in reality.

Propaganda 7: Each faction - the one that supports Napoleon and the one that supports
Snowball - develops its own simple slogan to persuade animals to vote for that
candidate, emphasizing the future benefits. The two slogans are "Vote for Snowball and
the three-day week" and "Vote for Napoleon and the full manger".

Propaganda 8: Squealer emphasizes that with one false step, the animals will bring
Jones back. He uses their fear of Jones to make them cooperate.

Propaganda 9: When the animals ask why, if the windmill was Napoleon's idea, he
spoke so strongly against it, Squealer explains that it was a maneuver to get rid of
Snowball, who was a dangerous influence. He says that this is called 'tactics', and
although the animals don't understand the word, Squealer is so persuasive and the
three dogs with him look so threatening that they accept the explanation.

Propaganda 10: Squealer persuades the animals that their memories are at fault when
they think they remember passing a resolution against money and trade at the first
meeting after the Rebellion. He suggests that this is imaginary and probably due to lies
spread by Snowball. He also asks them how they can be sure they did not dream it,
since there is no record in writing and no proof of such a resolution.

Propaganda 11: When the animals remember passing a resolution in the early days
never to use the farmhouse, Squealer is again able to convince them that they are
imagining it. He emphasizes that it is necessary for the pigs as brainworkers to have a
quiet place to work, and that it is unsuitable for the Leader (Napoleon) to be living in an
undignified sty.

He convinces them that there can never have been a ruling against beds, since a bed is
simply a place to sleep and even a pile of straw must count as a bed - he says the rule
was against sheets, which are a human invention, and that the pigs have removed the
sheets from the farmhouse beds. He says the pigs need a comfortable place to sleep
because of all the brainwork they have to do, and asks whether the animals want the
pigs to be too tired to carry out their duties, and whether they want Jones to come back.

Propaganda 12: When the windmill blows down in a gale, Napoleon prevents the pigs
from looking stupid for building the walls too thin. He claims that Snowball crept in
overnight and broke the windmill apart. He also has a pig leave footprints in the grass
leading to the hedge, so that he can 'discover' them in front of the animals, sniff them
and announce that they are Snowball's. This lends credibility to his story.

Propaganda 13: Napoleon does not want the humans to realize that the animals are
starving, so he persuades Whymper that there is more than enough food. Previously no
animals have had contact with Whymper, but Napoleon orders a few of them, mostly
sheep, to casually mention to each other that rations have been increased when
Whymper is nearby. He also arranges for the nearly empty storage bins to be filled up
20
with sand, which is then covered with what remains of the grain and meal. He finds an
excuse to lead Whymper through the storage shed, so that Whymper is deceived into
thinking the bins are all full and reports to the outside world that the animals have plenty
of food.

During the major shortage at the end of January, Napoleon avoids making appearances
in public, and makes sure he is guarded by a number of dogs whether he is inside the
farmhouse or somewhere on the farm.

Propaganda 14: Squealer manages to convince the animals that whereas they
remember Snowball fighting heroically at the Battle of the Cowshed, he was in fact on
the other side. He does this by telling them that the pigs have found secret documents
proving it - he tells Boxer he could show him evidence of the plot in Snowball's own
handwriting, but Boxer would not be able to read it since Boxer only knows the first four
letters of the alphabet. The animals remember seeing Snowball wounded by Jones's
gun, but Squealer tells them it was part of the arrangement and the shot only grazed
him. He asks them if they don't remember Snowball signaling them all to turn and run
away at the key moment (which in fact happened, since Snowball had arranged to lead
the men into the cowshed by pretending to run away and then ambushing them).
Squealer describes Snowball's cowardice at the scene of the battle, and Napoleon's
imaginary bravery, in such detail that it seems to the animals they do remember these
things.

When Boxer still refuses to believe that Snowball was already a traitor at the Battle of
the Cowshed, Squealer changes his mind by telling him that Napoleon says so.

Propaganda 15: Napoleon bans the song 'Beasts of England' and replaces it with a new
song praising the glories of Animal Farm. Squealer explains the action by saying that
'Beasts of England' is outdated because it was a song wishing for freedom and the
animals now have their freedom and no longer need the song. Some of the animals
might have protested, but the sheep, Napoleon's most devoted followers, start bleating
'Four legs good, two legs bad' over and over again and put an end to the discussion.

Propaganda 16: When the animals become upset because they are always hungry,
Squealer starts reading to them every Sunday from long strips of paper, telling them that
the production of every type of food on the farm has increased by two, three or even five
hundred percent. The animals do not remember very well what conditions were like
under Jones, so they do not dispute this.

Propaganda 17: As Napoleon leans towards selling the timber to Pilkington rather than
Frederick, anti-Frederick rumors begin to abound. Some of them are that Frederick is
planning to take over Animal Farm with a group of armed men and has already bribed
the magistrates and police to let it happen; and that Frederick tortures and starves his
animals.

Napoleon tells the pigeons that he sends out to neighboring farms to drop their slogan
of 'Death to Humanity' and replace it with 'Death to Frederick'.

21
Propaganda 18: Now that the animals have finally accepted Squealer's version of the
Battle of the Cowshed and remember this as the true version, he is able to convince
them further that they are still remembering things wrong and Snowball was in fact
criticized for his cowardice in the battle.

Propaganda 19: When Napoleon changes his mind and sells the timber to Frederick, all
the stories are immediately changed so that the animals will not think that Napoleon has
acted inconsistently. He tells them that the rumors of an attack are totally untrue, that he
has been in agreement with Frederick secretly the whole time, and that the rumors of
cruelty to animals on Pinchfield probably originated with Snowball, who is not at
Pinchfield after all, but has been living in luxury at Foxwood for years. He says he only
pretended to be friendly with Pilkington to get Frederick to raise his price.

Propaganda 20: Squealer overwhelms the animals and forestalls their complaints with
endless lists of 'facts' which they cannot disprove because the facts are total nonsense.

Propaganda 21: Strategically, as the animals have less and less food, Napoleon makes
sure they are encouraged more and more to be enthusiastic about Animal Farm and be
patriotic. He also further revises his story of the Battle of the Cowshed, to make the
animals believe that Snowball was the out and out villain. Some of them still remember
seeing wounds on Snowball's back, but they are told that these were inflicted by
Napoleon's teeth.

Propaganda 22: Although the pigs officially declare that everything Moses says about
Sugarcandy Mountain is a lie, they secretly are glad to have his ideas spread around
the farm - they allow him to stay on doing no work, and give him an allowance of a gill of
beer a day. Moses tells the animals that after they die they will have a happy, easy life in
a better world, and this makes them more likely to accept their current hungry, laborious
lives.

22
Chapter 1
After Mr. Jones the farmer has gone to bed (drunk as usual), the animals all sneak into
the barn to hear a speech by Old Major. First the dogs arrive, then the pigs, followed by
the hens, sheep, cows, pigeons, ducks and so on. Among the animals are Boxer and
Clover the cart-horses, Muriel the goat, Benjamin the donkey, Mollie the white mare and
the cat.

Old Major tells them he has done a lot of thinking in his long life, particularly about the
hardships the animals face (hard work, little food and eventually being slaughtered). He
believes these hardships are all due to the greedy humans:

"Man is the only creature that consumes without producing. He does not give milk, he
does not lay eggs, he is too weak to pull the plough, he cannot run fast enough to catch
rabbits. Yet he is lord of all the animals. He sets them to work, he gives back to them
the bare minimum that will prevent them from starving, and the rest he keeps for
himself." Chapter 1, pg. 7

He tells them to work for the eventual overthrow of the human race. "All men are
enemies. All animals are comrades."Chapter 1, pg. 9

Topic Tracking: Greed 1

He reminds the animals to stick together and protect each other, even the wild animals,
and to remember that they are all equal. He also warns them never to adopt any human
habits. He teaches them a song which came to him in his dream, an old song that he
remembers his mother and the other sows singing parts of when he was young. The
song is about liberation and is called "Beasts of England".

Topic Tracking: Principles of Animalism 1

Topic Tracking: Propaganda 1

They quickly learn the song and start singing it, but this wakes Mr. Jones who lets off a
charge from his gun in case there is a fox in the yard. The animals all hurry off to bed.

23
Chapter 2
Old Major dies peacefully in his sleep three nights later, and the pigs begin teaching and
organizing the others to prepare for the Rebellion he predicted. Chief among them are
Snowball, Napoleon and Squealer, who elaborate Old Major's ideas into a system of
thought called Animalism. They teach this to the other animals at secret meetings late at
night in the barn, but the animals make many silly points like "Mr. Jones feeds us. If he
were gone, we should starve to death," and it is slow work. Boxer and Clover are their
two most devoted disciples.

Topic Tracking: Principles of Animalism 2

Topic Tracking: Propaganda 2

Moses the pet raven keeps telling the animals lies about a magic place called
Sugarcandy Mountain and the pigs have to work hard to persuade them that it doesn't
exist.

On Midsummer's Eve, Mr. Jones goes to the pub and gets drunk, then doesn't come
back until noon the next day and goes to sleep with the newspaper over his face. The
farmhands go out catching rabbits and no one feeds the animals, who become so
hungry that by evening they break in the door of the store-shed and help themselves.
Mr. Jones then wakes up and he and his men start lashing at the animals with whips.
The animals spontaneously attack the humans and drive them off the farm - Mrs. Jones
and Moses sneak away when they see what is happening.

The animals are thrilled and amazed to be free; they destroy all the reminders of Jones
- the whips, knives, chains etc. are thrown down the well and the reins, nosebags and
ribbons are burnt.

The next morning they wake up and go around the whole farm snuffling at the earth,
rolling in the dew, eating the grass and so on, overwhelmed with excitement that it is all
theirs. They creep into the farmhouse, inspect it and remove some hams for the kitchen
for burial as well as shattering the beer barrel in the scullery. They agree to preserve the
farmhouse as a museum, and that no animal must ever live there.

The pigs then reveal that they have taught themselves to read and write, and Snowball
paints out the 'Manor Farm' sign on the gate and replaces it with 'Animal Farm'. He and
Squealer paint the Seven Commandments of Animalism, the new laws of the farm, on
the wall of the barn.

"THE SEVEN COMMANDMENTS

1. Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy.
2. Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend.
3. No animal shall wear clothes.
4. No animal shall sleep in a bed.
5. No animal shall drink alcohol.

24
6. No animal shall kill any other animal.
7. All animals are equal." Chapter 2, pg. 21

Topic Tracking: Principles of Animalism 3

The cows have not been milked and their udders are almost bursting. The pigs manage
to milk them, and the animals go off to the hayfield to begin the harvest - when they
return that evening they notice that the milk has disappeared.

25
Chapter 3
The animals harvest the hay, with everyone helping - the pigs supervise the others as
they work, and even the ducks and hens go back and forth in the sun all day carrying
tiny wisps of hay in their beaks.

Topic Tracking: Principles of Animalism 4

Through the summer and the later corn harvest, everything continues to go well.

"The animals were happy as they had never conceived it possible to be. Every mouthful
of food was an acute positive pleasure, now that it was truly their own food, produced
by themselves and for themselves, not doled out to them by a grudging master."
Chapter 3, pg. 24

Boxer pulls everyone through again and again, doing the work of three horses rolled
into one. He gets up half an hour early to do extra volunteer work, and his personal
slogan and answer to every problem is "I will work harder!" Chapter 3, pg. 25 The
animals work hard, although some, like Mollie and the cat, seem to avoid work.

On Sundays there is no work and after breakfast the animals hoist their flag. Then they
have a Meeting to discuss work and proposed resolutions, and Snowball and Napoleon
are always the most active in debating resolutions, although they never agree with each
other.

The pigs use the harness-room as a headquarters where they study blacksmithing,
carpentering and so on from books they find in the farmhouse. Snowball organizes the
animals into committees (such as the Wild Comrades' Re-education Committee), which
are not very successful, but also organizes reading and writing lessons, which are very
successful, particularly with the pigs, dogs, Muriel and Benjamin who all learn to read
well.

They find that the stupider animals - like hens, sheep and ducks - cannot learn the
Seven Commandments by heart, and so after thinking about it Snowball decides that
the Seven Commandments can effectively be reduced to the slogan: "FOUR LEGS
GOOD, TWO LEGS BAD" Chapter 3, pg. 29, and this is written up above the Seven
Commandments on the wall of the barn, in bigger letters. The birds object that they
have two legs, but Snowball tells them a wing is more like a leg than a hand, because
the wing is used for movement and not to manipulate objects. The sheep, hens and
ducks then learn this slogan by heart.

Topic Tracking: Principles of Animalism 5

Topic Tracking: Propaganda 3

Napoleon says it is more important to educate the young than those who are already
grown up, and he takes the nine puppies that are born right after the harvest away from

26
their mothers for education, secluding them in a loft until the rest of the farm has pretty
much forgotten that they exist.

The animals discover what has been happening to the milk - it all gets mixed into the
pigs' mash. As the apples begin to ripen, orders go out that all the windfall apples and
the main crop later on are to be reserved for the sole use of the pigs. Even Snowball
and Napoleon agree on this - Squealer explains to the other animals that it is necessary
for the pigs to eat milk and apples for their health, because they have to do all the brain
work and if they fail in their duties Jones will come back.

Topic Tracking: Greed 2

Topic Tracking: Propaganda 4

27
Chapter 4
News about the takeover on Animal Farm spreads through the county, and Snowball
and Napoleon send out special flights of pigeons instructed to go to other farms and tell
the animals the story of the Rebellion and teach them "Beasts of England".

Topic Tracking: Propaganda 5

Mr. Jones spends most of his time sitting in the Red Lion Pub complaining about his
woes, and the other farmers wonder if there is a way they can gain by his loss. Luckily
the two farmers neighboring Animal Farm, Mr. Pilkington of Foxwood and Mr. Frederick
of Pinchfield, hate each other and would never cooperate against the animals. They are
both worried by the rebellion, though, and say that it will never last and that the animals
are fighting among themselves and starving to death. Then when it is clear that the
animals are not starving to death, they change their tune:

"It was given out that the animals there practised cannibalism, tortured one another with
red-hot horseshoes, and had their females in common. This was what came of rebelling
against the laws of Nature, Frederick and Pilkington said." Chapter 4, pg. 33

Topic Tracking: Propaganda 6

Still, rumors of a wonderful farm spread among animals, and 'Beasts of England' can be
heard everywhere, much to the anger of the human beings.

In early October, Jones and all his men with some others from nearby farms, come back
to try and retake the farm - Jones carrying a gun and the others carrying sticks.
Snowball assumes leadership (he has studied an old book of Julius Caesar's
campaigns from the farmhouse) and together the animals manage to defeat the humans
and drive them off the farm - although a shot from Jones kills a sheep and wounds
Snowball along the back. One stable-boy is hit on the skull by one of Boxer's hooves,
and then lies motionless face-downward in the mud. Boxer is upset because he
believes he has killed the boy, and when Snowball tells him that the only good human
being is a dead one:

"'I have no wish to take life, not even human life,' repeated Boxer, and his eyes were full
of tears." Chapter 4, pg. 37

The animals discover Mollie is missing, go to look for her and find her hiding in her stall
with her head buried in the hay - when they return they find that the stable-lad, who was
only stunned, has recovered and run away.

The battle is named the Battle of the Cowshed and the animals decide to make two
military decorations - "Animal Hero, First Class", which they give to Snowball and Boxer,
and "Animal Hero, Second Class", which they give to the dead sheep. The gun Mr.

28
Jones left behind is set up at the foot of the flagstaff, to be fired twice a year - once on
the anniversary of the battle, and once on the anniversary of the Rebellion.

29
Chapter 5
Mollie often shirks work, and one day Clover confronts her and tells her that she saw
her looking over the hedge dividing Animal Farm from Foxwood, talking to one of
Pilkington's men and letting him stroke her nose. Mollie tries to deny it, gets upset and
gallops off - Clover goes to Mollie's stall and finds some lump sugar and ribbons hidden
under the straw. Three days later Mollie disappears and some pigeons later report
seeing her harnessed to a cart outside a pub, being fed sugar by a fat red-faced man.

Topic Tracking: Greed 3

It is decided that the pigs, because they are the cleverest, should decide all the farm
policies, although their decisions have to be ratified by a majority vote - this causes
some problems because of the rivalry between Snowball and Napoleon.

Topic Tracking: Principles of Animalism 6

Napoleon is very popular with the sheep, who take to bleating 'Four legs good, two legs
bad' in the middle of all Snowball's important speeches.

Snowball decides that a certain knoll in the pasture would be the perfect spot for a
windmill which would supply the farm with electric power. He uses some books that
belonged to Mr. Jones to help him with the plans, which he starts drawing with chalk on
the floor of a shed. All the animals are in awe of the plans, although they can't
understand them, and go to look at them often - Napoleon visits once, looks at them,
and urinates all over the plans to show his disdain.

Snowball believes it is important to finish the windmill and save labor, Napoleon
believes it is more important to increase food production immediately; Napoleon
believes the animals must find firearms and learn how to use them to defend
themselves, Snowball believes it would be better to stir up rebellion on all the
surrounding farms so that none of the farmers will be able to organize an attack against
Animal Farm. The two cannot agree on anything.

Topic Tracking: Propaganda 7

Snowball finishes the plans and at the next Meeting the windmill is to be put to the vote:
Snowball makes a speech in favor, Napoleon utters a sentence or two against it, and
Snowball then launches into a brilliant, eloquent appeal for the windmill. Napoleon
suddenly lets out a strange high-pitched sound and nine huge, vicious dogs bound into
the barn, head straight for Snowball and chase him off the property. It turns out that
these are the nine young puppies Napoleon took away from their mothers.

Napoleon then announces that no more Meetings will be held, and a special committee
of pigs under his leadership will decide all questions of how to run the farm. Some

30
animals, particularly four young porkers, seem upset by this, but the dogs start growling
and put an end to all discussion.

Topic Tracking: Greed 4

Topic Tracking: Principles of Animalism 7

Squealer later explains to the others than Napoleon is making a great sacrifice for them
in taking on the burden of leadership, that Snowball was no better than a traitor, and
that holding debates on Sunday mornings and failing to let Napoleon lead will bring
Jones back. He says:

"No one believes more firmly than Comrade Napoleon that all animals are equal. He
would be only too happy to let you make your decisions for yourselves. But sometimes
you might make the wrong decisions, comrades, and then where should we be?"
Chapter 5, pp. 47-8

Topic Tracking: Propaganda 8

Boxer adopts another personal motto in addition to "I will work harder" - "Napoleon is
always right." Chapter 5, pg. 48

The animals continue to assemble in the barn on Sunday mornings to receive their
orders for the week, hoist the flag and sing 'Beasts of England', but now there are no
more debates.

Topic Tracking: Principles of Animalism 8

Napoleon announces that the windmill will, after all, be built. The animals are confused,
but Squealer explains that the windmill was Napoleon's idea all along, stolen by
Snowball.

Topic Tracking: Propaganda 9

31
Chapter 6
"All that year the animals worked like slaves. But they were happy in their work; they
grudged no effort or sacrifice, well aware that everything they did was for the benefit of
themselves and those of their kind who would come after them, and not for a pack of
idle, thieving human beings." Chapter 6, pg. 51

In August Napoleon announces there will be voluntary work on Sundays, and that any
animal that doesn't do it will have their rations reduced by half - but even with these
extra hours, some of the tasks around the farm are not getting done and there may not
be enough food for the winter.

There is a limestone quarry on the farm, and to get stone for the windmill, all the
animals drag boulders up a slope to the top of the quarry, then let them fall and break so
that there are pieces small enough to use for building - this is hard work and without
Boxer's strength it would be impossible.

Topic Tracking: Principles of Animalism 9

Although there is so much hard work, the animals have as much food as they did in
Jones's day, all through the summer. But there are shortages of things like nails and dog
biscuits, and Napoleon announces that the farm will begin trading with neighboring
farms - not for any commercial purpose, but just to get hold of necessities. Some
animals are uncomfortable, especially the four young pigs that protested when Snowball
was expelled, but Napoleon silences them and Squealer later goes around and
convinces the animals that there was never a resolution passed to avoid trade and
money, and that they must have dreamed it.

Topic Tracking: Principles of Animalism 10

Topic Tracking: Propaganda 10

Napoleon hires a solicitor, Mr. Whymper, who comes to the farm every Monday for his
orders, and although the animals hate and fear the human, they do feel proud when
they see Napoleon on all fours delivering orders to Whymper on two.

Jones has given up on his farm and gone to live in another part of the county.

"The human beings did not hate Animal Farm any less now that it was prospering;
indeed, they hated it more than ever." Chapter 6, pg. 56

The pigs move into the farmhouse and sleep in the beds - Clover seems to remember a
commandment against this and gets Muriel to read the fourth commandment to her, but
she has remembered it wrongly and it actually says that no animal should sleep in a bed
with sheets. Squealer happens to be passing by with a few dogs and reassures them
that the pigs have removed the sheets from the beds and sleep between blankets.

32
Topic Tracking: Principles of Animalism 11
Topic Tracking: Greed 5
Topic Tracking: Propaganda 11

The windmill is half-finished when there is a major gale one night in November - the
next morning the animals find that the windmill has been leveled. Napoleon announces
that it is because Snowball has crept onto the farm during the night and destroyed it. He
offers a reward of apples for Snowball's capture, and announces that they will begin
rebuilding the windmill that very morning.

Topic Tracking: Propaganda 12

33
Chapter 7
The winter is difficult and building the windmill is even more work this time since the
walls are being built thicker.

"They were always cold, and usually hungry as well." Chapter 7, pp. 62-3

In January the farm starts running out of food and rations have to be drastically reduced
- Napoleon arranges to have Whymper contradict any rumors in the outside world of a
shortage on Animal Farm.

Topic Tracking: Propaganda 13

The shortage becomes so serious that Napoleon makes a contract to sell 400 eggs a
week to buy grain, until the summer when things will get easier. The hens try to protest,
but Napoleon orders that no hens will receive any food until they cooperate - after five
days and the deaths of nine hens, they have to agree.

Napoleon decides to sell a pile of timber that has been left in the yard - Pilkington and
Frederick both want to buy it.

Snowball is apparently regularly sabotaging Animal Farm:

"If a window was broken or a drain was blocked up, someone was certain to say that
Snowball had come in the night and done it, and when the key of the store-shed was
lost, the whole farm was convinced that Snowball had thrown it down the well. Curiously
enough, they went on believing this even after the mislaid key was found under a sack
of meal." Chapter 7, pg. 66

Napoleon goes through the farm sniffing around and declares he finds traces of
Snowball everywhere - Squealer tells the animals that it has been discovered that
Snowball has sold himself to Frederick, and was in league with Jones from the very
start. Boxer initially refuses to believe this and takes a lot of convincing.

Topic Tracking: Propaganda 14

Four days later Napoleon orders the animals to gather, and at a signal his dogs attack
the four young pigs who complained about the Meetings being abolished. Three dogs
seem to go quite crazy and try to attack Boxer, who pins one of them to the ground -
Napoleon tells Boxer to let the dog go, and they slink away.

Napoleon tells the four pigs to confess their crimes, and they confess to being in league
with Snowball - the dogs then tear their throats out. The hens who led the rebellion over
the eggs come forward and say Snowball told them to rebel - they are killed. Other
animals make confessions and are killed; it goes on until there is a pile of bodies.

Topic Tracking: Principles of Animalism 12

34
The surviving animals are in shock and huddle together around Clover, who starts
crying thinking about how different this is from what they dreamed of before the
Rebellion:

"If she herself had had any picture of the future, it had been of a society of animals set
free from hunger and the whip, all equal, each working according to his capacity, the
strong protecting the weak... Instead - she did not know why - they had come to a time
when no one dared speak his mind, when fierce, growling dogs roamed everywhere,
and when you had to watch your comrades torn to pieces after confessing to shocking
crimes." Chapter 7, pp. 73-4

Still, she knows that things must be better than they were in Jones's day.

The animals sadly start singing 'Beasts of England', but Squealer appears with two dogs
and tells them the song has been banned and replaced with a new song about Animal
Farm composed by Minimus.

Topic Tracking: Propaganda 15

Topic Tracking: Principles of Animalism 13

35
Chapter 8
Later, "some of the animals remembered - or thought they remembered - that the Sixth
Commandment decreed 'No animal shall kill any other animal.' And though no one
cared to mention it in the hearing of the pigs or the dogs, it was felt that the killings
which had taken place did not square with this." Chapter 8, pg. 76

But when Clover has Muriel read her the Sixth Commandment, it turns out to say that
no animal shall kill any other animal without cause, and obviously there was a good
reason for killing the traitors.

Topic Tracking: Principles of Animalism 14

The animals work hard and are always hungry, but every Sunday morning Squealer
reads them long lists of figures proving they have more food than ever before.

Topic Tracking: Propaganda 16

Napoleon is now always referred to formally as "Our Leader, Comrade Napoleon", and
appears more ceremoniously - he now has a black cockerel to march in front of him
when he goes out in public, to act as a kind of trumpeter by letting out a loud 'cock-a-
doodle-doo' when Napoleon speaks.

Topic Tracking: Greed 6

"It had become usual to give Napoleon the credit for every successful achievement and
every stroke of good fortune. You would often hear one hen remark to another, 'Under
the guidance of our Leader, Comrade Napoleon, I have laid five eggs in six days'; or two
cows, enjoying a drink at the pool, would exclaim, 'Thanks to the leadership of Comrade
Napoleon, how excellent this water tastes!'" Chapter 8, pg. 78

Topic Tracking: Principles of Animalism 15

Minimus writes an extremely flattering poem entitled 'Comrade Napoleon', and

Napoleon has it written up on the wall of the barn opposite the Seven Commandments,
with Napoleon's portrait above it drawn by Squealer in white paint.

Around the middle of the summer, three hens confess that, inspired by Snowball, they
have been plotting to kill Napoleon - they are executed, four dogs start guarding
Napoleon's bed at night and a young pig named Pinkeye is appointed to be his food
taster in case of poison.

It is announced that Napoleon has decided to sell the timber to Pilkington, and relations
between them become almost cordial - meanwhile terrible stories are being circulated
about Frederick and his cruelty to his animals. The pigeons still flying around to spread
word of the Rebellion are told to avoid Foxwood.

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Topic Tracking: Propaganda 17

Snowball continues to be blamed for things going wrong - like weeds in the corn - and
the animals are told that Snowball never received the order of 'Animal Hero, First Class',
but merely spread this rumor himself. He was in fact lectured for showing cowardice in
the battle.

Topic Tracking: Propaganda 18

In the autumn the windmill is finally finished and the animals are proud and triumphant
despite their exhaustion.

Unexpectedly, Napoleon sells the timber to Frederick, after Frederick raises his price by
twelve pounds. The animals are told that he never planned to sell it to Pilkington, but
was secretly in agreement with Frederick all along.

Topic Tracking: Propaganda 19

Napoleon refuses to trust Frederick, who wants to give him a check, and demands to be
paid in banknotes, but it turns out that the banknotes are forgeries.

Topic Tracking: Greed 7

Frederick and his men then march onto the farm, carrying guns, and use blasting
powder to blow the windmill up. It is completely pulverized.

The animals attack, despite the guns, and manage to drive the men off the farm after
heavy casualties on both sides. There is a large celebration and Napoleon creates a
new military decoration which he confers on himself.

Later, the pigs find a case of whisky in the farmhouse cellar and are heard drunkenly
singing parts of 'Beasts of England'. Napoleon later orders barley to be planted in a
paddock that was going to be used as grazing land for retired animals. Mysteriously,
there is a loud crash in the barn around midnight one night, and Squealer is found with
a broken ladder, lantern, overturned paint-pot and paintbrush beside him. A few days
later, Muriel notices the Fifth Commandment, the one about not drinking alcohol, is
different from what she remembers.

Topic Tracking: Principles of Animalism 16

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Chapter 9
Boxer's hoof, split in the battle against the humans, takes a long time to heal, but he
refuses to take any time off work as he wants to see the windmill well under way before
he retires the next summer.

Rations are reduced yet again, except for pigs and dogs. Squealer comforts the
animals:

"Reading out the figures in a shrill, rapid voice, he proved to them in detail that they had
more oats, more hay, more turnips than they had had in Jones's day, that they worked
shorter hours, that their drinking water was of better quality, that they lived longer, that a
larger proportion of their young ones survived infancy, and that they had more straw in
their stalls and suffered less from fleas." Chapter 9, pg. 93

Topic Tracking: Principles of Animalism 17

Topic Tracking: Propaganda 20

The animals are happy to believe him; "[b]esides, in those days they had been slaves
and now they were free, and that made all the difference, as Squealer did not fail to
point out." Chapter 9, pg. 94

There are many more mouths to feed as the four sows all litter at once, giving birth to
thirty-one piglets. The farm has had a fairly successful year, but still has to sell off some
hay, potatoes and increase the egg contract to pay for things for the pigs like candles,
sugar, materials to build a schoolroom for the piglets - and the regular supplies like nails
and string.

Topic Tracking: Greed 8

Rations are reduced yet again, but the pigs are comfortable and seem to be gaining
weight. They start brewing beer for themselves.

Topic Tracking: Greed 9

There are more songs, speeches and processions than before, and Napoleon orders
the animals to hold 'Spontaneous Demonstrations' once a week.

In April, Animal Farm is declared a Republic and they hold an election, with only one
candidate, Napoleon, who is elected unanimously. The same day, it is announced that
new documents have been discovered revealing that at the Battle of the Cowshed
Snowball was openly fighting on the human side as the leader of their forces.

Topic Tracking: Propaganda 21

In the middle of the summer Moses the raven suddenly reappears and starts preaching
to the animals about Sugarcandy Mountain again.

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Topic Tracking: Propaganda 22

Boxer is looking less healthy than he used to, but still keeps working hard, looking
forward to his retirement. One day he falls down while dragging a load of stone and
can't get up, and the animals run to see what is wrong - he tells Clover it is his lung.
Squealer says that Napoleon is very concerned and is making arrangements to send
Boxer to the vet in Willingdon - for two days Clover and Benjamin carefully look after
Boxer. Then a van comes to take him away and he is already loaded in when Benjamin
runs to warn the animals - on the side of the van is written 'Horse Slaughterer'. Boxer is
being taken to the knacker's to be boiled down for glue and dog meat. They all run after
the van, Clover shouting to Boxer, who then tries to kick his way out, but it is too late
and the van drives off with him in it.

Three days later Squealer comes to announce that Boxer has died in the hospital in
Willingdon after receiving the very best of care. He explains that there was a mistake -
the vet had just bought the van from the knacker and had not yet painted out the old
name. Squealer gives details of Boxer's death-bed and the expensive medicines
Napoleon paid for, and says that his last words were 'Long live Comrade Napoleon!
Napoleon is always right!' The pigs hold a memorial banquet in Boxer's honor, and on
the day appointed for it a crate of whisky is delivered at the farmhouse and they all get
drunk again.

Topic Tracking: Greed 10

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Chapter 10
Many years pass and the only animals left on the farm from the days before the
Rebellion are Clover, Benjamin, Moses and a number of the pigs - the rest have passed
away.

Topic Tracking: Greed 11

The farm is more prosperous now, with more animals who have been born or bought,
and the windmill is finished. It isn't used for electricity, but for milling corn which is then
sold at a profit. The animals are building another windmill, which will run a dynamo, but
even then there will be no light and hot and cold water in the stalls, or a three-day work
week, or any of the improvements Snowball had talked about.

"Napoleon had denounced such ideas as contrary to the spirit of Animalism. The truest
happiness, he said, lay in working hard and living frugally." Chapter 10, pg. 107

Topic Tracking: Principles of Animalism 18

Although the farm is much richer, the animals' lives are as hard as ever. Still, Squealer
keeps telling them things are constantly getting better, and they have no way to dispute
this.

"Only old Benjamin professed to remember every detail of his long life and to know that
things never had been, nor ever could be much better or much worse - hunger,
hardship and disappointment being, so he said, the unalterable law of life." Chapter 10,
pg. 109

Nevertheless all the animals, even the ones that have been bought from other farms,
feel pride in knowing that their farm is special, run by themselves, and that they are all
equal.

One day Squealer takes the sheep into a secluded piece of ground and keeps them
there for a week, saying he is teaching them a new song.

Soon after they come back, the pigs suddenly come out of the farmhouse walking on
their hind legs, Squealer in the front and then all of them in a long file. Finally Napoleon
emerges, also walking on his hind legs and carrying a whip in his trotter. Before the
animals can protest, the sheep all start bleating at once "Four legs good, two legs
better!" over and over without stopping.

Clover leads Benjamin to the barn and asks him to read her the Seven
Commandments. There is only one left:

"ALL ANIMALS ARE EQUAL, BUT SOME ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS"
Chapter 10, pg. 112

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Topic Tracking: Principles of Animalism 19

All the pigs start carrying whips, and wearing clothes. A group of neighboring farmers
are invited to tour the farm, and afterwards they are heard laughing and singing with the
pigs inside the farmhouse.

The animals are curious and Clover leads them up to the house where they peer in the
window. Inside, Pilkington is saying that he and all present are glad that humans have
finally been reconciled with Animal Farm, and they have realized that the pigs are not
revolutionary or abnormal, but in fact run their farm admirably. He compliments them for
making their animals work harder on less food than any other animals in the county and
he toasts Animal Farm.

Topic Tracking: Greed 12

Napoleon thanks Pilkington, and announces that certain changes will be taking place on
the farm - the habits of calling each other 'Comrade' and marching past Old Major's skull
on Sundays are to be suppressed, and the hoof and horn are being removed from the
green flag. The farm's name is also being changed back to 'The Manor Farm'.

They toast, and it seems to Clover, although with old age her sight has grown weak, that
something is melting and changing in the faces of the pigs. The animals are turning
away when they hear a quarrel going on inside and run back - Napoleon and Mr.
Pilkington have both cheated in the card game.

"No question now, what had happened to the faces of the pigs. The creatures outside
looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it
was impossible to say which was which." Chapter 10, pg. 118

Topic Tracking: Principles of Animalism 20

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