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Animal Farm Notes
Animal Farm Notes
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CHAPTER I
I. What is significant about how the animals arrange themselves as they gather to hear
Major? What might this arrangement say about future meetings or events?
A. The pigs and dogs sit in the front row. The other animals arrange themselves behind the pigs
and dogs. In the future the pigs will be in charge, and the dogs will guard the pigs.
II. According to Major, what is the cause of all the animals problems?
A. Man is the only real enemy. Man is the only animal who produces nothing but consumes what
animals produce. Get rid of man and all of the animals problems will be solved.
III. What motto does Major give the animals?
A. He urges them to remember whatever goes on two legs is an enemy. Whatever goes on four
legs or has wings is a friend. He also urges them to refrain from coming to resemble man and
lists mans vices.
IV. What are the commandments Major gives the animals? Can you think of ways each of
them could be considered a vice?
A. No animal is ever to live in a house. (Caring more about possessions)
B. No animal is ever to sleep in a bed. (Becoming lazy-spending too much time in bed sleeping
instead of working-luxury)
C. No animal is ever to wear clothes. (Pride in appearance)
D. No animal is ever to drink alcohol. (Drinking to excess-forgetting duties)
E. No animal is ever to smoke tobacco. (Ruining health, expensive habit)
F. No animal is ever to touch money. (Money corrupts)
G. No animal is ever to engage in trade. (Profit making)
H. No animal is ever to tyrannise his own kind. (Slavery)
I.
J.
V. Examine the song Beasts of England as poetry. What imagery is present? What is the
message? Why do the animals like it so much that they memorise it on the spot? To what
emotions and needs does it appeal?
A. The song paints a vivid picture of the day when animals are at last free of man and all the
symbols of slavery such as whips and spurs are gone. It appeals to their dreams of a more
prosperous future, an abundance of food and the absence of cruelty, and the need for hope to
keep an individual from giving up. Compare this song with the one that replaces it in Chapter
VII.
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CHAPTER II
I. After Majors death what happens to the idea of rebelling against man?
A. Led by the pigs, especially Napoleon and Snowball, the animals meet secretly for three months
and learn the new system of thought called Animalism. Boxer and Clover, the two horses, help
to convince the other animals.
II. Why dont the pigs like the pet raven Moses stories about Sugarcandy Mountain?
A. If the animals believe a fantastic world of ease and plenty awaits them when they die, they will
not be as eager to rebel against the life they currently live.
III. What causes the animals to finally rebel against Mr. Jones and his four farmhands?
A. Due to Mr. Joness drinking problem and dishonest farmhands, the farm has fallen on hard
times. The animals have been underfed for some time. When Mr. Jones gets drunk and neither
he nor his men feed the animals on Saturday or Sunday (Midsummers Day), the animals break
into the feed storage shed. They attack the men when they come with whips to drive the
animals away from the food.
IV. When the humans have been chased from the farm, what do the animals do?
A. The bits, nose rings, dog chains, knives, etc. are thrown down the well; the harness, whips and
ribbons are thrown on the rubbish fire; and the animals eat double rations and sing Beasts of
England seven times before they go to sleep.
V. What do the animals do about the farmhouse?
A. They all file through the house looking at all the luxuries. Some hams are taken out and buried,
and a barrel of beer is destroyed. The animals agree that the farmhouse is to be preserved as a
museum and that no animal may ever live there.
VI. How does the behaviour of the pigs foreshadow their eventual leadership positions?
A. The pigs have secretly taught themselves to read and write during the past three months. They
rename the farm and reduce the principles of Animalism to seven commandments, which
Snowball writes on the barn wall. The pigs milk the cows, who are about to burst. When
Napoleon sends the rest of the animals off, led by Snowball, to harvest the hay, he stays behind
and drinks the milk. No one notices, but the pigs are already proving the contrary to what they
preach, all animals are not equal.
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I. What further examples of the difference between the pigs and the other animals occur in
these two chapters?
A. The pigs only direct and supervise; they do no actual work. No one but the pigs puts forth any
resolutions at the meetings. Napoleon and Snowball disagree over everything. The harnessroom is set aside as the pigs headquarters. Snowball busies himself forming committees to
solve real and imagined problems. The pigs try to teach the other animals how to read and
write, with unsatisfactory results. The apples are se aside for the pigs use only.
II. What are Napoleons ideas about education?
A. He thinks education is more important for the young than for those already grown up. He takes
away Jessie and Bluebells puppies to educate them.
III. How is Squealer able to convince the other animals to accept whatever Napoleon decides?
A. Squealer uses outright lies, Scientific proof (false, of course), and appeals to the animals
sympathy. He always ends with the threat that Jones will return if the pigs are not obeyed.
IV. Describe the Battle of the Cowshed. What was Snowballs part in this battle?
A. Because Snowball has studied Julius Caesars military strategies, he is able to plan a successful
defense of the farm. He leads the animals in the attack and is wounded slightly.
V. Where is Napoleon during the battle?
A. No mention is made of him or his activities, which leads one to believe he played a very minor
role in the battle.
VI. What is the significance of the guns placement at the foot of the flagpole?
A. The gun symbolizes the successful fight against the humans. It will be fired ceremonially twice
a year to celebrate the Battle of the Cowshed and on Midsummers Day, The anniversary of the
Rebellion.
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CHAPTER V
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I. What purpose is served by the production figures Squealer reads to the animals?
A. The pigs fool other animals by manipulating facts and figures to prove they are producing more
and are much better off than they have ever been before. Nobody can dispute facts!
II. Describe the sale of the stack of lumber. How does Napoleon outwit himself ?
A. The lumber is sold first to Mr. Pilkington and then to Mr. Frederick. Napoleon plays the men
against each other until he gets the price he wants. He insists on being paid in banknotes, which
turn out to be forgeries. When Frederick attacks the farm, Pilkington refuses to help Napoleon.
III. What makes the battle against Fredericks men different from the Battle of the Cowshed?
A. There is no strategic defense planned for the farm. The men are better prepared and have more
weapons, and the leaderless animals quickly hide.
IV. The animals celebrate a victory, but at what cost?
A. The windmill is destroyed; Boxer has a split hoof, bleeding knees, and buckshot in his hind leg;
several animals have been killed; and all of the animals, except Squealer who hid, are injured.
V. Describe the whisky incident. Why would Orwell make this scene somewhat humorous?
A. The idea of pigs drinking whiskey, getting drunk, singing, and doing silly things-such as
Napoleon wearing a bowler hat and running around the yard-is humorous. The first reaction of
the pigs is to banish all alcohol under threat of death to anyone who drinks it. Given a chance
to recover, however, the pigs (like many humans) decide it isnt so bad after all. They learn how
to make beer and take the land that was to be used by the retired animals to plant barley.
VI. Why are the animals so easily fooled, even when they find Squealer with a ladder and white
paint beside the barn at night?
A. Most of the animals cannot read and make no connection between this incident and the
commandments written on the wall. They are very naive, except for Benjamin, who refuses to
say anything. The dogs hustle Squealer away before anyone can ask him anything. Later, when
Muriel reads the commandments, she thought she had forgotten that one of them really said,
No animal shall drink alcohol to excess.
VII.What is happening to Boxer?
A. Boxer is working himself to death. he is not recovering from his injuries as quickly as he should
because he practices his own motto, I will work harder.
VIII.What are living conditions like for all of the animals except the pigs and dogs?
A. The animals are working harder than ever and are given less food. Rations are cut repeatedly, a
readjustment according to Squealer, who uses more facts and figures to prove how well off
the animals really are. And the animals believe it!
IX. Why does Napoleon allow Moses to return and to tell his stories about Sugarcandy
Mountain?
A. The animals condition is so miserable that they need the hope of a better life after death. With
this promise, they will put up with more deprivation since they will eventually be rewarded.
X. What happens to Boxer? How do the animals accept it?
A. Boxer finally injures himself dragging stone for the windmill and is sold by the pigs to be made
into glue, dog food, fertilizer, etc. Squealer tells the animals that Boxer died in the hospital and
repeats Boxers final words, the two maxims by which Boxer lived and died. The animals want
to believe what they are told, but only Benjamin understands what really happened. He had
tried to stop them from taking Boxer but was unable to do so. The money the pigs get for the
dead Boxer is spent on whiskey.
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CHAPTER X
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