Animal
Farm- George Orwell.
One of Orwell's goals in writing Animal Farm was to portray the Russian Revolution of 1917. Many of
the characters and events of Orwell's novel parallel those of the Russian
Revolution: In short, Manor Farm is a model of Russia, and old Major, Snowball, and Napoleon represent the dominant figures of the Russian Revolution.
Plot
Overview.-
Old
Major, a prize-winning boar, gathers the animals of the Manor Farm for a
meeting in the big barn. He tells them of a dream he has had in which all
animals live together with no human beings to oppress or control them. He tells
the animals that they must work toward such a paradise and teaches them a song
called “Beasts of England,” in which his dream vision is lyrically described.
The animals greet Major’s vision with great enthusiasm. When he dies only three
nights after the meeting, three younger pigs Snowball, Napoleon, and
Squealer formulate his main principles into a philosophy called Animalism. Late
one night, the animals manage to defeat the farmer Mr. Jones in a battle,
running him off the land. They rename the property Animal Farm and dedicate
themselves to achieving Major’s dream. The cart-horse Boxer devotes himself to the
cause with particular zeal, committing his great strength to the prosperity of
the farm and adopting as a personal maxim the affirmation “I will work harder.”
At
first, Animal Farm prospers. Snowball works at teaching the animals to read,
and Napoleon takes a group of young puppies to educate them in the principles
of Animalism. When Mr. Jones reappears to take back his farm, the animals
defeat him again, in what comes to be known as the Battle of the Cowshed, and
take the farmer’s abandoned gun as a token of their victory. As time passes,
however, Napoleon and Snowball increasingly quibble over the future of the
farm, and they begin to struggle with each other for power and influence among
the other animals. Snowball concocts a scheme to build an
electricity-generating windmill, but Napoleon solidly opposes the plan. At the
meeting to vote on whether to take up the project, Snowball gives a passionate
speech. Although Napoleon gives only a brief retort, he then makes a strange
noise, and nine attack dogs the puppies that Napoleon had confiscated in order
to “educate” burst into the barn and chase Snowball from the farm. Napoleon
assumes leadership of Animal Farm and declares that there will be no more
meetings. From that point on, he asserts, the pigs alone will make all of the
decisions for the good of every animal.
Napoleon
now quickly changes his mind about the windmill, and the animals, especially
Boxer, devote their efforts to completing it. One day, after a storm, the
animals find the windmill toppled. The human farmers in the area declare smugly
that the animals made the walls too thin, but Napoleon claims that Snowball
returned to the farm to sabotage the windmill. He stages a great purge, during
which various animals who have allegedly participated in Snowball’s great
conspiracy meaning any animal who opposes Napoleon’s uncontested
leadership meet instant death at the teeth of the attack dogs. With his
leadership unquestioned (Boxer has taken up a second maxim, “Napoleon is always
right”), Napoleon begins expanding his powers, rewriting history to make
Snowball a villain. Napoleon also begins to act more and more like a human
being sleeping in a bed, drinking whisky, and engaging in trade with
neighboring farmers. The original Animalist principles strictly forbade such
activities, but Squealer, Napoleon’s propagandist, justifies every action to
the other animals, convincing them that Napoleon is a great leader and is
making things better for everyone despite the fact that the common animals are
cold, hungry, and overworked.
Mr.
Frederick, a neighboring farmer, cheats Napoleon in the purchase of some timber
and then attacks the farm and dynamites the windmill, which had been rebuilt at
great expense. After the demolition of the windmill, a pitched battle ensues,
during which Boxer receives major wounds. The animals rout the farmers, but
Boxer’s injuries weaken him. When he later falls while working on the windmill,
he senses that his time has nearly come. One day, Boxer is nowhere to be found.
According to Squealer, Boxer has died in peace after having been taken to the
hospital, praising the Rebellion with his last breath. In actuality, Napoleon
has sold his most loyal and long-suffering worker to a glue maker in order to
get money for whisky.
Years
pass on Animal Farm, and the pigs become more and more like human
beings walking upright, carrying whips, and wearing clothes. Eventually, the
seven principles of Animalism, known as the Seven Commandments and inscribed on
the side of the barn, become reduced to a single principle reading “all animals
are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” Napoleon entertains a
human farmer named Mr. Pilkington at a dinner and declares his intent to ally
himself with the human farmers against the laboring classes of both the human
and animal communities. He also changes the name of Animal Farm back to the
Manor Farm, claiming that this title is the “correct” one. Looking in at the
party of elites through the farmhouse window, the common animals can no longer
tell which are the pigs and which are the human beings.
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