Milk: Orwell uses milk to represent the care and love that mothers give to their children. When Napoleon takes the milk for himself and the other pigs, he is, in essence, stealing the very core of the people. Now he can raise the children (other farm animals) as a tool of the state. No longer is the power in the family; now the cornerstone of civilization is in the totalitarian government of Napoleon (Stalin).
Alcohol: Orwell uses beer to represent the "Old" Russia. He first notes that the reason Jones lost control of the farm and began being cruel to the animals was because of alcohol. It symbolizes, more than anything, a corrupt government— a government drunk on prosperity (a prosperity which never trickles down to the common animal). But it's eventually this drunkenness, which ruins and leads to the inevitable collapse of this system. Jones lost power over the animals when he became drunk and lazy; even Napoleon will eventually be overthrown because of the alcohol he intakes. Orwell alludes to this near the end of the book when he says that in generations to come there will be still more uprisings. "Some day it was coming: it might not be soon, it might not be within the lifetime of any animal now living, but still it was coming."
Alcohol was originally seen as a grave evil of the new regime. Old Major repeatedly warns the animals against taking on Man's ways, but his concerns are not heeded. Really it was the issue of alcohol that made many of the animals suspicious of the pigs. Thus, Napoleon had Squealer change the commandments.
It's interesting that even today many of the Russian leaders have a drinking habit.
Windmill: The windmill is used by Orwell to symbolize Soviet industry. If you'll notice in the book, the windmill was destroyed several times before it finally was complete. This represents the trials the communists in Russia went through to establish their armament-production industry. Eventually, however, Russian industry did stabilize, despite the lack of safety precautions and trivial concern for the people's well being. This allowed them to put the first artificial satellite, Sputnik I, into space before the United States. Despite their early success, Soviet industry fell behind the Western world, led by the United States. Russian industry stalled from the lack of initiative and morale. The average middle-class worker received no special treatment and was treated as a "person of the state."
Established laws could be broken by any important member of the Communist regime. The original ideology of Marxism was innocent enough, but it was twisted and convoluted by Lenin and Stalin. Russian communism was a hypocritical system that would inevitably falter and collapse, thus proving Orwell's point that Marx was naive.
Ironically, Orwell didn't write a final collapse of the windmill, which would perhaps have symbolized the U.S.S.R.'s failure in the cold war. In 1990, the Russian Communist government collapsed due to lack of funds. Of course Orwell could not have known this, although he did forecast a future rebellion on Animal Farm and in Russia.
Analysis of Chapter 1
Chapter One: Analysis
Animal Farm is a satire on the Russian Revolution, and is one of the best 20th-century examples of allegory, an extended form of metaphor in which objects and persons symbolize figures that exist outside the text. As its title suggests, the setting for this fable-like novel is a farm, and the bulk of the characters are the farm animals themselves, all of whom symbolize various revolutionary figures or political ideologies.
The opening chapter introduces the theme of revolution that dominates Animal Farm, as well as introduces the farm animals that are less notable for their individual characters than for the political figures they will symbolize in later chapters. Old Major is the central figure in Chapter One. He lights the spark of revolution on the farm, and symbolizes the idealistic revolutionary leaders whose ideas served as the catalyst for revolution in Russia and more general within the Communist movement. His statement that "the life of an animal is misery and slavery" echoes the 17th-century philosopher Hobbes, who famously described human life as "nasty, brutish, and short".
The first chapter contains many examples of the whimsy, which is scattered throughout Animal Farm; most notably in the way Orwell describes the various farm animals in semi-human terms. We meet Clover, the mare "who never quite got her figure back after her fourth foal," an example of Orwell drawing attention to the very "animalness" of the farm animals by juxtaposing it with traditionally human characteristics and foibles. Orwell's writing style here, as throughout the novel, is plain, spare, and simple, a technique which emphasizes the fable aspect of Animal Farm; by using minimalist language and short, simple sentence structure, Orwell draws the reader's attention to the animals' perspective, a point of view which will lead to great irony as the revolution unfolds.
Analysis of Chapter 2
Chapter Two: Analysis
With his death, Old Major symbolizes the idealistic, often intellectual or abstract vision that leads to a revolution. His death clears the path for other younger figures to seize the revolutionary fervour, which is sweeping the farm, and use it to propel themselves to position of power. Napoleon, Snowball, and Squealer are cleverer, sneakier, and more aggressive than the other animals, and they soon rise to power as the leaders of the revolutionary movement.
The other animals' hesitancy to accept the revolutionary ideology right away is symbolic of the peasants in Russia who were at first suspicious of the revolutionaries motives. The reservations they express, such as the plaint that "Mr. Jones feeds us. If he were gone, we would starve to death," symbolize the people's reluctance to abandon the security of their familiar forms of governance in favour of a self-determined, less secure future. Squealer's persuasive tactics in convincing the animals to unite in revolution symbolize the personable, persuasive speaking powers of a charismatic political leader.
The Seven Commandments are significant for their resounding censure not only of animal inequality, but less predictably of human habits at large. The first two and last two commandments are aimed at reinforcing the unity of the animal world and establishing some basic beliefs for the animals to share. Commandments 3-5, which explicitly forbid the animals to engage in human activities such as sleeping in beds, wearing clothes, or drinking alcohol, are fundamentally different. With these Commandments, the animal society attaches a significance and prestige to these vestiges of human life that they might have not developed otherwise. With no taboos against wearing the Jones's clothes, for example, one can imagine a scenario where the animals wear the clothes briefly as a curiosity, with no harm done. By forbidding these acts, the Revolutionary leaders turn the items into signifiers of prestige and social standing, making the pigs' eventual adoption of human habits particularly disillusioning.
Analysis of Chapter 3
Chapter Three: Analysis
In Chapter Three we begin to see the first unmistakable signs that the Revolution will drift away from the common animals' ideals, which were more aligned with 's vision of a classless society. The exclusion of the pigs from the farm labour marks the beginnings of the social stratification which would have been anathema to Old Major. The animals go along with these developments out of fear that without the pigs, Mr. Jones will return, though these fears are implanted by , who early on recognizes the value of fear in persuading the animals.
Chapter Three also establishes the division between Snowball and Napoleon. Snowball is clearly the "thinker" of the movement, developing the flag-raising ritual and symbolism and creating the elaborate system of committees. To the reader, much of Snowball's activity seems benign, and even benevolent, as in the education efforts and improvement-minded groups like the Whiter Wool Movement for the sheep. These efforts establish Snowball as the symbolic descendant of Old Major's vision of animal life.
Napoleon, in contrast, becomes subtly malevolent in his interactions with the newborn puppies. Here, Orwell's use of perspective to create irony is significant. The scene (as is all of ) is narrated from the unquestioning animals' point of view, and the narrator only remarks that Napoleon "kept [the puppies] in such seclusion that the rest of the farm soon forgot their existence". The tone of Orwell's animal perspective is, as always, noncommittal and unremarkable, but the more-perceptive reader is instantly alerted by this suspicious behaviour on Napoleon's part, and is cued for the bolder violations which Napoleon will commit in subsequent chapters.
Analysis of Chapter 4
Chapter Four: Analysis
One of the most notable features of this chapter is the conspicuous absence of . This is the only post-revolution chapter in the book in which Napoleon is not mentioned even a single time. In contrast with Snowball's display of intelligence and bravery, Napoleon's absence can only mean that he was not a participant in the fighting, which supports the growing body of evidence in the reader's mind that Napoleon's fidelity to the revolutionary cause is questionable.
Throughout the battle scenes, Snowball is repeatedly shown leading the charge against the men and organizing the battle plan, after the narrator casually mentions that he has been studying a copy of 's battle plans, which he found in the barn. The significance of this understated fact is not lost on the reader, and it contributes to the growing identification of Snowball with scholarship and intellectualism. By bestowing a medal on Snowball, the animals unwittingly raise the Napoleon/Snowball tension to a climax, resulting in an ideological face-off which soon prompts Napoleon to take drastic measures.
Chapter Four also offers the reader a first telling look at the reaction of the townspeople to the revolution on . Their reactions, which range from disbelief to fear to self-interest, represent the attitudes of modern states to revolution in another country. This symbolism becomes even clearer when the townsmen begin spreading rumours of natural perversion at , in the form of cannibalism, torture, and immoral sexual practices. The remarks reveal the degree to which threatens the other farmers, and form a parody of the propaganda that states so often employ as weapons against each other's regimes.
Analysis of Chapter 5
Chapter Five: Analysis
In Chapter Five, the strife between Napoleon and Snowball reaches its climax. The two pigs represent two divisions of a post-revolutionary government, one (symbolized by Snowball) the more intellectual, visionary, and idealistic, and the other (represented by Napoleon) more economically-minded and authoritarian. With the appearance of the young puppies, now trained into killer attack dogs by Napoleon, the animals give their first strong sense of Napoleon's ideological betrayal; the dogs were the resources of the farm, and Napoleon seized them and then turned them against the farm animals themselves.
Squealer's role becomes more central to the political development of the farm in these scenes as well. His persuasive abilities are now used exclusively to pacify the animals after each of Napoleon's disturbing proclamations. In this sense, Squealer functions as the charismatic and eloquent mouth-piece of the increasingly tyrannical government that Napoleon quickly puts in place.
The reactions of Mollie the mare and the carthorse can be contrasted in Chapter Five. Mollie is unable (or unwilling) to stand the strain of the new workload, and her love of luxuries such as sugar lumps and ribbons incline her more toward contact with humans anyway. Her flight can be seen as a portrayal of the flight of pampered nobles after a revolution. Boxer, on the other hand, responds to Napoleon's increasing control by giving himself a new mantra, "Napoleon is always right." Here Orwell satirizes the blind, unthinking devotion of the masses toward the political figure they originally supported, despite the leader's devolution into tyranny.
Analysis of Chapter 6
Chapter Six: Analysis
Napoleon's reintroduction of trade to is his first step towards the reappearance of human customs. Not surprisingly, the pigs' move to the farmhouse follows shortly thereafter. Napoleon here proves himself willing to directly violate the Seven Commandments which had governed the animals since the revolution. His attempt to hide the illegality of this move by literally changing the wording of the commandments is quite telling, symbolizing a tyrant's disregard for truth and ethical considerations.
The specific rewording of the Fourth Commandment is also significant. Napoleon does not remove any of the commandment or substitute a new one for it, but rather adds a phrase to it to make it more specific; an injunction against sleeping in beds becomes an injunction against sleeping in beds with sheets. This narrowing of originally broader ideas is the key to Napoleon's slow transformation of the farm. He takes the revolution's original general ideas and language and alters, appends, and incorporates them into his own reign, so that they are barely recognizable to their original form.
By blaming the windmill destruction on Snowball, Napoleon avoids the realization among the animals that anything, including storms, is out of his control. The Snowball lie unites the animals against a common enemy, just as the original revolution had bound them together against Man. Ironically, though, the true leader of that revolution is twisted into their common enemy under Napoleon's propaganda.
Analysis of Chapter 7
Chapter Seven: Analysis
Napoleon's decision to hide the food shortage from the outside world is meant to satirize the actions often taken by totalitarian regimes which experience internal crises. Reaching out to the capitalist/democratic powers for help would indicate the inferiority of authoritarian governments, and instead many leaders choose to sacrifice their citizens' welfare to save face. Napoleon's cover-up, as well as his personal gluttony, reflect the cruelty of his reign.
The propaganda that Squealer begins spreading concerning Snowball aims to completely sever all remaining ties with the original revolution. By saying that Snowball was a traitor from the beginning‹that he was never truly concerned with the animals' welfare and was fooling them all along‹Napoleon attempts to discredit the entire early history of the revolution. By convincing the animals to go along with this toughest ideological shift, Squealer and Napoleon pave the way for their future changes.
This ideological departure is further symbolized by the decision to abolish the singing of "Beasts of England." When the animals' traditional anthem is replaced by a tune praising as the ideal society, the animals never quite embrace the new song in the same way. This reluctance to accept the new song, especially when compared with the animals' relative ease at accepting new laws, work schedules, and ideologies, is a telling commentary on the enduring power of culture, and the difficulties faced by regimes that attempt to subvert a society's low-level cultural traditions.
Analysis of Chapter 8
Chapter Eight: Analysis
In light of Napoleon's increasing distance from the rest of the animals, the poem composed in his honour by the official poet Minimus is fraught with irony. Napoleon is described as the "Ducklings' Friend," the "Friend of the Fatherless" who watches over all. Napoleon's actual isolation from the animals makes these praises ironically empty at best.
Another important aspect of Napoleon's public persona is revealed by his actions after the farmers' last attack. He insists on firing the gun to celebrate the animals' victory, even though their collective mood can be gathered from Boxer's bitter question, "What victory?". Why does Napoleon insist on declaring the attack a victory for the animals? Thanks to the lionized persona he has built up for the masses, the acknowledgment of any kind of failure would represent a complete contradiction to his public image. His perceived perfection has been built up to such an extent that he can no longer afford anything less than complete success.
After Napoleon has Squealer change the Fifth Amendment to allow the consumption of alcohol, the goat notices that "their was yet another of them which the animals had remembered wrong". Again and again, the discrepancies between what the animals remember as law and what Napoleon and Squealer declare is explained by the animals "remembering wrong". The question of the reliability of memory is one of the major themes of , and represents the effectiveness of official propaganda at erasing and calling into question the collective memories of entire nations.
Analysis of Chapter 9
Chapter Nine: Analysis
Napoleon's sudden announcement that the farm is to become a Republic is a social commentary on the manner in which many totalitarian regimes establish puppet democracies. The animals go through the motions of voting, but with only Napoleon running in the election, there is no true choice to be made. The result is a farcical parody of democracy that sets up a chilling contrast to the open decision-making process of the farm's early Revolutionary days.
The language of the regime begins to play an important role in Chapter Nine as well. Squealer is always the bearer of bad news for the animals, and when he comes to tell them of yet another ration reduction, Orwell writes "Squealer always spoke of it as a Œreadjustment,' never as a Œreduction' ". This aside plays up the uses of language to enforce and distort public perception.
Moments like Boxer's removal to the horse butcher are when 's ironic point of view become most crucial. The animals slowly grasp that Boxer is being sold for glue, but Squealer is easily able to pacify them with a sloppy lie. The reader, however, is not so easily tricked, and this discrepancy between what the animals and the narrating voice believe to be true and what the reader knows creates a bitter sense of irony.
Analysis of Chapter 10
Chapter Ten: Analysis
The aging of the animals with the passage of time removes much of the grumblings and covert dissent that the regime faced early on in its existence. This transformation returns to the earlier theme of the reliability of memory. With all cultural traditions from the Revolution (such as the song "Beasts of England") now eliminated, and the older citizens slowly dying out, the society is becoming increasingly harsh, bleak, and ignorant of the great claims the revolutionaries once made.
The rise of the bureaucracy offers a commentary on the nature of totalitarian governments which favour one class over the common citizens. Faced with a pig population growing much more rapidly than the rest of the animals, Squealer is forced to invent semi-secret and unnecessary "work" for them to perform. He explains to the other animals about the pigs' outputs, which "were large sheets of paper that had to be covered closely with writing, and as soon as they were so covered, they had to be burnt in the furnace."
The final, climactic scene, where the animals finally see the parallels between the pigs and the humans, is both chilling and poignant. The animals are honestly not as smart as the pigs, so it is with earnest and gullible faith that they have withstood the destruction of their revolutionary ideals and the advent of the totalitarian regime. The moment where they vividly recognize the pigs for the human-minded, and therefore hopelessly corrupted, rulers that they are is a moment of disillusionment, and ultimately horror.
