Snowball and Napoleon often quarrel. Snowball wants to build a windmill, to run an electric generator to produce electricity for the other animals. But Napoleon is against it. Nine terrible big dogs come into the barn, attack Snowball and the dogs chase him from the farm. Napoleon explains that Snowball was a secret agent of Jones and that he had stolen the plans of the windmill from Napoleon.
Then the animals start building the windmill and they have to work very hard. But their food ration becomes smaller and smaller. Although the normal animals do not have enough food, and the pigs grow fatter and fatter. They tell the other animals that they need more food, because they have to do all the brainwork. After some time the pigs explain to the other animals that they have to do trade with the neighbouring farms. After this decision the pigs choose to move to the farmhouse. The other animals remember: “No animal shall sleep in a bed”. So they go to the big barn to look at the commandments. But the commandment is: “No animal shall sleep in bed with sheets”.
Some months later there is a storm, which destroys the windmill. Napoleon accuses Snowball of demolishing the mill. The rebuilding of the windmill takes two years. Then Jones attacks the farm again, and although the animals defend it, the windmill is once more destroyed. The pigs decide to rebuild the mill again. The food ration is cut down to a minimum.
One day Boxer breaks down. Napoleon tells the animals that Boxer has been taken to a hospital where he has died, but in reality he was sold to a butcher. Three years later the mill is finally completed.
The pigs often celebrate and drink alcohol with the men. The animals remember that there was the commandment: “No animal shall drink alcohol”. But this to has been changed: “No animal shall drink alcohol in excess”.
Napoleon becomes very ill and he nearly dies. But he survives and bans alcohol from the farm.
Once Squealer goes away with the sheep. When he comes back, the pigs walk out of the farmhouse on two legs and the sheep begin saying: “Four legs good, two legs better”.
The seven commandments are abolished and replaced by:
“ALL ANIMALS ARE EQUAL, BUT SOME ANIMALS ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS.”
(655 words)
3. ANALYSIS
A) Characters
Napoleon: He is a pig. In the beginning, he is one of the leaders of Animal Farm. He is often in disagreement with Snowball. Later, after he has thrown Snowball out of the farm, he takes total control over it with the help of the other pigs and the dogs. He becomes the dictator of the farm and the animals have to work for him. He changes very badly during the whole story.
Snowball: He is, like Napoleon, a pig. He is also a leader of the farm. He is often in dispute with Napoleon. He wants only the best for the farm, but afterwards he is expulsed from the farm by Napoleon.
Squealer: He is one of Napoleon’s compatriots. He can turn black into white that means he is a good speaker. He convinces the others of Napoleon’s good intentions.
Major: The pig is the oldest animal on the farm. He is the first to have the idea of a revolution.
Boxer: He is a strong horse and very loyal to Napoleon, but he is not very intelligent. He can only learn the Alphabet till D. However he works a lot and his motto is: I will work harder.
Clover: She is also a horse and loyal to Napoleon, but looks upon the pigs a little bit more critically. She is very kind and also one of the most attractive figures in the book, because her character does not change during the whole story, not like Napoleon.
Benjamin: He is an old donkey, but he is very intelligent. But he does not talk a lot and when he says something, it is always in riddles.
(276 words)
B) Themes
Power Corrupts
Old Major talks in his speech about a perfect society, a utopia. But to get this, the animals have to do a revolution. A revolution can only be a success if there are leaders. The pigs become the leaders, because they are more intelligent than the other animals. They can write and read fluently. The other animals trust the pigs. But they take advantage of their leadership. So the other animals like Boxer who are working very hard have to do all the difficult tasks and the pigs that tell, they are doing the brainwork are sitting in the farmhouse being very lazy. Then after Snowball’s expulsion, Napoleon becomes a tyrant. He abolishes debates and elections. He makes terror. All the animals that are suspected of being in contact with Snowball are executed in front of all the other animals. These are shocked and get more loyal to Napoleon. Later he renames the farm from Animal Farm to Manor Farm. He explains that this name is better to do trade. Also the seven commandments are abolished, after the pigs walk on two legs. The only one that remains is:
“ALL ANIMALS ARE EQUAL, BUT SOME ANIMALS ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS.”
So the revolution of the animals has failed because of Napoleon’s corruption.
Russian Revolution
The story is an allegorical representation of events following the fall of the tsar in 1917 and Stalin’s terror regime of. The battle of the cowshed is like the civil war in Russia, when the tsar wanted take the power again. The quarrel between Napoleon and Snowball is like the dispute between Stalin and Trotsky.
Also the book shows that Communism, called the Animalism in the book cannot succeed. In Communism all people have to be equal: no poor, no rich, all the people are working for each other. So in the book you see that this is impossible, because there will always be someone like a Napoleon or a Stalin who will take total control over the animals or people.
(338 words)
4. PERSONAL APPRECIATION
I really liked the book, because it was easy to understand and I did not need to look up every single word in a dictionary.
But the political background of the story is interesting too. You learn about history in a different way.
It was also funny to see, even in a ”fairy tale”, how power can change a person or an animal.
(63 words)
5. BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE OF THE AUTHOR
George Orwell was born in Bengal, India on 25 June 1903. His real name is Eric Arthur Blair. His father was an official in the Indian Civil Service and George Orwell returned with his mother and his two sisters to England. At the age of eight he went to St. Cyprian’s, a prep school. He attended a scholarship in Eton between 1917 and 1921. In 1922 he joined the Indian Imperial Police and did not go to Oxford or Cambridge. He resigned from his post five years later, because he was unhappy about the way in which the British ruled the Indians.
Then in 1927 he went to Paris. He wrote his first book “Down and Out in Paris and London” in 1933.
When the Second World War broke out, he joined the Home Guard and worked for the BBC’s Indian Service. From 1943 to 1945 he was the literary editor of the Tribune. Then in 1945 “Animal Farm” was published and became his first popular success. After that in 1948 his novel “1984” was published, which was another great success. He died of tuberculosis in 1950.
(187 words)
7. Bibliographical details
Author: George Orwell
Title: Animal Farm
Date of first publication: 17 August 1945
Edition: Penguin Classics
Biography:
Words: 1561
