How It All Goes Down
Animal Farm begins with a very drunk Mr. Jones (owner of Manor Farm) doing a really crumby job of, you know, his job. The neglected animals listen to a wise old pig, old Major, who encourages them all to rebel and run the farm themselves. Above all, he says, everyone should be equal. Then he dies. Everyone is excited except for Benjamin, a cynical donkey whose main job in life is to be, well, cynical.
The animals do rebel, and the pigs, being the smartest animals, naturally take the leadership role (so much for that equality business). There is some immediate conflict between two pigs, Napoleon and Snowball. Napoleon wants to sit around and be in charge of everything, while Snowball wants to teach the other animals (Imagine!) and build a windmill. Napoleon uses nine ferocious and enormous dogs (which he stole when they were young) to become the All Powerful Dominant Boss Leader Chief Pig. He doesn’t call it that, but it’s in the back of his mind somewhere. So Snowball is out of the picture, which is convenient for blaming everything on him.
The pigs exploit the other animals shamelessly, breaking all the rules that they had established after the Rebellion. Things fall apart: life on the farm gets worse and worse, the animals forget old Major’s original dream, and the pigs make some poor management decisions when dealing with the neighboring farms. The culminating miserable moment comes when the pigs send Boxer, a hardworking and loyal horse who is ready for retirement, to his death. Ouch.
In short, the pigs are starting to look a lot like the horrible human owners that we started with at the beginning of this whole mess. They may even be worse. So old cynical Benjamin was right.
Animal Farm Chapter 1 Summary
- Mr. Jones is drunk. Again. He owns Manor Farm, by the way. Also, the animals talk. Work with it.
- “Old Major” is a sort of revered, older, wiser boar-pig-dude on the farm. He has a dream, and the others, acknowledging his age, wisdom, and all around general superiority, gather around (campfire-style) to listen.
- The cast of characters is introduced. You’ve got Jessie, Bluebell, and Pincher (three dogs), Boxer and Clover (horses, male and female respectively), Muriel (a goat), Benjamin (an old and cynical donkey, good friends with Boxer), Mollie (a silly mare), Moses (a raven), chickens, hens, ducks, two turtledoves and a partridge in a pear tree.
- Old Major suggests that they have an uprising against the lazy, resource-sucking humans and run the farm themselves. He introduces some rules for the animals regarding loyalty, alcohol, money, trade, and specifies that no animal may kill any other animal. Keep an eye on those rules – they tend to change as the story goes on.
- They all sing “Beasts of England,” a lovely tune eliciting warm and fuzzy feelings of togetherness.
Animal Farm Chapter 2 Summary
- Old Major dies, which would have been all jarring and climax-esque if he hadn’t predicted it before he gave his speech.
- We are told that the pigs, particularly Snowball and Napoleon, are more intelligent than everyone else. They’re pigs…they need to get something in the way of attributes. Oh, and there’s also Squealer, who is sort of like a used car salesman. The pigs start running the show.
- The animals found “Animalism,” a system of thought summarizing Old Major’s teachings. No points for creativity.
- Moses, the crow, speaks of a paradise-like place called Sugarcandy Mountain, much to everyone’s annoyance.
- Turns out Boxer and Clover are stupid, but trusting and hard working.
- Mr. Jones gets drunk. Again. After he neglects the animals, they choose the opportune moment of being a) underfed and b) really pissed off as the time to uprise. They do. Uprise that is. Successfully.
- They make more rules: no clothes (including ribbons…brutal) and no sleeping in the house. They also rename Manor Farm, calling it Animal Farm instead.
- The pigs, who miraculously read and write, come up with Seven Commandments. What are these commandments, you might ask. Good question. We suggest you open your book.
The pigs steal all the fresh milk from the cows. The less intelligent animals don’t seem to notice.
Animal Farm Chapter 3 Summary
- The animals start the great task of running the farm. The pigs supervise. Things seem to be going well. This, of course, is foreshadowing for disaster.
- Boxer, it turns out, is a huge asset. He’s big, and not particularly smart, but he works harder than everyone else. In fact, to emphasize this point, he walks around all day repeating, “I will work harder” over and over. Like we said…not too smart.
- Mollie (the mare, remember?) is extraordinarily lazy. She also has this odd predilection for ribbons.
- Benjamin, we see, is this really cool, cryptic, apathetic guy. And by guy we mean donkey. He has this one interesting line…better check out your book. OK, fine, we’ll give you this one. But don’t get used to it. When asked his opinion on the Rebellion, Benjamin says, “Donkeys live a long time. None of you has ever seen a dead donkey.”
- The pigs try to educate the farm animals, only to find that their pupils resemble ignorant creatures of hard labor.
- To make things easier, the Seven Commandments get condensed to a single maxim: “Four legs good, two legs bad.”
- Napoleon (the pig, remember?) sequesters nine newborn puppies. Keep an eye out for those suckers.
The pigs seem to be taking the milk and apples every day, but explain that this is only because it is their responsibility to maintain their health. They don’t even like milk and apples, they explain. At this point, Orwell is rolling on the floor laughing and wiping tears of hilarity off of his typewriter.
Animal Farm Chapter 4 Summary
- We are introduced to Mr. Pilkington and Mr. Frederick. Each owns one of the neighboring farms. In short, the animals are working on their public image. PR, etc.
- Snowball, a tactics extraordinaire, prepares the animals for the impending invasion of the humans. Sounds Jules Verne-ish, doesn’t it?
- Blood! Battle! Exclamation Points! Read your book! There are some minor casualties (animals that don’t really matter, like sheep) and Snowball is wounded. Boxer kills a man and then feels guilty about it.
Snowball gets a prize. Rather, he gives himself a prize: “Animal Hero, First Class.”
Animal Farm Chapter 5 Summary
- Something is rotten in the state of the Animal Farm. And it’s not the dead sheep from the battle. It’s the fact that Mollie has been cavorting (talking, really, we just like the word “cavort”) with one of the men on the neighboring farms in return for such frivolities as sugar and ribbons. Then she abandons the farm altogether.
- Snowball and Napoleon start fighting with each other like two bullies on a playground, each insisting that he is bigger than the other and should get to pick teams for dodge ball. Snowball’s speeches are better, but Napoleon does this clever campaigning business in the downtime between animal votes.
- Snowball makes plans for a windmill for the farm. Napoleon pees on them. No, literally, he actually pees on the plans. Or “urinates”, as Orwell so delicately puts it. We’re not kidding. But in case you were doubting us, you should read your book.
- Benjamin pops back up again to say that life sucks either way, windmill or no windmill. Such a Pollyanna, that Benjamin.
- Snowball and Napoleon give speeches about the windmill; Snowball’s is superior. But before the vote, Napoleon brings in the pups from before (we told you to look out for them) which are now all grown-up and tooth-baring and vicious and they chase Snowball out of the farm. Napoleon wins by default. Or by brute force, depending on your point of view.
- Napoleon abolishes the meetings. Squealer makes him seem like a god by “explaining” things to the dumber animals.
- Napoleon decides to build the windmill after all. What’s that saying? Oh, yes – how fickle is pig.
Animal Farm Chapter 6 Summary
- The animals work “like slaves.” Heavy irony ensues.
- Napoleon starts engaging in trade with the neighboring farms. “Wait a minute,” you might say, “I thought there was a rule against trade!” Yeah. That’s what the animals thought, too. Talk to Squealer. They also move into the farmhouse. Talk to Squealer again.
- Snowball becomes the scapegoat, which is particularly convenient when the windmill blows down in a gale.
Animal Farm Chapter 7 Summary
- Since the collapse of the windmill, the animals are starving. But they try to convince the outside world otherwise. Again, public relations and image control.
- The hens are told their eggs will be taken. They rebel, but are starved as a consequence (via control of the teeth-baring dogs) and nine die. Again, heavy irony ensues.
- More scapegoating at Snowball’s expense. Boxer seems, amazingly, to remember history the way that it occurred, but Squealer quickly convinces him otherwise.
- At a meeting, several animals confess (while in the presence of the teeth-baring dogs) to having been in league with Snowball, or with Jones, or both. They are subsequently killed upon Napoleon’s orders.
- It seems that, due to Boxer’s doubt regarding the new and rewritten history, Napoleon tries to have him killed by the dogs. However, when Boxer’s brute strength becomes apparent, Napoleon seems to change his mind. There’s a lot of subtlety here – none of the animals, and especially not Boxer, think for a moment that there was an attempt on Boxer’s life. On the surface, it simply appears as though the dogs went rogue and attacked him.
- There’s this great, contemplative moment when Clover looks over the farm and thinks to herself that these scenes of bloody terror are certainly not what the animals have worked so hard for. Such emotion, such poignancy – read your book.
- The song which we have all come to know and love (“Beasts of England”) is abolished.
Animal Farm Chapter 8 Summary
- At this point, you may be thinking to yourself that there was some rule about not killing other animals. The animals thought so, too, but upon inspection find that the rules have been changed. Now it says something along the lines of not killing without cause. Semantics, really.
- Napoleon gets a new name, as “Napoleon” is not majestic enough. Now it is “Our Leader, Comrade Napoleon.” He’s also becoming a total snob about the amount and consistency of the foam on his cappuccinos. OK, we made that last part up.
- Napoleon sells timber to neighboring farmer Frederick, refusing to take payment by check (or rather, “cheque,” since this is England), demanding cash instead. Turns out the money was fake. That Frederick – such a prankster.
- The animals are again attacked by the humans, who this time take dynamite and blow apart the windmill the animals were building. Did we mention they were rebuilding the windmill? Oh. Well, take our word for it, they were rebuilding the windmill. Also, some bloodiness is involved in the battle. Naturally. Boxer is injured.
- The pigs celebrate their “victory” by dressing up in clothes (not allowed) and drinking alcohol (also not allowed) inside the farmhouse (you got it – not allowed).
Animal Farm Chapter 9 Summary
- Things continue, basically, to suck. They have to rebuild the windmill again and they have no food and it’s winter and Boxer is hurt and it’s cold and they have to walk to school every day in the snow, barefoot, uphill both ways. The pigs, however, seem to be doing just fine in their fat and alcoholic state.
- Moses comes back! The raven, not the Biblical figure. Did we mention that he had gone away? Because he did, at some point.
- Boxer overexerts himself and collapses; he is ready for retirement.
- The pigs send him to the “hospital,” and by hospital they really mean glue factory. No, really, glue factory, as Benjamin reads off the side of the departing van. Old Benjie finally shows some emotion, namely rage, as he sees his dear friend being taken to the slaughter.
- The pigs use the money they earned off Boxer to buy themselves whisky.
Animal Farm Chapter 10 Summary
- Time passes, as Orwell so subtly and artistically informs us with the line, “Years passed.”
- Ironically, the animals are happy about the fact that they no longer work for tyrannical masters. Orwell is winking at you, and occasionally nudging you with his (pointy) elbow.
- The pigs start walking on two legs. They train the sheep to say, “Four legs good, two legs better,” which we all can agree has a nicer ring to it than version 1.0.
- Then comes the big, famous line from the book – the line that, for the rest of your life at cocktail parties, people will say in hopes of sounding smart, and you, thanks to having read the book, will be able to identify and laugh along into your shrimp with everyone else: “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” Let’s all take a moment.
- The pigs meet inside the farmhouse with the neighboring farmer Pilkington, who congratulates them on running a farm with the hardest working and most underfed animals in England. More nudging of ribs.
- The name Animal Farm is done away with and the pigs go back to calling it Manor Farm.
- Watching the pigs, as a result of the clothes and alcohol and the standing on two legs, the animals peeking through the window realize there is no difference between the pigs and the humans, and there is in fact no way to tell them apart.
Animal Farm Themes
Little Words, Big Ideas
Power: Leadership and Corruption
That power corrupts is an inevitable conclusion of Animal Farm. When the pigs take over they claim that their goal is to preside over a farm of equal animals, all working together to support one an…
Power: Control over the Intellectually Inferior
In Animal Farm, the pigs take power after the Rebellion because they claim that they are the most intelligent animals on the farm. Yet it soon becomes clear that intelligence and good intentions ne…
Lies and Deceit
Like much else in Animal Farm, deception is used to gain power. The pigs deceive the other animals about the past, convincing them that certain events did or did not occur. They deceive them as to…
Rules and Order
Rules are often thought of as a way to maintain generally accepted notions of order. Traditions might be thought of as a way of remembering one’s debt to the past, of re-affirming one’s values….
Foolishness and Folly
Foolishness in Animal Farm takes it root in the lower class animals, who are essentially duped into a life of hardship because of their lack of intellect. They fail to recognize the horrible nature…
Dreams, Hopes, and Plans
Animal Farm, narrowly perceived, is simply an allegory for the Russian Revolution. More broadly, however, it is a criticism of utopian ideas in general. It is easy to see that the dreams instilled…
Cunning and Cleverness
At the very beginning of Animal Farm, it is easy to laugh at Squealer’s professed ability to “turn black into white” (2.2). Yet as time goes on, it becomes clear that Squealer’s clevern…
Violence
Violence in Animal Farm is a tool of political oppression. Not only do we see actual violence used to kill and to exile enemies of the leadership, but equally important is the threat of violence. I…
Pride
In Animal Farm, pride serves to unite the animals as a common group; in this way it is something akin to camaraderie. The animals take pride in banding together to overthrow their oppressive leader…
Religion
Religion in Animal Farm is used, as Karl Marx famously said, as an “opiate of the masses.” The animals are distracted from their horrible living situation and life of labor with visions of “Sugarca…
