Animal Farm by George Orwell

Summary

Manor Farm is a small farm in England run by Mr. Jones, who is gruff and frequently inebriated. One night, a boar named Old Major gathers all of Manor Farm’s animals. Knowing he is about to die, Old Major delivers a speech in which he exposes to the animals that men are to blame for all of the suffering that animals endure. Old Major claims that all animals are equal and encourages them to band together in order to rebel. He instructs them on the revolutionary anthem “Beasts of England.” Soon after, Old Major dies, but two pigs named Snowball and Napoleon adapt his beliefs to Animalism ideology. 

They go out to disseminate Animalism’s beliefs to the other animals on the farm, but it proves difficult. Boxer and Clover, the carthorses, are their best disciples because they can simplify Animalism into basic arguments and share them with the other animals.

Mr. Jones fails to feed his animals for more than 24 hours three months later. The animals revolt and chase Mr. Jones and the farmhands off the farm, resulting in a simple triumph. All items that permitted Mr. Jones to keep power, such as whips, bits, and knives, were soon burned by the animals. The next morning, the animals visit the property, and the pigs disclose that they’ve taught themselves to read over the prior few months. Snowball is the best writer, and he changes the farm’s gate with white paint to say “Animal Farm.” Snowball also writes the Animalism tenets, which he and Napoleon distill into the Seven Commandments, in the great barn.

All animals are equal, according to the commandments, and no animal may act like a human by sleeping in a bed, walking on two legs, murdering other animals, or drinking alcohol. They claim that people are the only threat. After the pigs figure out how to milk the cows, the animals shift to the hay harvest, but the milk begins to evaporate.

As there are no people, the animals are considerably more successful than Mr. Jones ever was. There is enough of food, and the animals take pride in being able to feed themselves via their own efforts. The pigs are clever enough to figure out how to execute certain duties without standing on two legs, whereas Boxer appears to be as strong as three horses and lives by the mantra “I will work harder!” Except for the conceited horse Mollie, who makes numerous reasons for not being able to work, all of the animals pitch in to help manage the farm. Benjamin the donkey appears uninterested in everything and cryptically informs everyone that donkeys live a long time.

Snowball forms animal committees, which are generally ineffective, and more successfully teaches animals to read. Only the dogs, the pigs, the goat Muriel, and Benjamin grow fully literate. Because less intelligent animals, such as sheep, can only learn the letter A and cannot remember the Seven Commandments, Snowball simplifies it to “four legs good, two legs bad.” He must explain to the birds why this is permissible, given that they only have two legs. Meanwhile, Napoleon takes the nine new puppies to train, claiming that it is more important to focus on educating the young. Snowball and Napoleon soon engage in a power struggle.

Snowball and Napoleon dispatch pigeons to adjacent farms to inform other animals. The other farmers sympathize with Mr. Jones, but all they want is for the situation to work in their favor. Mr. Pilkington of Foxwood Farm and Mr. Frederick of Pinchfield Farm, fortunately for the animals, despise each other, despite the fact that they are both afraid of what happened at Animal Farm. Mr. Jones and a group of men storm the farm with a gun in October. The animals battle fiercely and chase the men away, however Boxer is upset since he believes he murdered a stable boy. 

Mollie goes missing in the winter to serve a man in town. The pigs fight about how to organize the upcoming season, and Snowball and Napoleon clash over Snowball’s plan to erect a windmill. Snowball persuades the animals that a windmill will provide them with electricity and let them to work only three days per week, despite Napoleon’s muted protests. At the end of the windmill discussion, Napoleon summons the puppies he secretly raised to be his own cruel minions and has them chase Snowball from Animal Farm. Napoleon tells the other animals that Snowball was a “bad influence,” takes away their right to vote, and assumes “the burden” of leadership. 

About George Orwell

Eric Blair was born and raised in India. He attended Eton in England and served in the Indian Imperial Police in Burma from 1922 to 1927. Blair, writing under the pen name George Orwell, exposed and critiqued the human tendency to oppress others politically, economically, and physically through his autobiographical work about poverty in London (Down and Out in Paris and London, 1933), his experiences in colonial Burma (Burmese Days, 1934), the Spanish Civil War (Homage to Catalonia, 1938), and the plight of unemployed coal miners in England (The Road to Wigan Pier, 1937). Orwell despised tyranny in particular, and his most famous novels, Animal Farm and 1984, are harsh condemnations of totalitarian regimes. Orwell passed away at the age of 47 after failing to treat lung ailment.

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